Daily Queens Game — Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 · 9x9 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 #168
What follows is a complete solve of puzzle #168, worked the way a person works it rather than the way a computer does. It runs to 14 deductions — 9 queen placements and 5 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 region shadow.
Techniques this board needs: last square in a region, region shadow, region confined to one line, last square in a row.
Show the full walkthrough (14 steps) — contains the solution
Step 1. Only row 1, column 9 is still open in indigo, and since each colour must take a queen, that settles it. That clears row 1, column 9, the rest of the indigo region and every square adjacent to it — diagonals included.
Step 2. The blue region is down to one open square, at row 3, column 8. Every colour holds exactly one queen, so that square is forced. Cross out the whole of row 3 and column 8, the remaining blue squares, and the ring of neighbours around row 3, column 8.
Step 3. The amber region has 4 squares left, spread across rows 2, 4, and 5, columns 2, 5, and 6. You do not need to know which of them takes the queen: every one of those options attacks the same 1 square, so they can be crossed out now.
Step 4. Wherever mint ends up among its 5 squares, the same squares fall within reach of it — 1 square in total, impossible regardless of how the colour resolves.
Step 5. Slate cannot leave column 6 — every one of its open squares (2 open squares) sits there. That column belongs to slate, so every square in it owned by another colour is dead: 8 squares in all.
The board after step 5 — 2 of 9 queens placed. Step 6. The amber region is down to one open square, at row 2, column 2. Every colour holds exactly one queen, so that square is forced. Cross out the whole of row 2 and column 2, the remaining amber squares, and the ring of neighbours around row 2, column 2.
Step 7. Only row 4, column 1 is still open in mint, and since each colour must take a queen, that settles it. Everything else in row 4, in column 1, in mint and in the ring around that square is now dead.
Step 8. The slate region is down to one open square, at row 5, column 6. Every colour holds exactly one queen, so that square is forced. Row 5 and column 6 are now spoken for, along with the squares touching that queen.
Step 9. Red cannot leave column 3 — every one of its open squares (2 open squares) sits there. That column belongs to red, so every square in it owned by another colour is dead: 4 squares in all.
The board after step 9 — 5 of 9 queens placed. Step 10. Row 6 has a single open square left, at column 3 in the red region. Every row needs a queen, so this one is forced. Row 6 and column 3 are now spoken for, along with the squares touching that queen.
Step 11. Pale yellow is down to 2 candidates in rows 7 and 8, columns 4 and 5, and they overlap enough to cover 2 squares elsewhere. Cross those out without deciding anything about pale yellow itself.
Step 12. The orange region is down to one open square, at row 9, column 4. Every colour holds exactly one queen, so that square is forced. Row 9 and column 4 are now spoken for, along with the squares touching that queen.
Step 13. Only row 7, column 5 is still open in pale yellow, and since each colour must take a queen, that settles it. That clears row 7, column 5, the rest of the pale yellow region and every square adjacent to it — diagonals included.
Step 14. The khaki region is down to one open square, at row 8, column 7. Every colour holds exactly one queen, so that square is forced. Cross out the whole of row 8 and column 7, the remaining khaki squares, and the ring of neighbours around row 8, column 7.
The board after step 14 — 9 of 9 queens placed.
That completes the board: 9 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 9x9 Queens puzzle #168
This is puzzle number 168 in the 9x9 collection, rated hard. The grid holds 81 squares split between nine colored regions, and a finished board carries nine queens — one in every row, one in every column, one in every color, and never two of them touching, diagonals included.
Puzzle #168 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 #168 are: indigo (1 square), slate (3 squares), orange (5 squares), blue (7 squares), mint (7 squares), pale yellow (8 squares), red (15 squares), amber (17 squares), khaki (18 squares). An even split would hand every color 9 squares, so the indigo region is running 8 squares under that average while the khaki region is the roomiest area on the grid with 18 squares.
One queen per color, regardless of acreage: that is what turns this uneven split into a solving order. Indigo is working with 1 square while khaki has 18 to spare, a gap of 17. Attack the cramped end and the roomy regions tend to resolve themselves.
