Daily New Game

How to play Giraffe skyline, the Skyscrapers puzzle

In short. Giraffe skyline is a free Skyscrapers puzzle with a new board every day and 1,000 levels. You fill a square grid with giraffes of different heights so every row and column holds each height once. Meerkats around the edge say how many giraffes they can see along their line, and taller giraffes hide shorter ones. Every board has exactly one answer.

Play today's Giraffe skylineAll levels

Giraffe skyline at a glance

Kind of puzzleSkyscrapers number logic puzzle
Board sizes4 by 4 to 7 by 7
Played withGigi the giraffe
PriceFree. Plus is optional, from 2.99 € a month
Daily puzzlesA new daily puzzle every day, free
Levels1,000 in five difficulties, every one free to play
Free each dayEvery daily, 10 new levels per game, and unlimited replays
AdsNone
TrackingNo tracking cookies and no third-party scripts
AccountNot needed (optional and free, sign in with an email code)
DownloadNot needed: plays in the browser, or add it to your home screen
DevicesPhones, tablets and computers, also offline
ComfortDark theme, colour-blind colours, larger tiles and text, relaxed mode without hearts, keyboard play
HintsFree and unlimited, and every puzzle has exactly one solution

The puzzle behind Giraffe skyline: Skyscrapers

Skyscrapers is a pencil puzzle built on a Latin square, a grid where every row and column holds each number once, an idea mathematicians such as Leonhard Euler studied in the 18th century. The towers and the counting clues around the edge came much later, and who drew the first one is not well recorded. It has long been a favourite in puzzle magazines and at puzzle competitions.

Also known as Towers, Skyline, Buildings.

Giraffe skyline keeps the classic rules and swaps the towers for giraffes and the edge clues for meerkat lookouts. Many boards leave some meerkat spots empty, and some giraffes start in place with an underlined number. A wrong height costs one of three hearts, unless you turn on relaxed mode.

How to play Giraffe skyline

Gigi and her friends line up. The meerkat lookouts count the giraffes they can see.

  • Each square holds one giraffe. On a board of 5, heights go from 1 to 5.
  • Every row and every column has one giraffe of each height.
  • A meerkat at the edge counts the giraffes it can see along its line.
  • Taller giraffes hide the shorter ones behind them.
  • Some giraffes start in place. Their number is underlined and they stay put.
  • A wrong height costs one of your three hearts. Relaxed mode in settings has no hearts.
  • Finish with no hearts lost for three stars. Changing your own giraffes is free. Hints lower the stars you can get.

What you can never do

  • Two giraffes of the same height in one row or column.
  • A meerkat counting a giraffe hidden behind a taller one.

Controls with Gigi the giraffe

  • Tap a square, then tap a height on the number pad.
  • Turn on Notes to pencil in the heights you are still deciding between.
  • With a keyboard, the arrow keys move, a number places a height, Shift and a number writes a note, and Backspace clears.
  • Tap a meerkat to light up the line it watches.

Strategies for beginners

Start with the 1s and the full counts

A clue of 1 means the tallest tower stands right next to it, so on a 5 by 5 board that square is a 5. A clue as big as the board means the heights climb one by one away from it, which fills the whole line at once.

Fill the last gap in a line

Every row and column needs each height once. When a height is still missing from a line and only one square can take it, it goes there. This is the same habit as in sudoku, just without the boxes.

Keep tall towers away from big clues

A big clue needs lots of towers visible, so the tall ones must stand further back. On a board of size n, the square right in front of a clue c holds at most n minus c plus 1, and each step further in allows one more. A clue of 4 on a 5 by 5 board puts a 2 or less in front.

Place the tallest tower in every line

The tallest tower is always seen, and it is the last one a clue counts. So a clue of 3 means the tallest stands at least three squares from that edge. Pin down where the tallest can go in each row and column early: the rest of the line falls into place around it.

Read opposite clues together

The tallest tower in a line is seen from both ends, so the two clues of a line add up to at most the board size plus 1. Two big clues facing each other squeeze the tallest tower into the middle of the line.

Pencil in what is still possible

On 6 by 6 and 7 by 7 boards, turn on Notes and write the heights each square can still take. Cross them off as rows and columns fill up. A square left with one note is ready to place.

Try a what-if on the hardest boards

Some Master boards need one. Pencil in a height and follow where it leads. If a row, a column or a clue breaks, that height is out, and you have learnt something for sure.

Quick tips from the game

  • A meerkat that sees 1 has the tallest giraffe right in front of it.
  • A meerkat that sees them all watches the heights climb one by one.
  • A meerkat seeing 3 on a board of 4 has a giraffe of 2 or shorter right in front of it, because two taller ones must still stand behind.
  • On any board, each giraffe a meerkat sees after the first takes one off the tallest height that fits right in front of it.
  • The bigger the count, the further the tallest giraffe stands from that meerkat.
  • The hardest boards can need a what-if. Pencil a height in with Notes and follow where it leads: if a row or column breaks, that height is out.

