Four kinds of hint
The same button does wildly different jobs from game to game.
| Kind | What it does | Do you learn anything? |
|---|---|---|
| Reveal | Reads the answer key and fills a cell | No — it skips the reasoning entirely |
| Error check | Marks what is currently wrong | Little — only that you are wrong |
| Next move | Fills a cell that is currently determinable | Some — you see where the board opened |
| Reason given | Explains, by rule, why that cell is settled | A lot — you can find it yourself next time |
The complaint is accurate about the first one. A reveal skips a deduction you have not learned yet, so the same situation on the next board still stops you dead.
The fourth is a different thing altogether. “This line needs two more tents and only two cells can take one” is a sentence you can carry to the next board. A good hint hands over a technique, not an answer.
Before you press it
A minute or two of these first, every time.
- Go back to the last cell you confirmed. Whatever just opened up is usually right next to it.
- Recount the line numbers from scratch. Half of all jams on big boards are counting slips — most often a finished line whose leftovers were never crossed out.
- Turn the board. On paper, rotate it 90 degrees; on screen, read only the columns for a while. The same board looks different.
- Put it down. Come back in a few hours and it is often obvious. Nothing in a logic puzzle is timed.
If it still will not come, the odds are you need a technique you do not know yet — and a hint there is not a shortcut, it is a lesson.
After you use one
Move straight to the next cell and nothing sticks. Do one thing instead.
Say the reason back, out loud. “This line needs three and only three cells are free, so they are all tents” is enough. If you cannot say it, you have not understood it, and stopping right there to work it out is worth more than the next ten boards.
And if two or more hints in a row used the same technique, that technique is your current weak spot. Drilling just that one is covered in when you keep making the same mistake.
How many to allow yourself
| Situation | Suggested use |
|---|---|
| Just learned the rules | Whenever stuck — reading the explanation is the point |
| Grinding one size | One per board; more than that, drop a size |
| Chasing a faster time | None — a hinted solve is a different kind of result |
| Half an hour on one board | Use one — better than abandoning it |
In the app
First, only where to look
Hint in the Tents and Trees app comes in two stages. The first tap highlights an area — “look at row four”, for instance — and costs nothing. Find the move yourself from there and the board still counts as solved without hints.
Tap again for the reason
If it still is not visible, tap again. The cell is filled and the reason comes with it — “every tree touching this cell already has its own tent”, and so on. This is the stage that spends one hint.
No hints while a rule is broken
If any cell on the board breaks a rule, the hint refuses: “some squares break the rules. Fix those first so the hint can be trusted.” There is no point explaining anything on top of a false premise. Check marks only the offending cells in red — it compares against the rules, never against the answer.
Solve without hints and one comes back
Hints refill by a few each day, and a short ad adds more. On top of that, finishing a board without using any hint credits you one. Because the supply grows when you hold off, you naturally look for the move yourself first. Three stars also require that no hint and no reveal was used.
The walkthrough, for afterwards
Once a board is done, open the Walkthrough. It starts from an empty board and goes step by step in an order a person could follow, with the reason for each step. Comparing it against the route you took shows exactly where the time went — and because it runs after the solve, there is nothing to spoil.
FAQ
Why does a reveal function exist at all?
As an exit: for a stretch logic cannot narrow, or a board you have simply spent too long on. Using it does cap that board below three stars.
Do hinted boards still go into my records?
Yes, with the number of hints shown alongside. The stats screen also tracks what share of your solves used a hint.
I want to solve with nothing at all.
There is a No-check mode: no error marks, no auto grass, no hints, no checks. It can only be switched on before your first move, and it is recorded separately.
Tents & Trees: Logic Puzzles
No sign-up, fully offline, and every board is verified to have exactly one solution. Free on Android.