How to play Queens
Place one queen in every row, every column and every colored region, with no two queens touching.
The rules
- Each row holds exactly one queen.
- Each column holds exactly one queen.
- Each region, the patterned shapes with heavy outlines, holds exactly one queen.
- Queens may not touch, not even at a corner. Unlike in chess, queens further apart along a diagonal are fine.
A board has as many regions as rows, so a 7x7 needs seven queens. The game ends the moment all the queens are placed legally.
Controls
- Tap or click a square to cycle it from empty, to an X, to a queen, and back to empty.
- Drag across squares to put an X on all the empty ones in your path. A drag never changes a queen or removes an X, and a single Undo takes back the whole drag.
- Keyboard: tab to the board, use the arrow keys to move, and press Space or Enter to cycle a square. Ctrl+Z or Cmd+Z undoes.
Regions differ by color and weave pattern, and each one has a letter in a corner, so you don't have to rely on color. X marks are just notes and have no effect on winning.
Buttons and warnings
- Undo steps back one move.
- Clear empties the board, and Undo can bring it back. The clock keeps running.
- Hint checks your queens against the solution. If one is wrong it becomes an X; otherwise a correct queen is placed in the region with the fewest empty squares.
Rule breaks show up as you play. Queens that clash get a red outline, and a row, column or region with two queens is outlined too. No warning does not mean a queen is correct, only that it isn't breaking a rule yet.
Daily and Practice
Daily is one puzzle per date, changing at midnight on your device. Its size is set by the date and can be anything from 6x6 to 10x10, so the size menu is locked in this mode. Practice lets you pick any of those sizes, and New puzzle deals a fresh board.
Time, streaks and best times
There are no points. Your time and hint count are shown above the board, and the clock pauses while the tab is hidden. Solving the Daily on consecutive days builds your streak, and missing a day ends it. The best-time table has one entry per board size. A solve with a hint still counts for your streak but can't set a best time. When you finish you can copy a short result with your time and hints.
Strategy
- Start small. The region with the fewest squares has the fewest options. A one-square region is a free queen.
- X out after every queen. Drag across its row, column and region, then tap out the eight squares around it. Clean boards make the next step obvious.
- Look for regions stuck in one line. If all of a region's open squares sit in one row, its queen will use that row, so every other square in that row can be crossed off. The same goes for columns.
- Count regions against lines. If two regions fit entirely inside the same two rows, those rows are spoken for and all other regions can be crossed off them. This scales up to three regions and three rows.
- Test a square's neighbors. If placing a queen on a square would wipe out every open square of some region, that square must be an X.
Questions
Is there always exactly one solution?
Yes. Every board is run through a solver before it is used, and only boards with a single solution are kept. You can always reason your way through.
Why isn't the size menu working?
The Daily has a fixed size for that date. Switch to Practice to pick your own.
Do the Xs affect the Hint button?
They help decide which region it picks, since it favors the region with the fewest empty squares. A hint can place a queen on top of an X.
Does undoing a hint give it back?
No. Undo removes the move, but the hint stays in your count for that puzzle.
What happens if I play past midnight?
If you have started the board, it stays open so you can finish. An untouched or finished Daily rolls over to the new date by itself.