Level 74 walkthrough
Meowdoku Level 74 Walkthrough: Apricot and Butter Reserve Two Rows
Meowdoku Level 74 is a medium 9x9 board whose whole difficulty lands on the second cat, where a two-tile apricot region and the butter region reserve rows 2 and 3 between them.
Meowdoku Level 74 is a medium 9x9 board with nine colors, and it has an unusual shape to its difficulty. The very first cat is free, the last seven cats fall over one another in a neat chain, and absolutely everything hard about the level happens while you are trying to place the second cat. Eleven tiles have to be crossed out before matcha is finally pinned down.
That single stretch includes the most advanced idea in the game, technique T5, where two colors that can only use the same two rows reserve both of those rows for themselves. Meowdoku is a free cat puzzle game that plays in your browser, and Level 74 is the board to study if you want that technique to become second nature before the hard levels arrive.
Meowdoku Level 74 at a glance
- Board: 9×9 grid with 9 colored regions and 9 cats to place
- Difficulty: Medium
- Hardest technique needed: Matched colors and lines
- Logical steps: 20 (9 cats and 11 crosses)
- Smallest color: rose with 1 tile
What the Meowdoku Level 74 board looks like
The nine colors on this 9x9 grid are rose, apricot, butter, matcha, mint, soda, periwinkle, lilac, and bubblegum. Rose is a single tile at row 1, column 1, and apricot is the second smallest with just two tiles, stacked in column 3 at row 2 and row 3. Those two apricot tiles are the engine of the whole level.
Bubblegum is the giant with twenty-five tiles spreading across the bottom half and the whole of row 9. Matcha holds sixteen tiles across the top left, soda eleven through the middle left, butter nine in the top right corner, and mint, periwinkle, and lilac are small colors of five or six tiles each tucked into the right side.
A two-tile color sitting in one column is the kind of detail that decides a cat puzzle game. Spot it early in Meowdoku Level 74 and the opening will feel like a guided tour instead of a maze.
The opening: the rose corner is the only legal start
Rose has exactly one tile in Meowdoku Level 74, so the rose cat must sit at row 1, column 1. Double-tap it and you are guaranteed to be right, which means you cannot lose a fish on the opening move of this level.
That corner cat does more than it looks. It clears the whole of row 1, the whole of column 1, and the tile at row 2, column 2. In one stroke, the entire top edge of the butter region and the left column of the matcha region come off the board.
From here nothing else is immediately forced, and that is the signal to stop placing and start crossing. The rest of the opening in these animal games is about proving which tiles cannot hold cats.
The key moment, part one: apricot owns column 3
Both apricot tiles sit in column 3, so every open apricot tile is in that column. Because every column in Meowdoku holds exactly one cat, the cat for column 3 has to be the apricot cat. That is technique T3, a color locked to one line, and it clears six tiles at once: the matcha tile at row 4, column 3, the soda tiles at row 5, column 3 and row 6, column 3, and the bubblegum tiles at row 7, column 3, row 8, column 3, and row 9, column 3.
The next idea is technique T4, where one tile touches every open tile of a color. Apricot is down to just row 2, column 3 and row 3, column 3, which are neighbors of each other. Any tile that borders both of them is finished, because the no-touching rule would kill it whichever apricot tile wins. The tiles at row 2, column 4, row 3, column 2, and row 3, column 4 all qualify, so cross all three.
Nine crosses in and no new cat has appeared yet. That is normal in the medium and hard stretches of these logic puzzle games, and it is why marking crosses with a single tap matters so much: the board holds your proof for you.
The key moment, part two: rows 2 and 3 are spoken for
Now for the clever part of Meowdoku Level 74. Apricot can only use row 2 or row 3. Look at butter: its tiles filled the top right corner, but row 1 is gone under the rose cat, so every butter tile still open is in row 2 or row 3 as well. Two different colors are confined to the same two rows.
Each of those two colors needs a cat, and each of those two rows can only hold one cat. So between them apricot and butter use up both rows completely, and no third color is allowed to place a cat in row 2 or row 3. That is technique T5, matched colors and lines, and here it lets you cross the matcha tiles at row 2, column 5 and row 3, column 5.
Those are the last two crosses you need. Matcha has been stripped of column 1 by the rose cat, of column 3 and the tiles around apricot by the earlier crosses, and now of its last footholds in rows 2 and 3. Exactly one matcha tile remains open, at row 4, column 2, and the second cat of the level finally lands. Apricot then takes row 2, column 3 and butter takes row 3, column 6, exactly as the reservation promised, and mint, soda, periwinkle, lilac, and bubblegum each drop into a single remaining tile to finish the board.
Making technique T5 part of your routine
Technique T5 sounds abstract until you have used it once, and then you start seeing it everywhere in the harder Meowdoku boards. The pattern to look for is a pair of small colors whose remaining options live inside the same pair of rows, or the same pair of columns. When that happens, those lines are booked and everything else in them can go.
The reason it works is pure counting. Two colors need two cats, two lines can hold two cats, and the colors can only reach those lines, so the match is exact with nothing left over for anyone else.
