Queens Game
Put one queen in each coloured area. No two queens may attack each other: not on the same row, column or diagonal. Solve as many grids as you can in three minutes.
Queens game rules
Put one queen in each coloured area. No two queens may attack each other: not on the same row, column or diagonal. These are real chess queens: a queen attacks every cell along its row, its column and both its diagonals, however far away. Every grid has exactly one solution, and you can always reach it by reasoning, never by guessing.
Some grids up to 8 x 8 have one colour fewer than rows, so one row and one column stay empty. On every other grid there are as many colours as rows, and each row and each column ends up with exactly one queen.
Tap a cell to place a queen and tap it again to lift it. The coloured tiles above the grid fill in as each colour gets its queen, and queens that share a colour or attack each other turn red. Undo steps back, and a hint places a right queen for ten seconds off the clock.
A three minute run
Each run lasts three minutes: a new grid appears the moment you solve one, from 5 x 5 with four colours up to 10 x 10 with ten, and your score is the grids solved. A typical first run solves about 5.
From Queens to chess
Every queen here moves as it does in chess, so each grid is a small lesson in how far a queen reaches. For squares that no piece attacks at all, on a real board with knights, rooks and bishops too, try Minefield.
Questions
How do you solve a Queens puzzle?
Look for the smallest colour first: when only one cell is left for it, the queen goes there. Then every cell that queen attacks, along its row, its column and both diagonals, is off limits, and so is the rest of its colour. When a colour sits entirely inside one row, no other colour can use that row.
Is the Queens game difficult?
Not at first. The first grids are 5 x 5 and 6 x 6 with few colours and need only the two simplest deductions. From 7 x 7 on, a grid can need a longer chain of reasoning, and a typical first run solves about 5 grids in three minutes.
Why do some grids leave a row empty?
Some of the smaller grids have one colour fewer than rows, so they need one queen fewer and one row and one column stay empty. The rule never changes: one queen in each colour, and no two attacking each other.
Is the Queens game free?
Yes, free and unlimited with no signup. Signing in saves your runs and puts your best on the leaderboard.