Key Islands
A daily islands-and-channels logic puzzle.
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Key Islands
Today's chart is on its way.
Today's chart
Time 0:00
- Water: part of the one channel
- Land: part of an island
- 3 Number: the size of its island
- Red: a rule broken right here
Tap a cell to cycle open, water, land; or pick a brush. Keys: arrows move, W water, L land, Space cycles, Backspace clears, U undo.
Tap a cell to cycle it between open, water and land.
Chart the Keys to file your time.
Next tide at midnight UTC.
How everyone did today appears here once 20 players have finished.
0Solved
0No hint
0Streak
0Best streak
–Best 7×7
–Best 9×9
Today's card shows the chart with its numbers only, your time band, streak and the days to launch; a card for an earlier day shows that day's islands charted. Never today's answer.
Mark every cell land or water so each number is an island of that many cells, all the water is one channel and no 2×2 is all water. 7×7 on weekdays, 9×9 at the weekend, a 5×5 warm-up, live rule checks, one hint, a streak, personal bests and a spoiler-free result to share. A fan puzzle on an imagined archipelago, never a map.
How to play
The chart is a grid of cells, and some cells carry a number. Mark every cell land or water so that each number sits in an island of exactly that many cells, every island holds exactly one number, all the water is one connected channel, and no 2×2 block is all water. Tap a cell to cycle it, or pick a brush; an island over its number or joining two numbers, a closed island with no number or short of it, a 2×2 pool and water cut off from the channel turn red, and the checks only ever look at the rules, never at the answer. Undo and Clear all are there when a corner goes wrong. Every chart is checked when the site is built by a solver that applies the same deductions you do (separators between islands, walling a complete island, water no island can reach, 2×2 avoidance, channel connectivity, an island with a single way out), then tries a cell both ways only when nothing follows, so each has exactly one answer; the 5×5 warm-ups fall to the rules alone, with no guessing at all.
Tip one: a cell touching two different numbers must be water. Two islands can never touch edge to edge, so every cell between two numbered cells (or between two patches already joined to different numbers) is channel; two 1s a knight's move apart, and any pair of numbers two cells apart in a line, settle the cell between them at once. Tip two: once an island reaches its number, every neighbour is water. A 1 is finished before you start, so wall it in; a 2 that has grown its second cell is sealed the same way. Then let the water do the work: a 2×2 of water with one cell undecided makes that cell land, a pocket of water with one way out keeps that way open, and a cell no unfinished island can reach within its remaining count is water.
Everyone gets the same chart on the same UTC day: 7×7 on weekdays, 9×9 at the weekend, and newcomers can switch on the 5×5 warm-up, which still counts. One hint a day marks one cell the rules force, says which rule, and marks the result as assisted. When the last cell settles, the tide settles with it: the channel shimmers, palms rise on the bigger islands, and the chart keeper signs off with your time. The archive lets you play any earlier day's chart and practice charts come from a spare pool; both are marked and never count. Key Islands is a fan puzzle drawn on an imagined archipelago: nothing here is a map, a place or an asset from GTA 6, nothing traces a leak, and nothing is presented as official. For more deduction try the Tide Loop, the Harbor Lights and the Island Bridges.
Questions
What are the rules?
The chart is a grid of cells, and some cells carry a number. Mark every cell land or water so that each number sits in an island (a patch of land joined edge to edge) of exactly that many cells, every island holds exactly one number, all the water forms one connected channel, and no 2×2 block is all water. Every chart here has exactly one answer.
How do I mark a cell?
Tap a cell to cycle it: open, water, land, open. Or pick a brush (Water, Land or Clear) and every tap paints that; tap the brush again to go back to cycling. On a keyboard the arrows move the cursor, W marks water, L or the full stop marks land, Space cycles, Backspace, Delete or 0 clears, U undoes. Undo takes back the last change and Clear all empties the chart. No soft keyboard ever opens.
What do the highlights mean?
A red island has grown past its number or joined two numbers; a red closed island has no number or is short of it; red water is a 2×2 pool or a pocket cut off from the rest of the channel. The checks only ever look at the rules, never at the answer. One hint a day marks one cell the rules force, says which rule, and marks the result as assisted.
What is the warm-up?
A 5×5 chart for newcomers, switched on with the Warm-up toggle (remembered on this device). Every warm-up falls to the named rules alone, with no guessing. It counts as the day's solve; the 7×7 weekday and 9×9 weekend charts are what the best times are about.
Is this the game's map?
No. Key Islands is a fan logic puzzle drawn on an imagined archipelago. Nothing here traces any map of the game or of any real coast, nothing comes from a leak, and nothing is presented as official. For what is actually known about the setting, see the map and the regions pages on this site.
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