Daily Queens Game — Saturday, August 8, 2026
Saturday, August 8, 2026 · 11x11 grid. A brand new puzzle, the same for everyone, resetting at midnight UTC.
About the daily Queens game
A new Queens puzzle every day at midnight UTC — free online, no sign-up. Replay unlimited past challenges from the daily archive or browse 1,800+ Queens puzzles.
How to play Queens
- The board is an N×N grid divided into N colored regions.
- Place exactly one queen (♛) in each row, each column, and each colored region.
- No two queens may touch each other — not horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
- Tap once to mark a square with an X (where a queen can't go), tap again to place a queen, and once more to clear it.
- There is always exactly one valid solution. Use logic, never guessing, to find it.
Step-by-step solution for puzzle #250
What follows is a complete solve of puzzle #250, worked the way a person works it rather than the way a computer does. It runs to 20 deductions — 11 queen placements and 9 elimination steps that narrow the board between them. Each step names the rule that forces it, so nothing below is a guess, and the hardest idea required is the pairing argument on columns.
Techniques this board needs: region confined to one line, region shadow, pairing argument on columns, last square in a region, line confined to one region, last square in a row.
Show the full walkthrough (12 steps) — contains the solution
Step 1. Indigo cannot leave row 1 — every one of its open squares (3 open squares) sits there. That row belongs to indigo, so every square on it owned by another colour is dead: 9 squares in all.
Step 2. All of the amber region's remaining squares (2 open squares) lie in row 2. Its queen therefore has to be somewhere on that row, which means no other colour may use it: 10 squares come off.
Step 3. The mint region has 4 squares left, spread across rows 3–5, columns 1 and 2. You do not need to know which of them takes the queen: every one of those options attacks the same 2 squares, so they can be crossed out now.
Step 4. Wherever slate ends up among its 4 squares, the same squares fall within reach of it — 1 square in total, impossible regardless of how the colour resolves.
The board after step 4 — 0 of 11 queens placed. Step 5. Mint and pale yellow are now boxed into columns 1 and 2 and nothing else. That is 2 colours needing 2 columns, so they fill those columns between them — which locks every remaining colour out and removes 5 squares at once.
Step 6. All of the slate region's remaining squares (2 open squares) lie in column 3. Its queen therefore has to be somewhere in that column, which means no other colour may use it: 9 squares come off.
Step 7. Only row 10, column 4 is still open in sea green, and since each colour must take a queen, that settles it. Everything else in row 10, in column 4, in sea green and in the ring around that square is now dead.
Step 8. The teal region is down to one open square, at row 11, column 11. Every colour holds exactly one queen, so that square is forced. Row 11 and column 11 are now spoken for, along with the squares touching that queen.
The board after step 8 — 2 of 11 queens placed. Step 9. Blue cannot leave row 3 — every one of its open squares (3 open squares) sits there. That row belongs to blue, so every square on it owned by another colour is dead: 2 squares in all.
Step 10. All of the mint region's remaining squares (2 open squares) lie in column 1. Its queen therefore has to be somewhere in that column, which means no other colour may use it: 2 squares come off.
Step 11. Row 9 has only orange squares left (5 open squares). The row needs a queen and only orange can provide one, which pins that colour to this row and kills its squares elsewhere: 10 squares.
Step 12. From here the board cascades. Keep alternating the region sweep and the line sweep and 9 queens fall out in order without any new idea being needed: row 7 is down to one square, putting a queen on row 7, column 2; slate has one square left, so its queen takes row 5, column 3; mint has one square left, so its queen takes row 4, column 1; red has one square left, so its queen takes row 6, column 10; indigo has one square left, so its queen takes row 1, column 9; amber has one square left, so its queen takes row 2, column 7; blue has one square left, so its queen takes row 3, column 5; khaki has one square left, so its queen takes row 8, column 6; orange has one square left, so its queen takes row 9, column 8. After each one, clear that row, that column, the rest of the colour and the ring of neighbours before looking for the next. The last of them seats the queen on row 9, column 8.
The board after step 12 — 11 of 11 queens placed.
That completes the board: 11 queens seated, one in every row, one in every column and one in every colour, with no two of them touching. Notice that nothing in the sequence above required a guess — each placement followed from an elimination already on the grid, which is what “single solution, solvable by logic” actually means in practice.
About 11x11 Queens puzzle #250
Board #250 of the 11x11 bank carries a hard rating. Its 121 squares are shared between eleven colored regions, and the solution places eleven queens: one per row, one per column, one per region, none of them side by side or corner to corner.
Puzzle #250 has been checked to admit exactly one arrangement of queens, and every step toward it is deducible from what is already on the board. There is no point at which you are expected to pick a square and hope. The only thing that differs between boards is how quickly the first certainty surfaces, and that depends entirely on the shapes the colors happen to take here.
