Home›Mochi Pixel
Mochi Pixel
Read the row and column number clues, spend your exact budget of candy blocks on the right squares, and a hidden picture lights up tile by tile.
About Mochi Pixel
Mochi Pixel is a small, cozy nonogram — the picture-logic puzzle also called picross or paint-by-numbers. Each board is a blank grid of square cells with run-length number clues stacked along the left edge (one set per row) and across the top (one set per column). A clue like 2 1 means that line contains a run of two filled cells, then a gap, then a single filled cell, in that order. By reading a row's clues against the columns that cross it, you work out exactly which squares belong to the hidden candy picture and which stay empty.
What sets this version apart is the block budget. You are handed precisely as many candy blocks as the finished picture needs, and the top-of-screen counter shows how many you have LEFT to place. Spend a block on the wrong square and the game simply stops letting you place more once the budget runs out — you have to erase a mistake to free a block back up. You can never end with too many filled cells, which keeps the puzzle gentle: the win check is a forgiving exact match (your filled squares must equal the picture's squares, no more and no less), not a strict 'only one possible solution' rule.
The clue numbers help you check yourself as you go. Each row clue and column clue turns green the moment the COUNT of cells you have filled in that line equals the line's total, and red if you somehow go over it. It only ever looks at how MANY cells you filled, never at which ones, so it nudges you toward the right amount without spoiling where the squares actually go.
There are 20 hand-tuned levels arranged as five candy worlds of four levels each — Berry, Citrus, Mint, Ocean, and Galaxy — and the grid grows slowly from a tiny 3x3 in Berry up to a 6x6 in Ocean and Galaxy, where Galaxy's pictures are the densest. Clear the last curated level and Endless mode takes over, generating fresh boards that pick up at the 6x6 finale's difficulty and creep toward 7x7 with fuller pictures as the level number climbs. Every puzzle is built from its own solution, so it is always solvable, there is no timer and no way to lose, and finishing one always earns three stars and a sparkly reveal of the completed picture.
How to play Mochi Pixel
- Read the clues first: the numbers down the left tell you the filled runs in each row, and the numbers across the top do the same for each column.
- Tap an empty cell to spend one candy block on it. Tap a filled cell again to erase it and get that block back.
- Watch the LEFT counter at the top — it is your exact block budget. When it hits zero you have placed them all, so any remaining wrong guess has to be erased before you can fill elsewhere.
- Use the green and red clue numbers as a check: a row or column clue goes green when you have filled the right TOTAL of cells in it, and red if you have filled too many.
- Long-press a cell (hold it briefly) to flip your stroke into X-mark mode, then tap squares you have ruled out — the X is a memory aid only and is ignored by the win check.
- Drag across several cells to paint them all in one stroke; the whole stroke repeats whatever you did to the first cell (fill, erase, X, or remove an X).
- Place every block on its correct square so your filled cells exactly match the hidden picture — it lights up, you earn three stars, then tap Next or open Levels.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Tap a cell | Fill it with a candy block (tap a filled cell to erase and refund the block) |
| Long-press a cell (~0.3s) | Flip the current stroke into X-mark mode to flag a ruled-out square |
| Drag across cells | Paint a run, repeating the action you took on the first cell |
| C or Backspace | Clear the whole board — wipes every fill and X-mark |
| Settings button | Open level select, the sound toggle, and Clear |
| Space or Enter | On the win card, jump to the next level |
Tips & strategy
- Start with the biggest clue in a line. If a single run is longer than half the line, the cells in its middle must be filled no matter how the run slides — claim those overlap squares first.
- Mind the block budget. Because you can never place more blocks than the picture needs, an over-filled line shows up as a red clue number — back off and erase until it is no longer red.
- Treat a green clue as confirmation: once a row or column shows green, you have the right COUNT for that line, so spend your remaining blocks on lines that are still white.
- Lean on X-marks for cells you have proven empty. Flagging them stops you re-checking the same dead squares and makes the real filled runs jump out.
- Work rows and columns together — filling part of one column often forces a square in a crossing row, which forces the next column, and so on in a chain.
- When a row's runs plus the single gaps between them add up to the full width, the line is fully determined — fill it straight across.
