How to play Campfire

Campfire is a daily tents and trees puzzle. You pitch a tent next to every tree, with no two tents touching, until every row and column holds as many tents as its number says. A puzzle takes two to eight minutes.

The rules

One tent per tree. Every tree gets a tent right next to it: above, below, left or right. Diagonal doesn't count.
Every tent belongs to one tree. There are as many tents as trees. A tent can stand next to two trees, but it still belongs to only one of them.
Tents never touch, not side by side and not at a corner.
The numbers on the top and left say exactly how many tents each column and row holds.

A puzzle and its answer. Each tree has its own tent, and no two tents touch.

Controls

Tap once to pitch a tent.
Tap twice to swap the tent for grass, your note that a tile has no tent. A third tap clears the tile.
Drag across tiles to mark grass on several at once.
Tap a number once its row or column has all its tents, and the rest of that line turns to grass.
On a keyboard: arrow keys move, Space cycles a tile, T pitches a tent, G marks grass, Backspace clears it.
Hint highlights the next step you can prove and explains why.
Two tents that touch, or a tent with no tree beside it, get a red ring. So does a number with too many tents, or with too few free tiles left.

Eight techniques that solve every board

Every Campfire puzzle can be finished with the moves below. Easy puzzles need only the first five. Medium puzzles add counting the gaps or the shared corner. Hard puzzles need the last one at least once.

1. No tree, no tent

A tent must stand right next to a tree. Any tile with no tree above, below, left or right of it can never hold one, so mark it as grass. On a fresh board this clears a lot of tiles at once.

Only the tiles beside a tree can hold a tent. Everything else is grass.

2. Grass around every tent

Tents never touch, not even at a corner. As soon as you pitch a tent, the eight tiles around it are grass.

3. Full rows and columns

A 0 means the whole row or column is grass. When a line already has all its tents, the rest of it is grass. And when a line has exactly as many free tiles left as tents it still needs, every one of them gets a tent.

4. A tree with one free side

Look at a tree that still has no tent. If only one tile next to it is still free, its tent goes there.

The 0 makes the tile right of the tree grass, so its tent goes below it.

5. Trees that already have a tent

Pair trees and tents as you go. A tent next to only one tree belongs to that tree. A tile whose trees all have their own tents already can't hold one, because that tent would have no tree left to belong to.

6. Count the gaps

Take a row that needs a few more tents and look at its free tiles. Tents can't sit side by side, so there are only a few ways to fit them. A tile every way uses gets a tent. A tile no way uses is grass. And a tile in the next row that every way touches is grass too.

Two tents in three free tiles: only the two ends work. The middle and everything touching both tents is grass.

7. The shared corner

A tree with two free tiles left around a corner, like above and left, will put its tent on one of them. The tile diagonal to the tree touches both, so whichever one gets the tent, that tile is grass.

The tree's tent goes above it or to its left. Both touch the corner tile, so it is grass.

8. Follow it through

On hard boards, imagine a tent on a tile, or imagine it as grass, and play the simple moves from there in your head. If you soon reach two touching tents, a row with the wrong number of tents, or a tree with no tent left, the guess was wrong and the opposite is true. Start with tiles next to two trees.

Questions

When does a new puzzle come out?

At midnight in your own time zone. The board grows through the week, from 6×6 on Monday to 10×10 on Sunday.

Do I need an account?

No. Your streak, times and progress are saved in this browser. Clearing browser data removes them.

Does using a hint break my streak?

No. Your result just shows how many hints you used.

Is Campfire the same as Tents and Trees?

Yes, the rules come from the classic pencil puzzle known as Tents and Trees, or Tents. Campfire has its own boards made by our own generator, a new puzzle every day, 300 practice puzzles and step-by-step hints.

Do I have to show which tent goes with which tree?

No. You only pitch the tents. The puzzle is solved when they stand in the right places, and the pairs follow from that.

Can a puzzle need a guess?

No. Before a puzzle is published, a solver works through it with the eight techniques above, step by step. If it ever has to guess, the puzzle is thrown away.

Play today's Campfire