Hitori

Hitori on Shockwave: http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/hitori.jsp

• You don't have to mark the white squares in this version, and it's usually easy enough that it's not necessary to mark the white squares.
• If you don't want to mark the white squares, hold the shift key down for the whole game so you get a black square with one click.
• Almost all the players play Regular mode. You can't tell from the scoreboard whether someone played Regular or Expert, but it's (almost?) impossible to get sub-20-second times on Expert. (It's impossible for me to get sub-30-second times even on Regular. I gave up trying to get faster than 30 seconds and switched to Expert.)

Hitoriconquest: http://www.hitoriconquest.com/

• You don't have to mark the white (greenish) squares in this version.
• I like the 8x8 mode best. 5x5 is often too hard, and 12x12 takes too long.
• When I play 5x5, I don't bother to finish the games when I can't get enough squares marked white or black using single-line rules. I just click on 5x5 or 8x8 go get a new game. Call me lazy.
• I almost always mark all the squares in this version. I find it's necessary to keep track of what's white and what's unknown.
• The site keeps track of your average time and fastest time for each mode.

Hitori on Conceptis: http://www.conceptispuzzles.com/index.aspx?uri=puzzle/hitori

• I find even the "easy" puzzles to be quite hard. I don't think I've ever solved a Hitori puzzle on this site without at least one round of trial-and-error.
• The puzzle isn't considered complete until all the squares are marked either white or black, but I wouldn't be able to complete a puzzle on this site without marking the white squares anyway.
• They have several free Hitori games that you can play without being a member.
• You can play one free game per week. I think you can do that without being a member, but I'm not sure since I am a member ...

"The Method" for getting a high score in Diamond Crosswords

Here is "The Method" for beating the somewhat bizarre scoring rules for the Diamond Crosswords game on Shockwave.

This takes practice, but it gives huge scores. I used to get scores in the 5000 - 6000 range, but after learning The Method, I now score in the 13000 range.

1. Don't click on "Ready". Ever.
2. Study the clues and figure out the complete solution. Write it down if you have to. But it's more fun to do it in your head.
3. From now on, you have to be fast and accurate.
4. Click on clue 4 Down.
5. Start typing the answers (you can't see what you're typing) until you have typed 6 letters of 2 Down.
6. Click where the diamond is.
7. Double click on the 6th letter of 2 Down. It should be the last letter that you typed.
8. Start typing the answers again until you have finished 9 Across.
9. Click on the first letter of 10 Across and type it.
10. Click on the first letter of 6 Across and type it.
11. Click on the first letter of 8 Across and type the first two letters.
12. Clap your hands at your score.

You can replay as many times as you like. It takes a bit of practice to master the clickathons in the middle and end of the game.

Briefer instructions, once you've mastered it.

1. Click on the clue for 4D.
2. Type answers until you've typed 6 letters of 2D.
3. Double click the 6th letter of 2D.
4. Finish typing to the end of 9A.
5. Finish the last 4 spaces in this order: 10A, 6A, 1st 2 letters of 8A.

Thanks to all the players who gradually discovered the method. I can't take any credit at all for the discovery. I'm only writing it down so others can use it.