Meowdoku Level 98 Walkthrough: Four Stacked Rows and a Hard 9x9

The banded board of Meowdoku Level 98

Nine colors share the grid here, namely rose, apricot, butter, matcha, mint, soda, periwinkle, lilac, and bubblegum. Rose is the smallest region on the board, a single tile at row 1, column 1. Apricot is next with only two tiles, sitting side by side at row 2, columns 5 and 6, right in the middle of the butter region.

Matcha and periwinkle each hold six tiles, mint holds seven down the right edge, lilac holds eleven in the bottom left, soda holds thirteen on the left, butter holds fifteen across the top, and bubblegum is the giant of this cat puzzle game with twenty tiles filling the bottom right and the last row.

What makes this board tick is that the top five rows are built as horizontal bands. Butter owns most of rows 1 through 3, matcha owns a band in row 3 and row 4, mint runs down column 9, and soda occupies a rectangle at columns 1 through 4 of rows 3 through 6. Bands stacked on top of a rectangle is the recipe for a long cascade in these brain games.

The opening: rose at row 1, column 1

The first cat in Meowdoku Level 98 goes on row 1, column 1. Rose is a one-tile region, so the rose cat belongs there and nowhere else. Technique T1, the last open tile in a color, settles the opening for you.

Clearing row 1 and column 1 is more valuable than it looks on this board. Row 1 was almost entirely butter, and column 1 cut through soda and lilac, so a single corner placement trims three of the largest regions at once before the real work starts in this cat puzzle game.

The key moment: apricot, butter, matcha, and mint claim four rows

This is the heart of Meowdoku Level 98 and it takes seventeen crosses before the second cat appears. Work strictly downward. Every open apricot tile sits in row 2, so row 2 belongs to apricot: cross the butter tiles at row 2, columns 3, 4, and 7 and the mint tiles at row 2, columns 8 and 9. That is technique T3, a color locked to one line.

Butter has now been squeezed entirely into row 3, so row 3 belongs to butter: cross the soda tiles at row 3, columns 2 and 3, the matcha tiles at row 3, columns 7 and 8, and the mint tile at row 3, column 9. Matcha is squeezed into row 4: cross the soda tiles at row 4, columns 2, 3, and 4 and the mint tile at row 4, column 9. Mint is squeezed into row 5: cross the soda tiles at row 5, columns 2, 3, and 4.

Look at what those four locks did together. Soda originally had thirteen tiles, mostly in the rectangle from row 3 to row 6 across columns 1 to 4. The rose cat took column 1, and the butter, matcha, and mint locks took out every soda tile in rows 3, 4, and 5. Soda is left with exactly one open tile at row 6, column 2, and the second cat settles there. Four colors that never touched soda directly still cornered it completely, which is the most satisfying moment on this board.

Two neighbor crosses place the butter cat

The third cat in Meowdoku Level 98 needs five more crosses, and two of them use the only advanced technique on this board. First, keep the mint row lock working: cross the bubblegum tiles at row 5, columns 5, 6, and 7, since row 5 belongs to mint.

Now the interesting part, technique T4. Apricot has just two tiles, at row 2, column 5 and row 2, column 6, and the apricot cat must take one of them. The tile at row 3, column 5 touches both, and so does the tile at row 3, column 6. Whichever tile apricot chooses, it would be a neighbor of both, so neither can ever hold a cat and both are crossed out.

Those two crosses leave butter with a single open tile at row 3, column 4, which is the third cat. Apricot follows at row 2, column 6 and lilac at row 8, column 3. Then a periwinkle row lock in row 7 clears the bubblegum tile at row 7, column 5, leaving column 5 with one open tile at row 9, column 5 for bubblegum. Column 7 is likewise down to one open tile, so matcha lands at row 4, column 7, and those two placements use technique T2, the last open tile in a line. Mint closes out at row 5, column 9 and periwinkle finishes at row 7, column 8.

How to work a long cascade without losing your place

Twenty-three crosses is a lot to hold in your head, and the main way players lose fish on hard boards like this one is by trying to remember eliminations instead of marking them. Level 98 is almost entirely mechanical once you find the first row lock; the difficulty is bookkeeping, not insight.

These habits keep a long cascade under control on any hard board in this collection of free online games.

• Mark every cross with a single tap the instant you prove it, so your progress lives on the board rather than in memory.
• Work a cascade in one direction, top to bottom here, instead of jumping between different parts of the grid.
• After each row lock, immediately check whether the color you just shrank is now confined to a line of its own.
• Keep an eye on the big region the cascade is aimed at, since soda quietly runs out of tiles while you work on other colors.
• Watch for small two-tile colors like apricot, because the tiles beside both of their options are always safe to cross.

What is the solution to Meowdoku Level 98?

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

Where do I put the first cat in Meowdoku Level 98?

Put the first cat on row 1, column 1. Rose is a single-tile region, so the rose cat has no other option, and clearing that row and column trims butter, soda, and lilac all at once in this cat puzzle game.

How does the soda cat get forced in Meowdoku Level 98?

Apricot claims row 2, butter claims row 3, matcha claims row 4, and mint claims row 5. Those locks cross out the soda tiles at row 3, columns 2 and 3, row 4, columns 2, 3, and 4, and row 5, columns 2, 3, and 4. With column 1 already cleared by the rose cat, soda has one open tile left at row 6, column 2.

Why is Meowdoku Level 98 rated hard?

Because it needs thirty-two steps and twenty-three crosses, including twenty-one line locks, and the second cat alone requires seventeen crosses. Nothing on the board is subtle, but the sheer length makes it one of the more demanding brain games in this part of the Meowdoku campaign.

Do I need to install anything to play Meowdoku Level 98?

No. Meowdoku is free and plays entirely in your browser, so Level 98 loads instantly on desktop or mobile. Single-tap a tile to mark a cross, double-tap to settle a cat, and use a hint if you want the next forced cat revealed.