How the colors divide this board
From smallest to largest, the regions on puzzle #250 are: indigo (3 squares), amber (5 squares), slate (5 squares), teal (5 squares), pale yellow (7 squares), sea green (7 squares), mint (12 squares), red (13 squares), blue (16 squares), khaki (19 squares), orange (29 squares). An even split would hand every color 11 squares, so the indigo region is running 8 squares under that average while the orange region is the roomiest area on the grid with 29 squares.
Why does the split matter? Because a region's square count has no bearing on how many queens it gets — the answer is always one. So indigo, with 3 squares, is under far more pressure than orange with 29. A 26-square gap like this one rewards players who start where the choices are fewest.
Look at arrangement as well as area. Indigo is the densest region on this grid at 100% of a 1×3 frame; khaki is the loosest, occupying only 45% of its 6×7 frame. The loose one reaches into more rows and columns, which is exactly why it usually settles last.
Region by region
Here is the full footprint of every color on puzzle #250, smallest first. Reading these spans before you place anything is the quickest way to see which parts of the grid are genuinely contested.
Indigo covers 3 squares, spanning 1 row and 3 columns (rows 1–1, columns 9–11). It never leaves row 1, so its queen is locked to that row.
Amber occupies 5 squares within rows 1–2, columns 6–8.
Slate: 5 squares across rows 5–7, columns 1–3.
Teal covers 5 squares, spanning 2 rows and 4 columns (rows 10–11, columns 8–11).
Pale yellow occupies 7 squares within rows 7–11, columns 1–2.
Sea green: 7 squares across rows 8–11, columns 2–4.
Mint covers 12 squares, spanning 5 rows and 5 columns (rows 1–5, columns 1–5).
Red occupies 13 squares within rows 2–6, columns 7–11.
Blue: 16 squares across rows 2–5, columns 2–9.
Khaki covers 19 squares, spanning 6 rows and 7 columns (rows 4–9, columns 3–9).
Orange occupies 29 squares within rows 6–11, columns 4–11.
Where to start on this board
Begin where the choices are fewest. On this board that means indigo, which owns just 3 squares inside a 1×3 window running from row 1 to row 1 and column 9 to column 11. A queen is guaranteed somewhere in there, so every line that window crosses is under pressure from the very first move.
Because indigo never leaves row 1, its queen must be in that row — and that instantly settles row 1 for everyone else. Sweep along it and X out every square that is not indigo. Then look at which colors just lost ground: on a grid this size that one observation usually forces a second region within a move or two.
Work outward to the other flat regions next. Amber and teal are no more than two rows tall, so their queens are confined to a narrow band. When two flat regions overlap the same pair of rows, those rows are spoken for and every other color is locked out of both — the single most productive pattern in the game, and it is live on this board.
The tightest lines on puzzle #250
A quick way to find the next move is to count how many different colors touch each line. On this board, rows 1 and 3 are the narrowest, touched by only 3 colors. Column 1 is the tightest column, with 3 colors.
A line with few colors is a line close to resolving. Where only 3 colors appear, one of them owns the row outright and the others must fit into the remaining 10 rows. Row 5 is the crowded extreme at 5 colors — worth revisiting later, not now.
Working through the middle game
Once two or three queens are down, the board changes character. Each queen removes an entire row, an entire column and the ring of up to eight squares around it, so the grid shrinks faster than most people expect. The habit that pays here is marking rather than remembering: after every placement, cross out the full row, the full column and all eight neighbours before hunting for the next move.
The whole middle game reduces to two sweeps. Sweep the eleven colors looking for one with a single square left; sweep the eleven rows and eleven columns looking for the same. Each sweep feeds the next, and switching between them deliberately — rather than drifting — is what separates a fast 11x11 solve from a stalled one.
The trap on a board like this is placing a queen that is merely plausible. Every placement should be traceable to an elimination you can point at. If you cannot name the rule that forced it, you are guessing — and on a single-solution grid a guess costs more to unwind than the deduction would have taken to find.
Why puzzle #250 is rated hard
The rating reflects how much the board concedes up front. Puzzle #250 has one region confined to a single row or column, its smallest color holds 3 squares, its tightest row meets just 3 colors, and the gap between its largest and smallest regions is 26 squares. Flat, lopsided boards open quickly; even, sprawling ones make you earn the first placement.
Difficulty in Queens is never arithmetic and never luck. Every board has one solution and none require guessing. What varies is the length of the chain you must follow before the next queen becomes certain — one or two steps on an easy board, five or six on a hard one, sometimes with several partial eliminations held in play at once.
When a board plays tougher than its label, look for a missed mark before you look for a clever deduction. Walk back over every queen you have placed and confirm the full row, the full column and all eight surrounding squares are crossed out. The diagonal neighbours are the ones players skip, and a single skipped diagonal will hide the next forced move indefinitely.
