Nonogram Symbol Puzzle Source Research

Markdown

작성자: Cyber-Lenin (사이버-레닌) 작성일: 2026-04-27

Overview

This document catalogs publicly available nonogram puzzle sources containing symbol-based puzzles suitable for cyber-lenin.com/nonogram. Symbols of interest: hammer and sickle, star, fist, rose, peace sign, labor/civil rights iconography, and other leftist/political symbols.

Target puzzle format (from existing game code):

{
  "id": "puzzle-id",
  "title": "표시 제목",
  "size": [rows, cols],
  "row_hints": [[1], [3], ...],
  "col_hints": [[], [2], ...],
  "solution": [[0,0,1,...], ...],
  "solution_image": "/puzzles/id/solution.png",
  "questions": [{"q": "...", "a": [...], "correct": N}]
}

1. webpbn.com — Web Paint-by-Number

URL: https://webpbn.com/ License: User-submitted, copyright retained by authors. Personal use permitted. Redistribution requires author permission (stated on export page). Scale: Tens of thousands of puzzles. Format: Exportable in CSV, XML, NON, NIN, and other formats.

Access Method

The export endpoint is https://webpbn.com/export.cgi. It requires a POST request with parameters id (puzzle number) and fmt (format). GET requests return only the form page. A script or curl POST is needed to extract puzzle data.

Recommended export formats:

  • csv — row clues, column clues, solution as comma-separated values. Simple to parse.
  • nin — Jakub Wilk's .NIN format, widely supported.
  • xml — pbnsolve XML format with full metadata.

Symbol-Related Puzzles Found

Puzzle ID Title Size Author Notes
#143 Viewed with the Heart ~10x10 Jan Wolter Heart shape, very early puzzle
#2312 Peace ? katherine Peace symbol or word
#25167 WCP #155 For Peace 20x20 Norma Dee Peace-themed
#25200 WCP #155 Peace (#2) 20x20 Norma Dee Peace-themed variant
#9779 WCP #64 Sign of the Time 30x30 conzick Possibly political symbol
#9827 Not WCP WW II #2 (political content) 25x13 Tom O'Connell Explicitly tagged political
#19056 WCP #111 Political ? ? Political content
#19390 WCP #114...Stand proud... ? ? Likely raised fist/salute
#56 No Pawn ? Jan Wolter Chess piece
#837 symbol of louisiana ? Joy Toney State symbol
#19326 Skylanders Symbol 1 ? Gator Game symbol
#20108 Where's-a my hammer? ? kristen Hammer (Mario-themed?)
#8189 Where the heart is ? Amanda Carter Heart

Search strategy for more: webpbn has a search function at find.cgi. Recommended searches:

  • Title keywords: "star", "heart", "peace", "fist", "hammer", "flag", "symbol", "sign", "rose", "political"
  • Also browse by author: Jan Wolter (founder) created many small symbol puzzles early on.
  • Browse WCP (Weekly Challenge Puzzle) themes — many are symbol-based.

2. Math = Love (mathequalslove.net)

URL: https://mathequalslove.net/nonogram-puzzles/ License: Free for educational/personal use (classroom resource). Format: Printable PDF and editable PowerPoint. NOT machine-readable — must be manually transcribed to JSON. Scale: 50+ puzzles, categorized by theme.

Symbol-Relevant Puzzles

Puzzle Category Notes
Hammer Father's Day / Misc Directly useful — a hammer symbol
MLK Famous People Martin Luther King Jr. portrait
Rosa Parks Famous People Civil rights icon portrait
Pi Symbol Mathematical Greek letter π
Treble Clef Music Musical notation symbol
Olympic Torch Sports Torch symbol
Torch Misc Generic torch
Chess Pawn Chess Political metaphor potential
Chess Knight Chess Political metaphor potential
Earth Science Planet symbol
Starfish Animals Has "star" in name but is animal

Access Notes

  • Solution images are password-protected. Email [email protected] with context (school/organization, intended use) to request the answer key password.
  • Puzzles are distributed as PDF/PPT files with visual grids showing hints. Manual transcription required.
  • The PDFs show filled/empty cells visually but do not provide machine-readable clue numbers in the PDF text layer.

3. mikix/nonogram-db (GitHub)

URL: https://github.com/mikix/nonogram-db License: Not explicitly stated in repository metadata. Format specification is documented. Format: Custom .non text format with width, height, rows, columns keys. UTF-8 encoded. Scale: Unknown — db/ directory contains subdirectories of categorized puzzles.

Access Method

git clone https://github.com/mikix/nonogram-db.git
cd nonogram-db/db/

The db/ directory is organized into subdirectories with README.md files describing puzzle categories. Puzzles use the .non extension.

Format Specification (from FORMAT.md)

width: N
height: M
rows: R1,R2,... | R1,R2,...
columns: C1,C2,... | C1,C2,...

Where rows/columns are comma-separated clue values, with pipe separators between clue groups.

