Meowdoku Level 89 Walkthrough: Two Reserved Blocks on a 10x10 Grid

The Meowdoku Level 89 board layout

The ten colors are rose, apricot, butter, matcha, mint, soda, periwinkle, lilac, bubblegum, and latte. Rose is the smallest region on the board, a single tile at row 1, column 4. Apricot has four tiles in a block at rows 1 and 2, columns 5 and 6, and periwinkle and lilac both have six tiles, periwinkle on the left around rows 6 and 7 and lilac on the right around rows 6 to 8.

Bubblegum takes nine tiles in the bottom left corner, butter ten tiles across the top right, and mint thirteen tiles filling the top left. Soda also has thirteen tiles down the right side, and matcha has fourteen winding through the centre from row 2 to row 8.

Latte is the largest region in this cat puzzle game with twenty-four tiles, covering the bottom two rows and reaching up through the middle. As usual on a board with one dominant color, latte is the last cat to be placed and it never provides a clue of its own. The real work in Meowdoku Level 89 happens among mint, matcha, periwinkle, and bubblegum.

The opening move and the two cats that follow

Your first cat goes on row 1, column 4. Rose is a single tile there, so the rose cat has exactly one possible home and you can place it before doing anything else. On a 10x10 board that is a very welcome start.

Clearing row 1 and column 4 leaves apricot with only row 2, column 6 available, so that is your second cat with no crosses needed. Butter then loses enough of the top right that it is down to row 3, column 8, giving you a third cat just as cheaply.

Three cats placed and the board has cost you nothing yet, which is typical of the friendlier stretch of these animal games. The fourth cat is where Meowdoku Level 89 decides to be a medium level, and it takes thirteen crosses to earn.

The key moment: two colors book two rows

Start with a neighbour cross. The tile at row 5, column 2 touches every open mint tile, so wherever the mint cat lands it would be sitting right beside it. That tile is impossible, and crossing it shrinks mint sharply.

Now the central idea of Meowdoku Level 89, technique T5, matched colors and lines. After the first three cats, matcha and mint can each only place a cat in row 4 or row 5. Two colors needing two rows fill both rows between them, so no other color is allowed a cat in row 4 or row 5. That single argument clears the soda tile at row 4, column 10, the latte tile at row 5, column 5, and the soda tiles at row 5, columns 7, 9, and 10.

Soda is now badly squeezed. The tile at row 6, column 9 touches every open soda tile, so it is crossed too. Then every remaining soda tile sits in column 10, which means column 10 belongs to soda, so the lilac tiles at row 7 and row 8 of column 10 and the latte tiles at row 9 and row 10 of column 10 all go. Lilac in turn becomes locked to column 9, removing the latte tiles at row 9, column 9 and row 10, column 9. Soda is finally down to one open tile at row 6, column 10, and the fourth cat lands. Lilac follows immediately at row 8, column 9.

The second reserved block: columns 1, 2, and 3

The sixth cat in Meowdoku Level 89 repeats the same trick in a bigger form, and this time it works on columns. First a line claim: every open periwinkle tile sits in row 7, so row 7 belongs to periwinkle, which clears the bubblegum tile at row 7, column 3 and the latte tiles at row 7, columns 5 and 7.

Now look at the left edge. Mint, periwinkle, and bubblegum can each only place a cat in column 1, column 2, or column 3. Three colors needing three columns use all three columns between them, so every other color must leave. The only tile that argument removes is the matcha tile at row 5, column 3, but it is the tile that matters: matcha is left with one open option at row 4, column 5, and that is your sixth cat.

The board then empties out. Mint takes row 5, column 1, periwinkle row 7, column 2, bubblegum row 9, column 3, and latte closes Meowdoku Level 89 at row 10, column 7. Notice how the three colors that reserved the left columns each ended up using one of them, exactly as the argument promised.

Tips for using matched colors in Meowdoku

If you take one thing from Meowdoku Level 89, make it this: matched colors work for any matching size. Two colors confined to two lines book those lines, three colors confined to three lines book those lines, and the same reasoning holds for rows and columns alike. It is the technique that separates the medium and hard boards from the easy ones.

Finding it is a matter of bookkeeping rather than brilliance. Each time a color drops to two or three candidates, note the rows and columns it can still reach. When two or three colors share the same short list, you have found a reserved block, and every other color leaves those lines.

• Note the reachable rows and columns for each color as soon as it shrinks to a few tiles.
• Compare those short lists between colors; matching lists mean a reserved block.
• The same idea works for columns, as mint, periwinkle, and bubblegum show on the left edge here.
• A reserved block may only produce one cross, but that cross is usually the one you needed.
• Leave the dominant region, latte in this case, until the very end of the board.

What is the solution to Meowdoku Level 89?

In solve order, the cats go on row 1, column 4 (rose); row 2, column 6 (apricot); row 3, column 8 (butter); row 6, column 10 (soda); row 8, column 9 (lilac); row 4, column 5 (matcha); row 5, column 1 (mint); row 7, column 2 (periwinkle); row 9, column 3 (bubblegum); and row 10, column 7 (latte).

What is the first move in Meowdoku Level 89?

Place the first cat on row 1, column 4. Rose is a single-tile region there, so the rose cat is forced with no crosses at all, which is the ideal way to open a 10x10 board.

How do I find the soda cat in Meowdoku Level 89?

Cross out row 5, column 2 because it touches every open mint tile. Matcha and mint then reserve rows 4 and 5, which clears the soda tile at row 4, column 10, the latte tile at row 5, column 5, and the soda tiles at row 5, columns 7, 9, and 10. Cross out row 6, column 9 because it touches every open soda tile. Soda is then locked to column 10, removing the lilac tiles at row 7 and row 8 of column 10 and the latte tiles at row 9 and row 10 of column 10, and lilac is locked to column 9, removing the latte tiles at row 9, column 9 and row 10, column 9. Soda is left with row 6, column 10.

Why do mint, periwinkle, and bubblegum block columns 1, 2, and 3?

Because at that point in the solve each of those three colors can only place its cat in column 1, column 2, or column 3. Three colors needing three columns use all three, so no other color may take a cat there. That is what lets you cross out the matcha tile at row 5, column 3 and force the matcha cat to row 4, column 5.

Is Meowdoku Level 89 free to play in a browser?

Yes. Meowdoku is a free cat puzzle game with no download required, and it runs in any modern web browser on phones and computers. If a long stretch of crosses stalls you on this board, a hint will reveal the next forced cat.