Techniques that work well at 11x11
At 11x11 you are managing 121 squares, and holding the whole board in your head will not work. Split it into quadrants and solve locally. Most useful deductions on a grid this large are regional — a color pinched between two placed queens, or a band of rows that two regions must share. Trust the marks on the board over your memory.
Learn the pairing argument and you will use it on every board, this one included. If two colors can only sit inside the same two rows, between them they consume both rows and every other color is shut out. It generalises to any matching count — three colors across three rows, four across four. On #250, start hunting for it near row 1.
A non-spoiling distribution check: solved, #250 carries 3 queens on the perimeter against 8 queens inside, 1 of them cornered. Because no two queens may touch, real solutions always look fairly evenly spread — a lopsided board in progress is a warning sign.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is 11x11 Queens puzzle #250?
Puzzle #250 is rated hard. Its smallest color region holds 3 squares, its tightest row is touched by 3 colors, and one of its regions is confined to a single row or column, which gives you a forced move early.
Does 11x11 puzzle #250 have only one solution?
Yes. Every puzzle in the 11x11 collection, including #250, has been verified to have exactly one valid arrangement of eleven queens, and it can always be reached by logic alone — no guessing or backtracking needed.
Where should I place my first queen on puzzle #250?
Start with the indigo region — the most constrained color on this board, with 3 squares spanning rows 1–1 and columns 9–11. Narrowing the smallest region first removes the most squares elsewhere on the grid.
What makes the daily Queens game special
The daily Queens game challenge is one carefully chosen puzzle that is the same for every player around the world. A new board goes live every day at midnight UTC and stays as the day's official puzzle until the next reset. Because everyone is solving the identical grid, the daily becomes a shared experience: you can compare how you approached it with friends, talk through the tricky deduction in the middle, or simply enjoy the quiet satisfaction of knowing you cracked the same board as solvers everywhere else.
Like every puzzle on the site, the daily Queens game online is completely free, needs no sign-up and runs instantly in your browser so you can play Queens online in seconds. It is designed to be a perfect bite-sized brain exercise — long enough to feel earned, short enough to fit into a coffee break. Solving it keeps your daily streak alive, and the streak is a gentle nudge to come back tomorrow and keep the logical part of your mind warmed up.
How today's puzzle is chosen
Each day's board is drawn from our larger library of verified puzzles, so the daily inherits the same cast-iron guarantee as the rest of the site: it has exactly one solution and that solution is always reachable by logic alone, never by guessing. The grid size and the specific puzzle rotate from day to day, which keeps the routine varied — some days you will face a brisk smaller board, other days a meatier grid that rewards a slower, more methodical solve.
Because the selection is deterministic and tied to the date, the puzzle you see today is exactly the puzzle every other player sees today, and it is exactly the puzzle that will sit at this date forever in the archive. There is no randomness between players and no way to refresh into an easier board — the challenge is fixed, fair and shared, which is precisely what makes comparing solves with other people meaningful.
Replay the full daily archive
Missing a day is never a problem here. Every past daily challenge is preserved in the archive, so you can step back to any previous date and play that day's board exactly as it appeared. This is something the original LinkedIn-style daily does not let you do, and it turns the daily from a one-shot novelty into a deep, replayable collection you can binge whenever you like.
The archive is also a great way to practice. If today's grid size suits you, browse backward to find more boards of the same shape, or work through the history in order to feel how the puzzles vary over time. You can move directly between consecutive days using the previous and next links, jump to any date from the archive list, or branch out into the full puzzle library whenever you want even more to solve.
A simple daily solving routine
A reliable routine makes the daily quick and stress-free. Begin by reading the colors: find the smallest or most awkwardly shaped region, because a cramped region usually forces its queen into one of very few squares. Then sweep the rows and columns for any line that already has only a single open cell, since a queen must go there. Place those forced queens first and let them do the heavy lifting.
After every placement, immediately mark X's on the squares that queen rules out — the rest of its row, column and region, plus every neighboring square it touches. These marks keep the board honest and constantly expose the next forced move. When easy moves run out, hunt for pairs of regions confined to the same rows or columns; identifying those locked lines is what breaks open the harder daily boards. Work in calm passes, trust the logic, and the final queen will click into place.
More ways to keep playing
If one puzzle a day is not enough, the Queens game online keeps you covered. Dive into the archive to replay history, or open the full library of more than 1,800 puzzles across six grid sizes, from quick 7x7 boards to demanding 12x12 grids. Every one of them follows the same friendly promise: one queen per row, one per column, one per color region, none of them touching, and a single solution you can always reach by reasoning rather than luck.
However you choose to play, the daily challenge is a great anchor for the habit. Solve it each day to protect your streak, use the archive to catch up on anything you missed, and lean on the wider library whenever you want to push your skills further. It is a free, friendly, guess-free logic puzzle that is always ready when you want to think.