Two Tone
How to play

Two Tone

Fill every square with a sun or a moon. Never three alike in a line, each row and column half and half, and = or × between two squares means same or different.

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The rules

  1. 1
    Suns and moons

    Tap an empty square to place a sun, again for a moon, a third time to clear it. The shaded squares are given and cannot change.

  2. 2
    Never three in a row

    No three suns, and no three moons, may sit side by side — across or down.

  3. 3
    Half and half

    Every row and every column ends up with as many suns as moons.

  4. 4
    Read the signs

    An = between two squares means they match; a × means they differ.

  5. 5
    Fill the grid

    The puzzle is solved when every square is filled and no rule is broken. Broken rules are hatched in red as you go.

Controls

Mouse / touch
Tap a square to cycle it: sun, moon, empty.
Keyboard
Arrow keys move, Space cycles, S or 1 places a sun, M or 2 a moon, Backspace clears. Ctrl+Z undoes.

Tips

  • A pair points at its neighbours: the squares either side of two matching symbols must be the other one.
  • A gap between two matching symbols is forced too — sun, gap, sun means the gap is a moon.
  • Count as you go. Once a row has all of its suns, every other square in it is a moon.
  • A × next to a given square decides its neighbour outright; start there.
The twist

Two symbols sounds like a coin toss, but "never three in a row" turns every pair you place into a chain of forced squares.

Every square takes a sun or a moon. No three alike may sit in a line, every row and column ends up half and half, and the = and × signs between squares say whether two neighbours match. Every board has exactly one answer, and deduction alone reaches it.

Common questions

How do you play Two Tone?

Fill every square with a sun or a moon so that no three alike sit in a line, every row and column is half suns and half moons, and each = or × sign between two squares is respected.

Is there only one solution?

Yes. Boards are generated from a finished grid, and givens are only removed while a solver still finds exactly one answer, so you can always deduce your way through without guessing.

What do the = and × signs mean?

They sit on the border between two squares. An = means both squares hold the same symbol; a × means one is a sun and the other a moon.

Is Two Tone like Tango or Takuzu?

It is the same family: binary puzzles with a no-three-in-a-row rule and balanced lines. Two Tone is our own build of it, with three sizes, a daily board that is the same for everyone, streaks and a leaderboard.

More puzzles

Every past Two Tone daily · Two Tone leaderboard