Getting your game ready…
Shade selected tiles on the five-by-five board so visible numbers never repeat within a row or column. You decide which copy to cover. Tap to cycle between undecided, shaded and kept; kept is a reminder of a tile you want to leave visible.
Shaded tiles cannot share an edge, although they may meet at a corner. Every unshaded tile must remain connected to the rest by horizontal or vertical steps. A group separated by shaded tiles is not part of a complete solution.
Finish with no visible duplicates, no edge-touching shaded tiles and one connected visible area. Choose from six fixed boards. Undo reverses a mark; Restart restores that arrangement. Hint highlights a rule to consider without placing a cover. There is no clock.
When you know a tile must be shaded, its edge neighbours must stay visible. Check whether those newly kept numbers force another copy in their row or column to be shaded. One definite decision can give you several useful consequences.
Look at a tile that joins two larger visible areas. Shading it may fix a duplicate but break connectivity. Near corners and edges, check how a visible tile could still reach the rest before covering both of its available neighbours.
Hidden Paths leaves the full number arrangement in view. Its covered leaf tiles remove selected duplicates, while the remaining cream stones must still form one connected area. The puzzle asks which squares to keep as much as which squares to hide. Completion badges and your puzzle selection are remembered; unfinished changes are not.