Keep these checks handy while you play this free cat puzzle game in your browser.
- List the colors with three or fewer open tiles, because only small colors get locked to lines.
- Note which rows and columns each of those colors can still reach.
- If two colors share the same two lines, cross every other color out of both lines.
- Recheck the smallest colors right after, since a T5 cross usually forces a cat somewhere nearby.
- When in doubt, use a hint instead of settling a cat you have not proven, since a wrong cat costs a fish.
Step-by-step Meowdoku Level 74 solution
Every cat below is forced by logic, in the order a careful solver finds them. No guessing is needed. If you only want a nudge, read one step, close this page, and return to the game.
Cat 1: row 1, column 1 (rose)
The rose region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 1, column 1. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 2: row 4, column 2 (matcha)
First, cross out the tiles that cannot hold a cat:
- Every open apricot tile sits in column 3, so that column's cat must be apricot. Cross out the matcha tile at row 4, column 3.
- Every open apricot tile sits in column 3, so that column's cat must be apricot. Cross out the soda tile at row 5, column 3.
- Every open apricot tile sits in column 3, so that column's cat must be apricot. Cross out the soda tile at row 6, column 3.
- Every open apricot tile sits in column 3, so that column's cat must be apricot. Cross out the bubblegum tile at row 7, column 3.
- Every open apricot tile sits in column 3, so that column's cat must be apricot. Cross out the bubblegum tile at row 8, column 3.
- Every open apricot tile sits in column 3, so that column's cat must be apricot. Cross out the bubblegum tile at row 9, column 3.
- The tile at row 2, column 4 touches every open tile left in the apricot region. Wherever the apricot cat lands, it would touch this tile, so cross it out.
- The tile at row 3, column 2 touches every open tile left in the apricot region. Wherever the apricot cat lands, it would touch this tile, so cross it out.
- The tile at row 3, column 4 touches every open tile left in the apricot region. Wherever the apricot cat lands, it would touch this tile, so cross it out.
- The apricot and butter regions can only place their cats in rows 2 and 3. Those 2 rows are reserved for those 2 colors, so cross out the matcha tile at row 2, column 5.
- The apricot and butter regions can only place their cats in rows 2 and 3. Those 2 rows are reserved for those 2 colors, so cross out the matcha tile at row 3, column 5.
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the first cat crossed out, the matcha region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 4, column 2. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 3: row 2, column 3 (apricot)
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the 2 cats placed so far crossed out, the apricot region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 2, column 3. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 4: row 3, column 6 (butter)
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the 3 cats placed so far crossed out, the butter region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 3, column 6. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 5: row 5, column 8 (mint)
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the 4 cats placed so far crossed out, the mint region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 5, column 8. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 6: row 6, column 4 (soda)
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the 5 cats placed so far crossed out, the soda region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 6, column 4. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 7: row 7, column 9 (periwinkle)
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the 6 cats placed so far crossed out, the periwinkle region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 7, column 9. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 8: row 8, column 7 (lilac)
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the 7 cats placed so far crossed out, the lilac region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 8, column 7. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Cat 9: row 9, column 5 (bubblegum)
With the rows, columns, and neighbors of the 8 cats placed so far crossed out, the bubblegum region has only one open tile left, so its cat goes on row 9, column 5. Technique: Last open tile in a color.
Meowdoku Level 74 solved board
Here is the finished board. Every row, every column, and every color holds exactly one cat, and no two cats touch, not even at the corners.
Meowdoku Level 74 FAQ
What is the solution to Meowdoku Level 74?
In solve order, the cats go on row 1, column 1 (rose); row 4, column 2 (matcha); row 2, column 3 (apricot); row 3, column 6 (butter); row 5, column 8 (mint); row 6, column 4 (soda); row 7, column 9 (periwinkle); row 8, column 7 (lilac); and row 9, column 5 (bubblegum).
Where does the first cat go in Meowdoku Level 74?
The first cat goes on row 1, column 1, the only rose tile on the board. It is a guaranteed placement, and it clears row 1 and column 1, which is what sets up every deduction that follows in Meowdoku Level 74.
How do I force the matcha cat in Meowdoku Level 74?
Apricot is locked to column 3, so cross row 4, column 3, row 5, column 3, row 6, column 3, row 7, column 3, row 8, column 3, and row 9, column 3. Then cross row 2, column 4, row 3, column 2, and row 3, column 4, because each touches every open apricot tile. Finally, apricot and butter can only use rows 2 and 3, so cross row 2, column 5 and row 3, column 5. That leaves matcha with row 4, column 2 and nothing else.
What makes Meowdoku Level 74 harder than the levels around it?
It is the only board in this stretch that needs technique T5, matched colors and lines, and it asks for eleven crosses across twenty steps. Almost all of that work happens before the second cat, which is unusual even among the trickier brain games in Meowdoku.
Can I play Meowdoku Level 74 for free?
Yes. Meowdoku is free and runs in any modern web browser, so Meowdoku Level 74 and every other level in these cat games are available without paying or installing anything.
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