How to Play the Queens Game — Rules & Strategy

Queens in 60 seconds

Place one queen in every row, every column, and every colored region — no two queens may touch, not even diagonally.
Tap a cell once for an X (queen can't go there), tap again for a queen, tap a third time to clear it.
Placing a queen auto-marks its row, column, region, and diagonal neighbors with Xs, so the board shrinks around every move.
When every queen is placed legally, the board is solved — your time and streak are saved automatically.

The rules

Queens is played on a square grid divided into colored regions. On an N×N board there are N rows, N columns, and N regions, and you place exactly N queens — one in every row, one in every column, and one in every colored region. The one twist that makes it Queens: no two queens may touch, not even diagonally. That's the entire ruleset. Everything else is deduction.

One per row and one per column. Exactly one queen in each — like the chess queens problem, but simpler because queens don't attack along full diagonals here.
One per colored region. Every region holds exactly one queen, so the region shapes are the real puzzle.
No touching. Two queens may never sit in adjacent cells — horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Placement rules

Every cell is in one of three states: blank, X, or queen. Tapping cycles a cell blank to X to queen to blank; swiping across the board marks or clears a run of cells the same way. Moves are never blocked — you can place a queen anywhere, even a cell that already conflicts with another queen — but the board tells you immediately if a placement breaks a rule.

A placement is legal only when the queen's row, column, and region each hold no other queen, and none of its eight neighboring cells (including the four diagonals) hold another queen. When two queens conflict, both turn red so the mistake is obvious at a glance; nothing is auto-corrected for you.

Auto-X (on by default, toggle it off in the board settings) marks a queen's row, column, region, and diagonal neighbors with X the instant you place it, and removes those same X marks if you take the queen back off — it never touches an X you placed yourself.

The controls

Rule out cells. Tap a cell to mark it with an X wherever a queen cannot go. Elimination is the core of the game — queens appear once a line or region has one open cell left.
Place a queen. Tap an X'd cell again to drop a queen. Its row, column, region, and four diagonal neighbors are X'd off for you automatically.
Use every line. Each row, column, and colored region needs exactly one queen, and no two queens may touch — not even diagonally. Let those rules guide every placement.
Read the conflicts. If two queens clash, both turn red immediately so you can see the mistake. Moves are never blocked — you stay in control.
Take a hint if stuck. A hint names the next deduction and highlights the cells to eliminate, teaching the technique instead of revealing a queen.
Finish the grid. Place all the queens legally and the board is solved. Your time, streak, and best scores are saved in your browser.

On a phone, tap to cycle a cell empty → X → queen → empty, and drag to paint or clear X marks quickly. On a desktop, click does the same and you can drag with the mouse. Still not sure? Open any board and tap the how-to-play video button in the corner for a quick visual walkthrough of X-marking and auto-X.

Strategy tips

Mark Xs before you place a queen

The heart of Queens is eliminating cells, not placing queens. Every time you prove a cell cannot hold a queen, mark it with an X. Queens fall out on their own once a row, column, or region has only one open cell left.

Fence off every queen

A queen forbids a queen in its whole row, its whole column, the rest of its region, and its four diagonal neighbors. Auto-X draws those exclusions for you the instant you place a queen, shrinking the board around each placement.

Corner a region into one line

If every cell of a colored region sits in a single row (or a single column), that line's queen must be inside the region — so no other region can take a queen from that line. Regions squeezed into one line are the fastest early wins.

Count regions against rows

If a group of k regions lives entirely within k rows, those regions use up all k queens for those rows. Every cell of those rows outside the group can be X'd off, and columns work the same way.

Use hints only when truly stuck

A hint names the next deduction and highlights the cells to eliminate — it teaches the technique rather than revealing a queen. Exhaust your Xs and counting arguments first, then ask for a hint on the hardest region.

Play today's challenge See all solving techniques

Once the rules click, Queens rewards pattern recognition more than trial and error. Beyond the three daily boards, play unlimited puzzles at any size from 5×5 to 12×12, work through the numbered puzzle library, or race the clock in Beat the Clock.

If you already know LinkedIn's daily Queens puzzle, the rules here are identical — see the full comparison and an independent puzzle set on the LinkedIn Queens page, or challenge another player directly in multiplayer.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Queens game?

Queens is a logic puzzle played on a square grid divided into colored regions. Your goal is to place exactly one queen in every row, every column, and every colored region, with no two queens touching — not even diagonally. There are no numbers and no words; it is pure deduction, like Sudoku for people who prefer logic to arithmetic.

How do you play the Queens game?

Tap a cell once to mark it with an X (a spot where a queen cannot go), tap again to place a queen, and tap a third time to clear it. You can also swipe across the grid to quickly mark or clear several cells at once. When you place a queen, Xs are added automatically around it — along its row, its column, its region, and its four diagonal neighbors. Place every queen legally and the board is solved.

Is the Queens game free to play?

Yes. Every puzzle here is completely free, with no app to install and no account required. Play as many puzzles as you like in your browser on phone, tablet, or desktop — and if you want to appear on the daily leaderboard, you can optionally sign in.

How is this different from LinkedIn Queens?

LinkedIn publishes one Queens puzzle per day and locks past puzzles after 24 hours. This is an independent site that offers a daily challenge in three grid sizes, an unlimited mode with a fresh board on demand, a full library of numbered puzzles, and an open archive you can replay any time. We are not affiliated with LinkedIn or Microsoft.

How is Queens different from Sudoku?

Both are pure logic puzzles solved by deduction, but Sudoku fills a grid with the digits 1–9 while Queens asks you to place queens. In Queens every row, column, and colored region needs exactly one queen, and the extra twist is that queens can never be adjacent, even diagonally. That single adjacency rule is what makes the deductions feel different from Sudoku.

Does my progress save?

Yes. Your progress for each daily puzzle, your solving streak, and your best times are saved locally in your browser, so clearing your browser data will reset them. If you sign in, your streak and stats also sync to your account so they follow you across devices.

What grid sizes can I play?

The daily challenge offers three sizes: 8×8, 9×9, and 10×10. Unlimited mode spans 5×5 all the way to 12×12, and the puzzle library has numbered boards from 7×7 up to 12×12. Each N×N board is split into N regions and takes N queens.