Tents (Tents and Trees): rules and how to solve

Updated 2026-10-30

The Tents puzzle, also called Tents and Trees, asks you to pitch one tent next to every tree in a grid while keeping tents apart and matching the numbers on the edges. Here are the rules and the techniques that solve almost any Tents grid.

Tents and Trees rules

The grid shows some trees. Numbers along the edge tell you how many tents belong in each row and each column. You place tents so that:

1. Each tree has exactly one tent of its own. The tent must sit orthogonally next to its tree (left, right, above or below, never diagonal). The number of tents equals the number of trees, and you must be able to pair every tent with a different tree.
2. Tents never touch. No two tents may be adjacent, not even diagonally. Each tent is surrounded by eight cells with no other tent.
3. Row and column counts are exact. Each row and column holds exactly the number of tents shown by its clue.

Every cell that is not a tree or a tent is grass. Most apps let you mark grass explicitly, and you should: knowing where tents cannot go is half the puzzle.

A note on pairing: a tent may be next to two trees, and a tree may be next to two tents. That is fine, as long as you can assign each tree its own tent one-to-one.

The no-touching rule, shared with Star Battle

If you have played Star Battle, the second rule will feel familiar. In Star Battle, stars may not touch each other in any of the eight directions, and every row and column must hold a fixed number of stars. Tents uses the same “no neighbours, even diagonal” idea, plus row and column counts that differ from line to line. Many of the same habits carry over, especially marking the ring of cells around every placed piece as empty.

How to solve a Tents puzzle

1. Mark cells far from any tree as grass

A tent must be orthogonally next to a tree. So any empty cell that has no tree directly above, below, left or right of it can never hold a tent. Mark all of them as grass at the start. On a typical grid this removes a large share of the cells immediately.

2. Use the zeros

A row or column with a count of 0 contains no tents at all. Fill it with grass. This often leaves a tree with only one possible neighbour, which gives you your first tent.

3. Fill lines that are exactly full

Compare each line’s count with the number of cells that could still hold a tent. If a row needs 2 tents and only 2 possible cells remain (and they don’t touch each other), both are tents. If a row’s count is already reached, every other cell in it is grass.

Be careful with adjacent candidates: two possible cells side by side can hold at most one tent between them. A row that needs 2 tents with candidates in cells 3, 4 and 7 must have a tent in 7 and one in either 3 or 4.

4. Surround every tent with grass

As soon as you place a tent, mark all eight surrounding cells as grass. This is the single most productive habit in the puzzle, and it is exactly the same move you make after placing a star in Star Battle.

5. Pair trees with tents

Look at each tree and count the free cells next to it. A tree with only one possible neighbour must have its tent there. Once a tree and tent are paired, that tent cannot serve any other tree. So if another tree’s only remaining neighbour is a tent already claimed by someone else, that tree needs a different cell, and the claimed tent doesn’t count for it.

Pairing also works the other way. An empty cell whose only neighbouring trees already have their tents can’t be a tent. It would have no tree to belong to.

6. Look at clusters of trees

When two trees share the same small set of possible cells, think of them as a group. Two trees that only have three candidate cells between them need two tents in those three cells, and the tents can’t touch. Often only one arrangement works.

A quick checklist

• Grass on every cell with no orthogonal tree.
• Grass on every row and column with count 0.
• Tents where a line has exactly as many candidates as it needs.
• Grass all around every placed tent.
• Tents for trees with a single free neighbour.
• Re-check line counts after every change.

Where to go next

Tents is a great bridge into placement puzzles. If you like the counting and no-touching logic, try a Star Battle puzzle, where regions add a third constraint on top of rows and columns. Our Star Battle strategy guide covers techniques that also sharpen your Tents solving, and the list of puzzles like Sudoku has more ideas.