Hitori Puzzles — 6x6

Free printable 6x6 hitori puzzles in PDF with answer pages. One step up from 5x5, still solvable in a few minutes. No sign-up, no email.

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Six by six is the friendliest hitori size for a solver who has learned the rules but not yet the patterns. Each row and column now holds six numbers, so triples and repeated pairs turn up far more often than on a 5x5, and the classic openings start to pay off. The connectivity rule also begins to bite here: shading a corner cell can quietly cut off its neighbor, and spotting that before you commit is the skill these sheets build.

One 6x6 hitori grid per page with clearly ruled cells and numbers positioned for easy shading around. Every puzzle has an answer page showing which cells are black in the finished grid. Sheets print in black and white on standard US Letter paper, one puzzle to a page, so they work as a quick warm-up or a filler activity.

Hitori 6x6 01 Hitori 6x6 01Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 02 Hitori 6x6 02Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 03 Hitori 6x6 03Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 04 Hitori 6x6 04Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 05 Hitori 6x6 05Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 06 Hitori 6x6 06Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 07 Hitori 6x6 07Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 08 Hitori 6x6 08Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 09 Hitori 6x6 09Download PDF ↓ Hitori 6x6 10 Hitori 6x6 10Download PDF ↓

Related printables

Hitori Puzzles — 10x10Hitori Puzzles — 5x5Hitori Puzzles — 8x8

Frequently asked questions

What does a pair of identical numbers side by side tell me?
If two identical numbers sit next to each other, at least one must be shaded, and they cannot both be shaded because shaded cells cannot touch. So exactly one of the two is black. That means any other copy of the same number elsewhere in that row or column must be shaded, since the surviving white one is already in that line.
How do I avoid breaking the connectivity rule?
Before shading a cell, check whether it is the last white link between two regions. Corners and edges are the usual traps: shading both cells adjacent to a corner isolates it. A quick habit is to trace a path from the cell you are about to shade to the far side of the grid through white cells — if there is only one such path, do not shade it.
What does the name hitori mean?
It is short for the Japanese phrase hitori ni shite kure, usually translated as let me be alone, which refers to the isolated shaded cells. The puzzle was popularized by the Japanese publisher Nikoli, the same publisher behind sudoku's modern form.
Can numbers repeat in a hitori answer?
Not among the white cells. Shaded cells are out of play, so a row can contain two 3s in the printed grid as long as one of them ends up black. Duplicates are the whole point of the puzzle — they tell you where the shading has to go.