sudoku

How to play

Sudoku is placement, not arithmetic. The only numbers that matter are 1 through 9, and the only rule is: don’t repeat them.

The rules

Fill the 9×9 grid so that every row, every column, and every 3×3 box contains the digits 1–9, each used once. Some cells are given. You never need to add or multiply — only to notice where a digit is still allowed.

A move is wrong if any house (row, column, or box) contains the same digit twice.

How a game on soduku.net works

Techniques that actually matter

Naked single

A cell has only one candidate left: every other digit already lives in its row, column, or box. Place it. Easy puzzles are almost all of these.

Hidden single

Inside one house, a digit can go in only one remaining cell — even if that cell still has other candidates. The digit is hidden among the notes. Place it.

The “third box”

If a digit already appears in two of the three boxes in a band, the third copy must sit in the remaining box. Scan those nine cells.

Beginner habits

Elsewhere on the site

Play a timed game with six difficulties. Print today’s five puzzles for paper. Solver walks a stuck grid one named move at a time.