Step 8 of 8
Count a hungry pillar
Needs two, has two open neighbors. There’s nothing left to decide.
The rule of thumb: A pillar that still needs torches with only just enough open neighbors forces every one of them.
When a pillar still needs torches and only just enough open neighbors remain, every one of those neighbors holds a torch. It’s simple subtraction — need minus placed equals open — but mid-game, with your eye on the lighting, it’s the easiest count in the game to skip.
This is the workhorse: on most boards a big share of the torches comes from counting, pillar by pillar. Torches forced around one pillar never see each other (the pillar sits between any two in line), but each one lights a whole cross — after placing them, mark their sight lines X. These practice boards can’t be finished any other way.
Where to look: Any pillar whose number is close to its open-neighbor count. Count need, count placed, count open — when the three line up, fill them all.
Worked example
A real position from a board that needs Count a hungry pillar. Purple: what the reasoning rests on. Dashed: the cells in question. Green: what it proves.
That’s the whole track: scan for lone lighters, mark what pillars forbid, count what they still need. Every Easy board on the play page falls to these eight; Medium adds longer chains. Play a full board →