How to play
Place one queen in every row, column and colored region. Queens never touch, not even diagonally.
Objective
Place queens on the grid until every row, every column and every colored region holds exactly one queen, with no two queens touching, not even diagonally.
Rules
One queen in each row
Every row of the grid holds exactly one queen.
One queen in each column
Every column holds exactly one queen.
One queen in each colored region
The grid is divided into colored regions, as many as it has rows. Every region holds exactly one queen.
Queens never touch
No two queens sit in neighboring cells, whether they share a side or only a corner: not even diagonally. Only touching matters. This is not the chess rule: two queens may share a diagonal as long as they are not next to each other.
Placing queens
Tap to cycle. Each tap moves a cell one step: from empty to an X marker, from an X to a queen, and from a queen back to empty. Use Xs to note cells where a queen cannot go.
Auto markers. When you place a queen, an X appears on every cell it rules out: the rest of its row, its column and its colored region, and the eight cells around it. These Xs look and respond exactly like your own, so one tap on any X places a queen. An auto marker clears once no queen rules its cell out; your own Xs stay.
Conflicts. You can place a queen on any cell, even where it breaks a rule. Every queen that conflicts with another queen is drawn in red with a heavy ring until the conflict is gone.
Controls
The timer starts when the board appears.
Undo. Steps back one move. Every tap is one step, and so is Reset, so Undo can bring back a board you just cleared.
Hint. Explains one step from your current board: it highlights the row, column or region the reasoning rests on and the cells you can now mark ×, and says why. You mark the cells yourself. Pressed again on the same step, it shows one queen, as it does when it finds no step. If a queen or an × you placed is wrong, it points that out first.
Reset. Clears every queen and X from the board. The timer keeps running.
New game. On Unlimited, starts a different puzzle at once, at any time.
Solving tips
Start with confined regions. A region that lies entirely in one row must hold that row's queen, so every other cell in the row is ruled out. The same goes for a region in one column.
Rule out around each queen. A queen rules out its row, its column, its region and the eight cells around it. Auto markers show these for you.
Find the last cell. When a row, column or region has only one cell left that is not ruled out, its queen goes there.
Count shared rows. When two regions lie entirely within the same two rows, those rows' queens belong to them, so the other regions' cells in those rows are ruled out. The same goes for columns.
FAQ
What is Queens?
A logic puzzle on a colored grid. Place queens so that every row, column and colored region holds exactly one, and no two queens touch.
Is this the Queens game from LinkedIn?
You may know this puzzle from LinkedIn. Queens Game uses the same kind of puzzle: one queen in every row, column and colored region, and no two queens touching. It is an independent site, not affiliated with LinkedIn, with its own puzzles and its own Daily.
Can there be two answers?
No. Every puzzle is checked before it reaches you, so it has exactly one solution. You can always reason your way there without guessing.
Do I need an account?
No. The game runs in your browser, with nothing to sign up for.
Can two queens share a diagonal?
Yes, as long as they do not touch. Only queens in neighboring cells conflict, unlike queens in chess.
What is the Daily puzzle?
A new puzzle each day, the same one for every player. The Daily changes at midnight UTC, and each day has its own puzzle. Past Daily puzzles stay in the Archive, so you can still play one you missed. For more puzzles, play Unlimited.
Play Queens Game
Play the Daily puzzle, try Unlimited for puzzle after puzzle, or pick any puzzle from the Archive.