Unruly Black and White Unblocked

Unruly Black and White strips logic puzzles down to two colors and two rules. Each line across and each line down needs an even split between the colors, and a run of three identical squares is never allowed. A few squares are filled in to start, and the rest follow by pure reasoning once you learn to spot the patterns. This edition is Lennard Sprong’s contribution to Simon Tatham’s collection, while the original idea comes from Adolfo Zanellati, who called it Tohu wa Vohu. It plays unblocked in your browser, on desktop or phone.

Balance and the Rule of Three

Empty squares look medium grey. A left-click paints one black, a right-click paints it white, and further clicks rotate it to the opposite shade and then to blank again, so a wrong click is never a big deal.

The rules are short:

• Balance: each line, across or down, splits evenly between the two shades. That is why grids always have even widths and heights.
• No triples: a horizontal or vertical run of three identical squares is illegal. Diagonals don’t matter.

Break a rule and the game marks it in red. Fill the grid with both rules satisfied and you are done. The presets range from a Trivial 8x8 up to a Normal 14x14.

Unruly Black and White controls

To do this	Keyboard	Mouse	Touch
Turn a square black, then white, then empty	Arrows to the square, then Enter	Left-click it	Tap it
Turn a square white, then black, then empty	Space	Right-click it	Press and hold it
Wipe a square	Backspace	Middle-click, or keep clicking until it's empty	Keep tapping until it's empty
Undo, redo, new puzzle	U / R / N	Undo move, Redo move and New game buttons	Undo move, Redo move and New game buttons

Patterns You Will Use Constantly

These three patterns solve most of every board. Once you see them automatically, the puzzle speeds up a lot.

The pair. Two matching squares next to each other must be capped by the opposite color on both ends. Black, black means white on either side.

The sandwich. Two matching squares with one gap between them force the gap to be the other color. Black, empty, black means the middle is white.

The count. On a 10-wide row, five blacks is the limit. Once a row has its five, every remaining square is white.

When the obvious patterns run out, look for near-full lines. Suppose a row needs one more black and has three empty squares. Ask which choice would leave three whites together. That choice is impossible, which often decides the line.

Keep alternating your attention between horizontal and vertical lines. Every square you settle feeds a clue to the line crossing it, and that chain reaction is half the fun.

Who It Suits

Unruly is perfect when you want a quick, clean logic hit. A Trivial 8x8 grid takes a couple of minutes, and the bigger boards stay interesting without feeling heavy. There is no timer and no score, just a finished grid.

If you enjoy two-color reasoning, try Range Shading Puzzle, where black squares block lines of sight. For a puzzle built on lights that flip on and off, see Light Switch Grid.