The Bento puzzle is driving me nuts. I did find a website that seemed to help a little, but I'm still confused. I guess on the practice page on the right hand side there are 3 squares - up and down, below that are 3 squares - 2 across and one down - beside that are 9 squares - 3 @ across and 3@ up and down - 9 total. Most of them have a picture of an animal, some don't. I'm not sure which picture[s] goes to what square. I have read the instructions 4 times and I'm still confused. I did read the walkthrough from GB, no offense but that didn't help either. Unfortunately, it is a random puzzle. Hope someone can make it really clear, but as my mother would say, right now it's as clear as mud. Thanks.

Hi Butterfly,

Yes, the Bento puzzles are random. For each animal -- rabbit, bear, cat, or pig -- there are always three food choices for each: sandwich, egg or rice. No food is specific to one particular animal. This is a logic puzzle, you have to work out from the diagram clues on the right of the grid as to how the different foods you are given on the far left fit in on the grid.

For example, if on the diagram you see a square diagonally split across with a bear and a rice bowl, then you know that however that diagram shape fits in on the grid, that the bear rice goes in that spot. So initially the Bento is something of a jigsaw puzzle to determine how the diagram shapes fit in, and then a logic puzzle to work out the animal/foodtype for each square.

Hope that makes it a little clearer.

Because the squares that have the "hints" are in the patterns they are, it is so confusing to me to where goes where. The only one that is not confusing is when the rice and animal are together - that I got, but the rest really has me confused, to which square do they go? It's probably because it's a logic puzzle - not my favorite one. Thanks for your help though.

It is possible for blank squares of any pattern to overlap with one another, while you're working out where they go on the grid. But you can't overlap a rabbit with a pig, for example, or a sandwich with an egg.

See if there is any one pattern which can only possibly fit in one place, and then work from there.

If you get too frustrated and need a saved game, let us know.