Look at arrangement as well as area. Indigo is the densest region on this grid at 100% of a 1×1 frame; red is the loosest, occupying only 43% of its 7×5 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 #168, smallest first. Reading these spans before you place anything is the quickest way to see which parts of the grid are genuinely contested.
Indigo: 1 square across rows 1–1, columns 9–9. It never leaves row 1, so its queen is locked to that row.
Slate covers 3 squares, spanning 2 rows and 2 columns (rows 4–5, columns 6–7).
Orange occupies 5 squares within rows 9–9, columns 1–5. It never leaves row 9, so its queen is locked to that row.
Blue: 7 squares across rows 2–6, columns 8–9.
Mint covers 7 squares, spanning 6 rows and 2 columns (rows 1–6, columns 1–2).
Pale yellow occupies 8 squares within rows 5–8, columns 3–6.
Red: 15 squares across rows 2–8, columns 1–5.
Amber covers 17 squares, spanning 5 rows and 7 columns (rows 1–5, columns 2–8).
Khaki occupies 18 squares within rows 4–9, columns 5–9.
Where to start on this board
Begin where the choices are fewest. On this board that means indigo, which owns just 1 square inside a 1×1 window running from row 1 to row 1 and column 9 to column 9. 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. Orange and slate 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 #168
A quick way to find the next move is to count how many different colors touch each line. On this board, row 9 is the narrowest, touched by only 2 colors. Columns 1, 7, 8 and 9 are the tightest columns, with 3 colors.
Count colors per line and you have a ranking of where to look. The narrowest rows here see only 2 colors, so one of that handful must take the row and the rest are squeezed into the other 8 rows. Row 5 sits at the far end with 7 colors crossing it; it will almost certainly be among the last to settle.
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.
With nine queens to seat and nine regions competing over 81 squares, keep two questions in rotation. Does any region now have exactly one open square left? That queen is forced. Does any row or column now have exactly one open square left? That queen is forced too. Alternating between the region view and the row-and-column view is what keeps a solve moving, and it is the clearest difference between players who finish 9x9 boards quickly and players who stall halfway.
Say the reason out loud: "this region has one square left", "this column has one square left". If no such sentence is available, the eliminating is not finished. One more pass of X marks is almost always quicker than committing to a placement you cannot defend.
Why puzzle #168 is rated hard
The rating reflects how much the board concedes up front. Puzzle #168 has three regions confined to a single row or column, its smallest color holds 1 square, its tightest row meets just 2 colors, and the gap between its largest and smallest regions is 17 squares. Flat, lopsided boards open quickly; even, sprawling ones make you earn the first placement.
Nothing about the rating involves computation or chance. Each grid has a single solution reachable by pure logic; the rating simply measures how far ahead you have to reason. Easy boards resolve a queen every step or two, while hard ones can ask you to carry three unfinished lines of thought before any of them pays off.
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 9x9
At 9x9 a full re-scan after every move starts to get slow, so work locally instead. Once a queen goes down, check only the regions, rows and columns that placement actually touched — that is where new information appeared. Fall back to a complete sweep only when the local pass turns up nothing, and your solve times will drop noticeably.
Whatever the grid size, the pairing rule is the technique to internalise. When a pair of regions is boxed into the same pair of rows, they split those rows between them and nobody else may enter — and the same holds for columns, or for any n regions confined to n lines. Look for an instance of it around row 9 on this board.
Use this as a rough check on your progress: the completed board has 3 queens around the border and 6 queens in the middle, including 1 in a corner. Solutions spread out; if yours is bunching up in one region of the grid, retrace a few moves.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is 9x9 Queens puzzle #168?
Puzzle #168 is rated hard. Its smallest color region holds 1 square, its tightest row is touched by 2 colors, and three of its regions are confined to a single row or column, which gives you a forced move early.
Does 9x9 puzzle #168 have only one solution?
Yes. Every puzzle in the 9x9 collection, including #168, has been verified to have exactly one valid arrangement of nine queens, and it can always be reached by logic alone — no guessing or backtracking needed.
Where should I place my first queen on puzzle #168?
Start with the indigo region — the most constrained color on this board, with 1 square spanning rows 1–1 and columns 9–9. 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.