The 3x3 board is the smallest size on Lights Out, and it is also the one exception among the four sizes the game offers: every single one of the 512 possible ways to light up a 3x3 grid can actually be cleared. There is no such thing as an unsolvable 3x3 board. That was confirmed by testing all 512 patterns directly rather than assumed, which also means the correction table below is complete โ there is no leftover pattern it cannot handle.
This guide gives the exact chase-and-correct sequence for the 3x3 size specifically: how many neighbors each tile actually has, the full top-row correction table, and a worked example traced move by move so you can check your own board against it. For the general method behind this table, see the Lights Out solution algorithm; for the classic 5x5 size, see the 5x5 Lights Out solution.
The 3x3 Grid and Its Neighbors
On a 3x3 board there are three kinds of tile, and each toggles a different number of lights when pressed. The four corner tiles each have only two neighbors, so pressing a corner toggles three lights total: itself plus two neighbors. The four edge-middle tiles โ the tile in the middle of each outer row or column โ have three neighbors, so pressing one toggles four lights. The single center tile has all four neighbors, so pressing it toggles all five of the lights nearest the middle of the board. Knowing this matters because a press near the edge of a Lights Out board genuinely does less than a press in the center, which is easy to misjudge on a grid this small.
Step 1: Chase Down Without Touching the Top Row
Leave the top row exactly as given. Look at it and, for every tile lit there, press the tile directly beneath it in the middle row. Then look at the middle row as it now stands โ after that first round of presses โ and for every tile still lit, press the tile beneath it in the bottom row. At this point the top and middle rows should be completely dark, and whatever is left lit in the bottom row is your leftover pattern.
Step 2: The Complete 3x3 Correction Table
Because a 3x3 board has only three columns, there are exactly eight possible ways to press the top row, and testing all eight against an empty board produces exactly eight possible leftover patterns in the bottom row โ a perfect one-to-one match, which is another way of confirming that every 3x3 board is solvable. Match whatever is lit in your bottom row against the left column below, then press the corresponding tiles in the top row instead of leaving it untouched.
| Lit in the bottom row after Step 1 | Press these tiles in the top row |
|---|---|
| Nothing lit (board already clear) | Nothing โ you're done |
| Left tile only | Left and middle tiles |
| Middle tile only | Left, middle, and right tiles |
| Left and middle tiles | Right tile only |
| Right tile only | Middle and right tiles |
| Left and right tiles | Left and right tiles |
| Middle and right tiles | Left tile only |
| Left, middle, and right tiles | Middle tile only |
Step 3: Press the Corrected Row and Chase Again
Go back to the board's original starting state โ not the state it was in after Step 1. Press the top-row tiles the table calls for first, before touching anything else. Then repeat the exact same forced chase from Step 1: press the middle-row tile beneath every top-row tile still lit, then press the bottom-row tile beneath every middle-row tile still lit. The board should now be completely dark.
Worked Example
Start with a board where only two tiles in the middle row are lit: the left and middle tiles of the middle row, with the top row and bottom row both completely dark.
Following Step 1, the top row has nothing lit, so nothing is pressed into the middle row yet. The middle row has its left and middle tiles lit, so press the bottom-row tiles beneath them โ the bottom-left and bottom-middle tiles. That clears the middle row entirely, but leaves the bottom-right tile lit on its own. That single lit tile in the bottom-right is the leftover.
Checking the table, "right tile only" lit in the bottom row calls for pressing the middle and right tiles of the top row. Going back to the original board, press the top-middle and top-right tiles first. Chasing down from there: the newly lit top-left tile (a side effect of those two presses) means pressing the middle-left tile next, and the two tiles left lit in the middle row after that mean pressing the bottom-middle and bottom-right tiles. The full solution ends up as five presses โ top-middle, top-right, middle-left, bottom-middle, and bottom-right โ pressed in any order, and the board finishes completely dark.
Why the 3x3 Board Is Special
Not every board size behaves this well. On the classic 5x5 board, only one in four of all possible patterns can be cleared at all, and on a 4x4 board only about one in sixteen can. The 3x3 board and the largest size on Lights Out, 6x6, are the two exceptions where the underlying system has no gaps in it โ every conceivable pattern belongs to the solvable set, so the only thing standing between you and a cleared board is finding the right sequence, never whether a sequence exists in the first place.
That does not make 3x3 trivial, though. With nine tiles and eight distinct correction cases to track, a truly careless run of clicks can still take longer to untangle than working the chase method cleanly from the start. The value of the table above is that it removes the guesswork from the one genuinely open decision on the board โ what to do with the top row โ while the rest of the solution follows automatically.
Practicing the Method Before Moving to a Bigger Board
Because 3x3 is both fully solvable and small enough to track by eye, it is the size worth practicing on before trying the classic 5x5 board, where only a quarter of all possible patterns can be cleared at all. Play a few rounds where you deliberately run Step 1 first, write down or say out loud which tiles are left lit in the bottom row, then look up the correction and run Step 3 without peeking at how many presses it takes. Once matching a leftover pattern to its correction feels automatic on nine tiles, the same table-lookup habit carries over directly to bigger boards โ only the size of the table and the number of rows to chase through changes, not the underlying logic.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is every 3x3 Lights Out board solvable?
Yes. Testing all 512 possible starting patterns confirms every one of them has a solution โ there is no unsolvable 3x3 board, whether it comes from the New Game button or from a pattern you build by hand.
How many presses does a 3x3 board usually need?
It varies by board, but a full solution touches at most all nine tiles, and because pressing a tile twice is always wasted motion, no tile is ever pressed more than once in the shortest solution.
What if my leftover pattern doesn't match anything in the table?
It will always match one of the eight rows โ the corner, edge, and center presses were tested against every possible top-row choice, so all eight leftover outcomes are covered with no gaps.
Does it matter which order I press the five tiles in the worked example?
No. Since order never changes the final board, you can press those five tiles in any sequence and the board will still end up completely dark.
Is the 3x3 board a good size to learn the method on?
Yes โ with only eight possible top-row choices and eight leftover patterns, it is small enough to check by hand, which makes it the easiest size to actually understand the correction table before applying it on a bigger Lights Out board.
Related Guides
- Lights Out Solution: The Chase Method Algorithm โ the general method and why some board sizes are always solvable.
- 5x5 Lights Out Solution โ the correction table for the classic, trickier board size.
- How to Play Lights Out โ the basic rules and an overview of the chase method.
- Best Puzzle Games โ where Lights Out fits among the site's other logic puzzles.
- Play Lights Out โ switch the board to 3x3 and try the table above on a real puzzle.