Meowdoku Level 105 Walkthrough: Four Crosses and a Tidy 8x8 Solve

A tour of the Meowdoku Level 105 board

The eight colors on this 8x8 grid are rose, apricot, butter, matcha, mint, soda, periwinkle, and lilac. Rose is the smallest region by far, a single tile at row 1, column 1 in the top left corner. Apricot has four tiles right beside it, at row 1, column 2 and row 2, columns 1, 2, and 3. Soda and periwinkle each have six tiles, matcha and mint each have seven, and butter has ten stretched across the top right.

Lilac is the giant of the board with twenty-three tiles, filling the whole bottom left and all of row 8 from column 1 to column 8. Periwinkle forms a narrow vertical strip in columns 4 and 5 between rows 4 and 7, and that strip is what the closing deduction depends on. In a cat puzzle game like this, a thin region wedged between two big ones is almost always where the interesting logic lives.

The opening: rose in the corner

Meowdoku Level 105 opens at row 1, column 1. The rose region is one tile, so the rose cat is forced there and you can settle it without spending a thought. That cat clears row 1, column 1, and the tiles that touch it, which immediately removes the apricot tiles at row 1, column 2 and row 2, columns 1 and 2.

Apricot is therefore reduced to row 2, column 3 for your second cat. Butter loses its row 1 tiles and the ones near column 3, leaving only row 3, column 7, and matcha is squeezed down to row 4, column 2. Four cats with no crosses at all, which is exactly the gentle rhythm that makes these cat games such easy company.

The first crosses: mint takes row 5

After four cats the free run ends and Meowdoku Level 105 asks for its first bit of reasoning. Look at mint: every open mint tile now sits in row 5, so the cat in row 5 must be the mint cat. That is technique T3, a color locked to one line, and it lets you cross out the periwinkle tile at row 5, column 4 and the soda tile at row 5, column 8.

That second cross matters more than it looks, because soda only had a handful of tiles left and now it is down to one. Place your fifth cat on row 6, column 8 as the last open tile in the soda region. Notice that the mint cat itself is still unplaced; the lock was useful for what it removed, not for what it revealed about mint.

The key moment: emptying column 4

The prettiest deduction in Meowdoku Level 105 comes next. Periwinkle has lost enough tiles that everything remaining sits in row 7, so row 7 belongs to periwinkle and you can cross out the lilac tile at row 7, column 6.

Then comes the clever part, technique T4. Periwinkle now has two open tiles left in row 7, and the tile at row 8, column 4 sits directly below and diagonally beside them, so it touches every open periwinkle tile. Wherever the periwinkle cat ends up, it would be touching row 8, column 4, and since cats may never touch, not even diagonally, that tile can be crossed out.

With that cross in place, stop looking at colors and count column 4 instead. It has exactly one open tile left, the periwinkle tile at row 7, column 4, so the periwinkle cat goes there by technique T2, the last open tile in a row or column. Lilac then has only row 8, column 6, and mint closes the board at row 5, column 5. Four crosses, eight cats, one very tidy grid.

What Level 105 teaches for bigger boards

The reason an easy level is worth studying is that it shows a technique in isolation. On a hard 9x9 you might use T4 in the middle of a fifteen-cross chain and never really see it. Here it appears exactly once, at row 8, column 4, and you can watch precisely what it accomplishes.

Take these ideas with you into the tougher logic puzzle games and brain games ahead.

• When a color is down to two or three tiles in a line, check the tiles just above and below for one that touches them all.
• Row locks are often worth using even when you cannot yet place the locking color.
• After every cross, count the open tiles in the affected row and column, because T2 finishes come out of nowhere.
• Do not be intimidated by a twenty-three-tile region like lilac; it resolves last, all on its own.
• Single-tap for crosses and double-tap only when you are certain, which keeps all your fish intact.

What is the solution to Meowdoku Level 105?

In solve order, the cats go on row 1, column 1 (rose); row 2, column 3 (apricot); row 3, column 7 (butter); row 4, column 2 (matcha); row 6, column 8 (soda); row 7, column 4 (periwinkle); row 8, column 6 (lilac); and row 5, column 5 (mint).

Where do I place the first cat in Meowdoku Level 105?

Place the first cat on row 1, column 1, the single rose tile in the corner. A one-tile region always gives you a free opening move, which is why this is such a beginner-friendly cat puzzle game board.

How do I find the periwinkle cat in Meowdoku Level 105?

Lock periwinkle to row 7 and cross out the lilac tile at row 7, column 6. Then cross out row 8, column 4, because that tile touches every open periwinkle tile. Column 4 now has one open tile left, the periwinkle tile at row 7, column 4.

How long does Meowdoku Level 105 take?

The full solve is only 12 steps with 4 crosses, so most players finish it in a couple of minutes. It is rated easy and makes a good warm-up among these free online games before you tackle a harder board.

What are the rules of Meowdoku again?

Place one cat in every colored region, one in every row, and one in every column, and never let two cats touch, not even diagonally. Single-tap a tile to mark a cross, double-tap to settle a cat, and remember that a wrong cat costs one fish in these animal games.