Dirt Detective

About Tucker

Tucker was a yellow Lab with a big voice, a bigger heart, and a famous habit: he ate rocks. Not chewed. Ate. He had the surgeries to prove it, and he never once seemed sorry. He loved pizza, lived for the ball, and would not touch broccoli under any circumstances.

Tucker also had a system for the yard. Every bone he was ever given got buried out there: one to a flower bed, one to a row, one to a column, never two side by side. He didn't remember where they all were. He didn't need to. He could work it out.

So every morning he'd put on his thinking hat and go looking for a fresh place to dig. He'd turn over a square of dirt, stick his nose in, and count how many bones were buried next door. None? Then the whole neighborhood was safe and he'd keep going. One or two? Then he'd slow down and think, because the one rule Tucker lived by was this: a buried bone stays buried. Dig up the whole yard if you like, but dig up a bone and you've ruined a perfectly good hiding place.

And if he happened to turn up a rock along the way, well. Old habits. These days they go in the box.

That's Dirt Detective. You're Tucker. Turn over every safe square, use the clues in each hole to work out where the bones are, and leave every one of them exactly where he hid them. No guessing needed; every yard can be solved with a good nose and a little patience.

Good dog.

How to play

Tucker buried one bone in every row, every column and every colored bed, and no two bones touch, not even at a corner.

Dig a square to turn the earth. A number shows how many bones lie in the eight squares around it (never more than two). Dig up a bone and the round is over. Turn every safe square to win.

Long-press (or right-click) a square to mark a bone without digging, or switch to Mark. Hint shows you the next square you can work out for sure, and why.

Every yard can be solved by pure reasoning. If you're guessing, there's a clue you haven't used yet.