- Stuck? Press C (or use Clear in settings) to wipe the board and look again with fresh eyes; you lose no progress and there is no penalty for restarting a board.
Game features
- A nonogram / picross puzzle: fill the grid from row and column run-length clues to reveal a hidden candy picture.
- A built-in block budget — you get exactly as many blocks as the picture needs, and the HUD counts how many are left so you can never over-fill.
- Live clue feedback: each row and column number turns green when its filled count matches and red when it goes over, by count only so it never gives the answer away.
- A forgiving exact-match win — your filled squares just have to equal the picture, with no strict single-solution requirement, so the boards stay kid-friendly.
- 20 hand-tuned levels across five candy worlds (Berry, Citrus, Mint, Ocean, Galaxy), each with its own colour palette and glow.
- Grids that ramp gently from a 3x3 in Berry up to 6x6 in Ocean and Galaxy, with Galaxy's pictures the densest.
- An Endless mode after the curated set that generates fresh boards starting at the 6x6 finale's difficulty and climbing toward 7x7.
- Tap-to-fill, drag-to-paint strokes, and a long-press X-mark mode for flagging ruled-out cells.
- No timer and no fail state, a one-button Clear to restart any board, three-star wins with a sparkly picture reveal, saved level progress, and mutable synthesized sound.
Game details
- Title
- Mochi Pixel
- Genre
- Puzzle
- Players
- 1 player
- Controls
- Tap a cell to fill it, long-press to switch to X-marks, drag to paint a run (mouse or touch)
- Platforms
- Web browser, Android, iOS (no download)
- Developer
- Anime Mochi
- Released
- 2026
- Last updated
- June 2026
- Price
- Free to play
Frequently asked questions
What is a nonogram (picross) and how do the clues work?
It is a picture-logic puzzle. The numbers beside each row and above each column list the runs of filled squares in that line and their order — so 3 1 means three filled in a row, a gap, then one more. Cross-referencing the rows against the columns tells you exactly which squares to fill, and a hidden picture appears.
What is the 'left' number at the top of the screen?
That is your block budget — the exact count of squares the picture needs, minus the ones you have already filled. When it reaches zero you have placed every block, so to fix a mistake you erase a wrong square (which refunds a block) and place it correctly. You can never fill more squares than the picture has.
Why do some clue numbers turn green or red?
A row or column clue turns green when the number of cells you have filled in that line matches its clue total, and red when you have filled too many. It only counts how MANY cells are filled, never which ones, so it confirms your totals without revealing where the squares actually belong.
What are the X-marks for, and do they count?
Long-press a cell to switch into X-mark mode, then tap squares you have logically ruled out. The Xs are purely a memory aid — they are completely ignored by the win check, so marking or un-marking them never affects whether the picture is complete.
How do I actually read the clues to figure out which squares to fill?
Look at one line's run-length clue and ask where the run can possibly sit. On a small Berry or Citrus board a run that is longer than half the line always covers the same middle squares no matter how it slides, so fill those overlap squares first. Then look at the columns that cross them: a forced filled square in a row often pins a square in its column, which in turn forces the next row. You ladder back and forth between rows and columns, and on the 6x6 Ocean and Galaxy boards that chain of deductions is most of the puzzle.
How does Mochi Pixel differ from a standard nonogram app?
Two things. First, the block budget: a normal picross lets you fill anything and only checks at the end, but here you hold exactly as many blocks as the picture needs and the counter physically stops you once they are all placed, so you can never over-fill. Second, the win is a forgiving exact match — your filled squares just have to equal the picture, not be the single mathematically-unique solution — which lets the boards stay small and kid-friendly without ambiguous-puzzle frustration.
How big do the puzzles get and is there an endless supply?
The 20 curated levels start at a tiny 3x3 in the Berry world and grow to 6x6 by Ocean and Galaxy, where the candy pictures get densest. Once you clear level 20, Endless mode generates fresh boards forever — each one starts around that 6x6 finale's difficulty and slowly grows toward 7x7 with fuller pictures as the level number climbs, and the world theme rotates so no two look alike. Your furthest level and its stars are kept in your browser between visits.
If you like Mochi Pixel
About the developer
Anime Mochi is a small independent studio making free, original browser games by hand in HTML5, JavaScript, and Canvas.
