How to Play Queens Game
The rules in four lines, the controls, and a five-step strategy that cracks your first puzzle.
What are the rules of Queens?
- • One queen in every row.
- • One queen in every column.
- • One queen in every colored region.
- • No two queens may touch, not even diagonally.
An N×N board takes N queens. Every puzzle has exactly one solution, and logic alone gets you there, no guessing.
The Rules
Place queens into cells on the grid, no more than one queen per cell. Each row, each column, and each colored region must contain exactly one queen. Queens may not touch each other, not even diagonally.
Two queens are in conflict if they are in the same row, column, or colored region, or if they touch each other diagonally.
For an N×N board, you need to place exactly N queens.
These are the rules of one-star Star Battle, the classic puzzle Queens is based on. When you want the two-star version, our sister site Star Battle Puzzles has a daily 10×10 board and sizes from 5×5 to 14×14.
Placement Rules
In Queens Game, queens cannot be placed in cells that touch each other, even diagonally. This creates an interesting strategic challenge.
When you place a queen on the board, you need to ensure it doesn't conflict with any other queens already on the board.
Tip: Each row, column, and colored region must contain exactly one queen.
How to Play
- 1Pick a board:Start small: a 7×7 board is the best place to learn. Sizes run up to 12×12.
- 2Mark an X:Tap a cell once to mark an X where a queen can’t go. Drag across cells to mark several at once.
- 3Place a queen:Tap a cell twice for a queen. You can switch to hold-for-a-queen or one-tap queens in Settings.
- 4Let auto X help:With auto X on, placing a queen crosses out its row, column, region and neighbors for you.
- 5Fix a mistake:Tap a queen to clear it, or use undo. Stuck? The hint button shows the next deduction and explains it.
- 6Finish the board:The puzzle is solved when every row, column and region holds one queen and none of them touch.
Beginner Strategy: Your First Minute
Don’t start in a corner or in the middle. Start where the board gives you the fewest choices, and repeat these five steps until every queen is placed.
- 1
Start with the smallest region
Most puzzles open with a region of one or two cells, or a small region that fits inside a single row or column. Its queen has almost nowhere to go, so find it first.
- 2
Cross out around every queen
A queen claims its row, its column, its region and the eight cells touching it. Mark all of them with X. With auto X turned on, the game does this for you.
- 3
Hunt for single cells
Any row, column or region with exactly one empty cell left gets a queen there. This is the move you will make most, several times on every board.
- 4
Look for a region squeezed into one line
If every open cell of a region sits in the same row (or column), that row belongs to the region. Cross out the rest of the row. Almost every puzzle needs this at least once.
- 5
Ask what a queen would wipe out
Stuck? Pick an open cell next to a small region. If a queen there would cross out every cell that region has left, the cell can’t hold a queen. Mark it and go back to step 3.
Never guess. All 1,800 puzzles in our library solve by logic alone. If none of the five steps moves the board, you’re usually looking at two regions sharing two rows, a region group lock. Only 6% of our puzzles can be finished without one of the intermediate solving techniques, so they are worth learning next.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Queens Game?
Queens Game is a logic puzzle where you place queens on a grid of colored regions so that every row, every column and every region has exactly one queen, and no two queens touch, not even diagonally.
What are the rules of Queens?
Place one queen in every row, every column and every colored region. Queens may not touch each other, including diagonally. An N×N board needs exactly N queens.
How many queens do I need to place on the board?
For an N×N board, you need to place exactly N queens. For example, on an 8×8 board, you need to place 8 queens.
Does every Queens puzzle have one solution?
Yes. Every puzzle has exactly one solution, and you can always reach it by logic alone, without guessing. If you feel stuck, there is a deduction you haven’t spotted yet. The solving techniques guide covers all of them.
Is Queens the same as the Queens card game or the N-Queens chess problem?
No. The Queens card game (and Sleeping Queens) is played with cards, and the N-Queens problem places chess queens that may not attack each other along any diagonal. Queens Game is a grid logic puzzle: one queen per row, column and colored region, with queens forbidden only from touching. It is the one-star version of the Star Battle puzzle.
Does the grid size affect difficulty?
Yes. Larger boards (9×9 up to 12×12) have more regions to juggle and need the group techniques more often, so they take longer. Small boards are the best place to learn.
How do I place a queen or an X?
Tap a cell once for an X and again for a queen. Drag across cells to mark several X’s at once. In Settings you can switch to holding a cell for a queen, or to one tap for a queen.
Can I play Queens Game on mobile devices?
Yes. Queens Game works in any modern browser on phones, tablets and computers. There is nothing to download and no login needed.
How ranked points work
Ranked matches use an Elo rating. Everyone starts at 1200, and every completed match moves both players’ ratings by the same amount in opposite directions.
Only the result counts, not the margin. Winning by 30 seconds and winning by a hundredth of a second against the same opponent are worth exactly the same. What changes the size of the swing is the rating gap between the two of you before the match.
The gap sets the price. Beating someone rated above you is worth more than beating someone rated below you, and losing to a lower-rated player costs more than losing to a higher-rated one. That is why a heavy favorite can win and gain very little. The result card shows the odds your two ratings gave you before the match.
New ratings move faster. A match can move your rating by up to 40 points for your first 30 ranked matches, up to 20 points for matches 31 to 100, and up to 10 points after that. A settled rating is meant to move in small steps. A small bonus of a couple of points may be added to your first few wins of each day, so a swing can occasionally land just above these limits. You need 10 completed ranked matches before you appear on the ranked leaderboard.
Matches are asynchronous. You solve the board, your time is locked in, and the match settles when the other player finishes the same board, which can be minutes or hours later. There is no reason to sit on the results screen: start another match and the earlier one settles on its own. If your opponent never finishes, they are dropped about 45 minutes after their clock starts and the win goes to you.
Ready to level up?
Learn the Queens solving techniques the hint system uses (line locks, group locks and testing a queen) and how to solve faster.
Ready to Play?
Now that you understand the rules, test your skills with our collection of Queens Game puzzles!
Browse All PuzzlesOr skip the catalog and get a fresh board instantly with Queens Unlimited.