What is Daily Akari?
Daily Akari is a single Light Up puzzle each day, drawn with small black blocks that have faces. You place lights on empty squares; each light projects beams along its row and column until blocked. The puzzle is complete when every square is lit and every numbered block has exactly the number of adjacent lights it requests. The core constraint: no light may illuminate another light.
How to play Daily Akari
- Tap an empty square to place a light. It illuminates its entire row and column until a black block stops the beam.
- Check the numbered blocks. Each number shows how many lights must touch that block's sides. Unmarked blocks have no count requirement.
- Press and hold, or right-click, to mark a square with ✗ when you know it cannot hold a light.
- Continue until every square is lit and every numbered block displays a smile, confirming it has the correct number of adjacent lights.
What makes the puzzle solvable
The grid determines each move. A block marked 0 means none of its four neighbors can contain a light. A block marked 4 means all four must contain lights. When a block has received the required number of lights, it changes to a smiling face, so you can track progress without recounting its neighbors.
The hardest squares are often the ones only one light can reach, such as a corner or the end of a corridor. Because every square must be lit, the line leading to that square must contain a light. That forced placement can open up the rest of the board.
Lights throw bright cyan beams that stop at blocks, separating lit regions from dark ones against muted unlit squares. Numbered blocks show white dashes and swap them for smiles when satisfied. Squares you mark with ✗ can auto-clear once a beam reaches them, keeping the board uncluttered. The result screen shows solve time and, if Pro Mode is on, accuracy.
Pro Mode and accuracy
Pro Mode changes only the reporting. It adds an accuracy figure beside solve time in the result and share message. The grid, rules, and assists remain identical.
Archive and difficulty
The archive extends back to January 2025. Easy grids take around five minutes; harder ones take longer. Each puzzle has a single unambiguous solution and is credited to its setter under the date. There are no streaks, leaderboards, or social features—only your own clock and optional accuracy tracking.
Strategy for faster solving
Use extreme counts first. A zero forbids all four neighbors; a four fills all four. Both are certainties before you place anything.
Mark ✗ freely around satisfied blocks. A smiling block can never take another light, so every adjacent empty square is dead and crossing them off shrinks the search.
Look for squares only one line can reach. A corner pocket or corridor end forces a light somewhere on that line, and that forced placement typically unlocks the rest of the grid.