Pixel Puzzle Collection Guide: Tips, Cheats and Strategies

Pixel Puzzle Collection has just arrived in Europe, and it’s about time. It’s an intoxicating mixture of grid-based puzzler Picross and Konami nostalgia and it will suck you in and take hours away of your free time if you let it.

The game is pretty self explanatory – you chink away blocks in a grid until a shape is created by following the numbers on the sides of the square – but it can get very complex indeed, especially later on when the grids expand significantly in size.

With that in mind we’ve put together some tips and general strategies to help you gallop through the grids quicker.

• Working from the sidelines A great thing to do first is try to fill out the lines that are right on the side of the grids, if possible. This will help the puzzle take shape and make filling out the other lines easier too.

• X marks the spot Lines get automatically filled once they’re complete – but make sure you mark where a tile can’t possibly be filled as well. This can help you work out where you can and can’t go in other rows.

• Take the hint If you’re struggling there’s no harm in using the hint function – you even get ten free hints to use as a new player. Please note that it completes a random line though – so it can sometimes be hugely helpful, other times no help at all.

• Switch it up If you’re finding it tough to complete a set of grids there are always other squares to pick from the main menu.

• Line by line A Picross grid never relies upon luck or guesses to complete. So if you’re stuck simply go through the grid line by line – you’ll find the answer if you stay patient. Just one tick or cross can cause a puzzle to open up in front of your eyes, and that’s the joy of Picross.

• Filling in the gaps Sometimes when a grid seems impossible you may want to employ some lateral thinking. This can be done via looking at adjacent lines at a grid and working out what could and can’t be filled out.

• Back in time Remember that there’s always the option to undo a move, something you may find yourself wanting to do if you make one slip too many via the touch screen controls.

• Finger on the button The touch screen controls in Pixel Puzzle Collection are pretty intuitive in our opinion, but if you are struggling with them you can change to a virtual button set-up. This could well help you to cut down on costly mistakes.

• Lucky dip At the start of each stage you’re told what category your grid falls into – examples include Sport, Thinking, and, er, School Girls – and this can be mildly helpful if you like to work out the shape of a picture. So make sure you pay attention when you’re heading into a puzzle.

• One direction You can also work out which tiles can be crossed out by working out the potential span in either direction. If you know the potential span of a number you can place crosses and tiles accordingly. For example: if a 15×15 board has a row with just 7 tiles and you find one tile in the centre you can then count out on either side how many tiles you could put down without fear of your placement being wrong. This strategy won’t always be possible of course, but is certainly a tactic worth using if you see a large number on the edge of the grid.

See how good you are at cracking the grids yourself by download Pixel Puzzle Collection now via the App Store and Google Play.

Glenn Wilson