Region logic puzzle
Queens
A little order in the court.
How to play
The porcelain tray is divided into connected coloured courts. Seat one queen in every row, column and court. Queens need their personal space: they cannot touch along an edge or at a corner. This is not the chess eight-queens rule; a distant diagonal is safe.
Tap an empty square once to mark a cross, again to seat a queen, and again to clear it. Drag from an empty square to draw several crosses. One Undo restores the whole gesture. Use the same cell cycle with Space or Enter; arrow keys move focus. Q seats a queen, X marks a cross, Delete clears, and Ctrl/Cmd+Z undoes.
Court letters and boundary seams identify regions without relying only on colour. Tap Learn for a short teaching board, or use Look to explore without changing your board. A coral outline and worried face explain a conflict. The pieces are not locked while ordinary placement animations run, so quick taps remain responsive.
Five ways to read a court
- Start with a small court. A court with only two or three cells often confines its queen to one row or column. That can rule out cells in a neighbouring court.
- Use the whole row and column. Once a queen is placed, no other cell in its row or column can hold one. Crosses are optional notes; the game will not silently fill them for you.
- Look where all possibilities overlap. If every possible queen in one court would touch a cell, that cell is ruled out even before the queen has a fixed position.
- Pair courts with lines. Two courts confined to two columns must use both columns. Other courts cannot use those columns. The same idea works with rows and larger groups.
- Separate a note from a mistake. A cross is reversible. If a court has no place left, revisit your latest crosses and queens. Undo or a logical hint can help you recover without restarting.
Questions
What are the rules of Queens?
Place exactly one queen in every row, column and coloured court. Two queens cannot touch, including at a corner. Queens further apart on the same diagonal are allowed.
How do taps and crosses work?
A cell cycles from empty to cross, then queen, then empty. A cross is your note that a cell cannot hold a queen. Drag from an empty cell to mark several crosses; one Undo reverses the whole gesture.
Does every puzzle have a unique solution?
Yes. An exact enumerator checks that each admitted board has exactly one solution. A separate deductive solver must also complete it without guesses. Boards that fail either check are not used.
What changes between Easy, Medium and Hard?
Easy is 5×5 and needs singles and line restrictions. Medium is 7×7 and needs deductions beyond immediate singles. Hard is 9×9 and needs at least two common-exclusion or group-subset deductions, beyond singles and locked lines.
Are hints or practice scores part of the daily challenge?
Practice is unlimited and only keeps a best score on this device. A daily logical hint costs 300 points and is counted by the server; conflict explanations are free. Verified daily solves count towards daily progress.
A court of our own
These boards, porcelain figures and royal impressions are independently made for PuzzleGame.win. Every puzzle is checked twice: for one solution, and for a full route of logical deductions. The daily court offers one shared board at 00:00 UTC; practice offers as many boards as you like, with no account or download.
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