Words to know

Tower
One entry in the grid, also called a skyscraper or building. In Giraffe skyline every tower is a giraffe, and its number is its height.
Clue
A number outside the grid that says how many towers you see looking along that row or column. Here the clues are meerkats on the lookout.
Visible
A tower counts as seen when every tower in front of it is shorter. A taller tower hides everything shorter behind it.
Latin square
A grid where every row and column holds each number exactly once. Every finished Skyscrapers board is one.
Given
A tower that starts in place. In Giraffe skyline its number is underlined and it cannot be changed.
Candidates
The heights a square can still take. Writing them down with Notes is the easiest way to keep track on bigger boards.

Questions about Giraffe skyline

What is a Skyscrapers puzzle?

A Skyscrapers puzzle is a logic grid where you place towers of different heights so each row and column has every height once. Numbers around the edge say how many towers you can see from that spot. Taller towers hide shorter ones behind them, so each clue tells you something about the order of its line.

How do you solve a Skyscrapers puzzle?

You solve it by reading the edge clues first and then filling each row and column so no height repeats. Clues of 1 and clues as big as the board give you whole squares or lines straight away. After that, big clues keep tall towers away from the edge, and the last gap in each line fills itself.

Is Skyscrapers the same as sudoku?

No, but they are cousins: both ask for each number once in every row and column. Skyscrapers has no boxes, and its clues sit outside the grid and count the towers you can see. Sudoku gives you numbers inside the grid instead. Habits from sudoku, like finding the only square left for a number, help in both.

Is Giraffe skyline free?

Yes, Giraffe skyline is free to play, with every daily puzzle and 10 new levels a day, and no sign-up needed. The levels allowance resets at local midnight. Plus is an optional membership that opens every difficulty from the start, removes the daily limit and adds the archive of past dailies. See free play for the details.

How many levels does Giraffe skyline have?

Giraffe skyline has 1,000 levels in five difficulties: Easy (1 to 100), Medium (101 to 250), Hard (251 to 500), Expert (501 to 800) and Master (801 to 1,000). Free players open Medium after 20 Easy wins, Hard after 40 Medium wins, and so on up the ladder. Levels and difficulty explains the ladder.

How big are the boards in Giraffe skyline?

Boards grow from 4 by 4 to 7 by 7. Easy starts on 4 by 4 and moves to 5 by 5, Medium uses 5 by 5 and 6 by 6, Hard is 6 by 6, and Expert and Master reach 7 by 7. The daily skyline is 4 by 4 on Monday and 7 by 7 on Saturday.

Which daily skyline is the hardest?

Saturday's daily is the hardest, a 7 by 7 board that needs the trickier techniques. The daily grows a little harder each day from Monday's gentle 4 by 4, and Sunday is a big but friendly 6 by 6 with extra giraffes in place. You can always find today's skyline on the game page.

What happens when I place a wrong giraffe?

A giraffe in the wrong place costs one of your three hearts, and each lost heart takes a star off the result. Lose all three and the board ends, so you can have another go. Relaxed mode in settings has no hearts, if you prefer to play without the pressure.

Do hints cost stars in Giraffe skyline?

Yes, hints lower the most stars you can earn, but they never stop you finishing. With no hints you can get three stars, one or two hints cap the board at two, and a lot of hints at one. Each hint shows the next step that can be worked out, and why it is true.

Why do some meerkat spots have no meerkat?

An empty spot simply has no clue for that line, and the board is still solvable without it. The puzzles keep only the clues they need, so every board still has exactly one answer that logic can reach. The empty spots are part of what makes harder boards harder.

Giraffe skyline is in these lists

  • Free puzzle games9 free daily puzzle games in your browser: word, number and logic puzzles, 9,000 levels, no ads, no sign-up and no download.
  • Logic puzzlesSix free logic puzzles with a new one every day: Star Battle, Nurikabe, Light Up, Skyscrapers, Battleships and sudoku. One solution each, no guessing.
  • Quick puzzle gamesFree puzzle games for a coffee break or a commute: small boards, quick rounds, no ads and no sign-up. They open in a tap and work offline too.
  • Brain teasersFree daily brain teasers that get harder as you go: logic, number and word puzzles from Easy to Master, with one solution each and no guessing.
  • Free playEvery daily puzzle is free, plus 10 new levels per game every day. No ads, no download and no account needed. Here is exactly what free play includes.
  • Daily puzzlesA new daily puzzle for every game at local midnight, harder from Monday to Saturday with a relaxed Sunday. How dailies, missed days and the archive work.
  • Levels and difficultyEach game has 1000 levels in five difficulties, Easy to Master. How to unlock them, how stars and hints work, and what hearts and relaxed mode do.

Other games

Last updated