Tents and Trees Strategy: 6 Techniques
1. Grass first
Any cell not beside a tree is grass. Mark it: the remaining cells are the only candidates.
2. Zero lines
A row or column with a 0 is all grass.
3. One spot
A tree with a single free neighbour gets its tent there. Then the cells around that tent are grass.
4. Count the gaps
If a row needs 3 tents and has exactly 3 free cells, they're all tents. If it already has its 3, the rest is grass.
5. Tents can't be adjacent
Two free cells side by side in a row that needs one tent between them: the tent is in one of the two, so cells touching both are grass.
6. Trees sharing a cell
If two trees both only have the same free cell left, something's wrong: one of them must take a different cell. Follow that chain.
Frequently asked questions
Where do you start a tents puzzle?
Mark grass everywhere that isn't next to a tree, and fill rows and columns with a count of 0. That usually leaves some trees with only one possible spot.
Last updated 2026-10-20