Darkenn

About the game

Darkenn is a calm logic puzzle about turning every light off. Each move changes the light you touch and its four nearest neighbours: above, below, left, and right. Diagonal lights stay untouched.

Beneath that simple rule is binary mathematics. Every light is either on or off, and each move behaves like an XOR operation. Darkenn’s solver uses linear algebra over GF(2) to calculate a minimum-move solution.

That calculation is easy for a computer but remarkably difficult to reason through by eye. A 5×5 board has around 34 million possible states, including about 9 million solvable ones. A 6×6 board has roughly 69 billion solvable states, while a 7×7 board reaches approximately 563 trillion.

Boards of 5×5 and above become significantly more challenging when the goal is not merely to solve them, but to find a minimum-move solution.

Darkenn is a solitary logic puzzle with the contemplative focus of Go: simple to learn, difficult to master.

Daily leaderboard

Daily rankings use the official server-computed score first, with moves and time as tie-breakers.

The MVP Global Leaderboard combines official Daily Challenge scores into one table.

Privacy

Darkenn stores preferences and progress in your browser, including onboarding, sound settings, and local play data. If leaderboard features are enabled, submitted display names and scores may be stored for ranking purposes.

Terms

Play fairly. Do not automate, abuse, or manipulate leaderboard submissions. Suspicious or inappropriate entries may be removed.