Meowdoku review: one cat per row, column and colour, and nobody touches

What is Meowdoku?

Meowdoku is a cat-themed cousin of Queens and Star Battle. The board is a square grid split into coloured regions, and your job is to place cats so that each row, each column and each colour holds exactly one. The extra rule is the one that makes it interesting: cats like their space, so no two may sit side by side or diagonally next to each other.

The site calls it a cosy logic puzzle, and that is a fair description. There are no numbers, no arithmetic and no time pressure unless you want it. Every board is generated with a single solution that can be reached step by step, so if you find yourself guessing, there is a deduction you have missed. It is free, runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, and is available in English, French and German.

How a board plays

Tapping a cell cycles it through three states: a cat, then a cross, then empty again. Right-click on a computer, or a long press on a phone, puts a cross down straight away. Crosses are your notes for cells that cannot hold a cat, and most of the solving happens there. The cats tend to appear once enough of the board is crossed out.

The game does give you some feedback. If two cats touch, or two share a row, a column or a colour, they turn red immediately. What it will not do is tell you that a cat is simply in the wrong place. A misplaced cat that breaks no rule yet stays unmarked, and you only learn the truth when the board lights up as solved. We like this balance: careless clashes are caught, but the actual reasoning is left to you.

Undo steps back one move, with Ctrl+Z on a keyboard, and Clear wipes the board while the timer keeps running. Arrow keys move between cells and X toggles a cross, which makes the larger boards pleasant to play without a mouse.

Daily or Unlimited?

The Daily puzzle is one 7x7 board, the same for everyone, and it changes at midnight in your local time. Puzzle #1 went out on 1 October 2026. When you finish, the timer stops and a share button copies a short result: the puzzle number, the board size, your time and a row of cat emojis. It deliberately leaves out the solved grid, so posting it in a group chat will not spoil anyone’s morning.

Unlimited mode offers three sizes, labelled Easy (5x5), Medium (7x7) and Hard (9x9). Each board is generated in your browser and checked for a single solution before you see it, and an unfinished board in each size is saved, so you can leave a 9x9 and come back to it later. If you prefer drawing pictures from number clues to placing pieces, Nonograms is the closest relative on the same network.

Difficulty and strategy

The 5x5 boards are a warm-up and fall quickly once you know the touching rule. The 7x7 daily is the sweet spot, with enough interaction between regions that you need a couple of real deductions. The 9x9 boards are where the puzzle earns its keep, because a cat placed early rules out a whole neighbourhood and the regions start to squeeze each other. The timer starts when the board appears and pauses while the tab is in the background, so a coffee refill does not cost you anything.

What could be better

There are no hints. That fits the purist idea of the puzzle, and the red clash markers catch most slips, but on a hard 9x9 you can end up staring at a board with no way to get a nudge. A single optional hint that reveals one forced cell would help newcomers without spoiling anything for everyone else.

The other gap is long-term tracking. Meowdoku saves your board and settings in the browser, but there is no streak counter or statistics screen, so the only record of how you did is the share text. The language list is also shorter than on some sister sites, with English, French and German only.

Verdict

Meowdoku is a well-made daily logic puzzle with a light touch. The rules are simple, the boards are fair, the clash markers save you from silly mistakes without doing the thinking for you, and Unlimited gives you as much practice as you want in three sizes. Settings are kept to dark mode and the timer, which suits a quiet puzzle like this. It lacks hints and stats, but if you enjoy Star Battle or the Queens craze, the daily 7x7 is an easy habit to pick up.

Meowdoku FAQ