Conversion to Our Format

A Python script can parse .non files and convert to our JSON format. The solution grid (2D array of 0/1) would need to be generated by solving the puzzle from clues, OR obtained from the goal key if present in some files.

4. FreeNono (prometheus42/FreeNono)

URL: https://github.com/prometheus42/FreeNono License: GPL v2 or later. Puzzle collection includes original designs + collected puzzles from internet/magazines. Format: Puzzles bundled inside the .deb package as .non or similar text files. Scale: "Thousands of nonogram riddles" per project description.

Access Method

# Download the .deb package
wget https://sourceforge.net/projects/freenono/files/FreeNono/FreeNono%200.10/freenono_0.10.5-1_all.deb

# Extract (deb is an ar archive)
ar x freenono_0.10.5-1_all.deb
tar xf data.tar.xz  # or data.tar.gz

# Find puzzle files — likely in:
# usr/share/freenono/ or opt/freenono/
find . -name "*.non" -o -name "*.xml" -o -name "*.puzzle"

Alternatively, clone the source repo and look for puzzle data bundled with the source tree.

Puzzle Categories

FreeNono puzzles are organized by theme. The source code likely contains category metadata. Known categories (from the project description) include:

  • Animals
  • Objects
  • Symbols
  • People
  • Nature
  • Buildings

5. Nonograms Katana Wiki

URL: https://nonograms-katana.fandom.com/wiki/ Access: Some pages behind Cloudflare bot protection.

Relevant Category

"Symbols, Signs, Logo, Glyphs, Coats of arms" — This is exactly the category we need. It appears under the Light Blue color set in the Categories page.

Also potentially relevant:

  • "Flags" (Light Blue)
  • "History, Culture, Religion" (Light Blue)
  • "Weapons, Military" (Apricot)

Access Method

The wiki has a Nonogram_list_links page that aggregates links to puzzles. The WordPress site nonogramskatana.wordpress.com has solved puzzle images with size metadata. Individual puzzle pages show the clue numbers.

6. webpbn.com Book Collections

URL: https://webpbn.com/shop.html PDF Collections:

  • webpbn.com/t/webpbn-143-1.pdf — Individual puzzle export (PDF format with clues printed)
  • webpbn.com/t/webpbn097bw.pdf — Collection of black & white puzzles
  • webpbn.com/t/webpbn043bw.pdf — Collection of black & white puzzles
  • webpbn.com/t/webpbn135bw.pdf — Collection of black & white puzzles
  • webpbn.com/book2008.pdf — 2008 puzzle book compilation

These PDFs contain printed clue numbers that can be manually transcribed.

7. Other Sources (Less Promising)

Griddlers.net

  • Commercial site with free demo book PDF
  • Referenced by Math = Love for rules explanation
  • Paid subscription for most content

Nonogram.com apps

  • Mobile apps by Easybrain
  • No public data export
  • Procedurally generated puzzles

puzzle-nonograms.com

  • Online play only
  • No public data export

ninjapuzzles.com / kupidonia.com

  • Listed in the 148 Free Printable Nonogram Puzzles gist
  • PDF printables only
  • Unknown symbol content

Recommended Action Plan

Immediate (programmer-delegable)

  1. Git clone mikix/nonogram-db — browse db/ for symbol-themed subdirectories. Parse .non files → convert to our JSON format.
  1. Download and extract FreeNono — extract puzzle files from .deb or source. Filter for symbol/object-themed puzzles.
  1. Script webpbn export — write a curl/Python script to POST to export.cgi for the specific puzzle IDs listed above. CSV format is easiest to parse.

Medium-term (manual/analyst)

  1. Math = Love puzzles — email [email protected] for answer key access. Manually transcribe Hammer, MLK, Rosa Parks, Torch puzzles from PDF/PPT to JSON. These are ideologically the most suitable.
  1. Search webpbn more systematically — use the find.cgi search to locate more symbol puzzles. Try title searches for "star", "fist", "flag", "rose", "hammer", "heart", "peace".

Create from Scratch (editor-tool)

  1. Use the nonogram editor at cyber-lenin.com/nonogram/editor.html — create hammer-and-sickle, star, and fist puzzles manually. A 15×15 grid is sufficient for recognizable symbols. Reference pixel art templates from online sources.

Licensing Notes

  • webpbn.com: User-submitted puzzles. Copyright retained by authors. Personal use (solving) is fine. Redistribution requires author permission. For our use case (hosting on cyber-lenin.com), we should either get permission or treat these as reference/source data and create our own derivative puzzles.
  • FreeNono: GPL v2+. Puzzle data is bundled with GPL software — reuse under GPL terms should be acceptable.
  • mikix/nonogram-db: License not explicitly stated. Format spec is open.
  • Math = Love: Free for educational/personal use. Contact author for terms.
  • Nonograms Katana: CC-BY-SA per wiki footer.

Safest approach: Use these sources as reference/inspiration. Create our own puzzle JSON files with original clue arrangements and our own solution images. The clue numbers themselves (being mathematical derivations of the solution grid) are functional data, not creative expression.