What is LinkedIn Queens?
Queens is a logic puzzle played on a grid divided into coloured regions. You have to place exactly one crown in each row, each column and each coloured region, and no two crowns may touch, not even diagonally. There is no guessing involved: every puzzle has one solution that can be worked out step by step. The satisfying part is spotting the forcing moves, like a small region that only leaves one possible square, and watching the rest of the board fall into place. Most puzzles take a couple of minutes, and you can mark squares where a crown cannot go to keep track of your reasoning. Launched by LinkedIn in 2024, it became the most talked-about of its games and a favourite quick break during the workday. Anyone who enjoys sudoku-style thinking will feel at home straight away.
How to play
- Place one crown in each row, each column and each colour region.
- Crowns can never touch, including diagonally.
- Tap once to mark a square as empty, twice to place a crown.
Quick facts
- Typical time
- 1–4 min
- Difficulty
- Easy–medium
- Price
- Free.
- Account
- Not needed. Signing in to LinkedIn adds streaks and leaderboards.
- Past puzzles
- No. LinkedIn only offers today's puzzle.
- On a phone
- In the browser, or in the LinkedIn app.
Tips to get better
- Start with the smallest regions. A colour region with a single square gets its crown at once. A region that sits entirely inside one row or one column claims that line, so no other region can put a crown there.
- Cross out as you go. Every crown rules out its whole row, its whole column and all eight squares touching it. Mark those as empty straight away and the next forced move usually shows itself.
- Count regions against rows. If two regions together fit inside two rows, they use up both of those rows' crowns. Every other region can be crossed out of those rows. The same goes for columns, and for three regions in three rows.
- Look for squares that would kill a region. If putting a crown on a square would block every square of another region, that square has to be empty.
- Don't guess. Each puzzle has one solution that can be reached by logic alone. If you feel the need to guess, there's a deduction you've missed, usually in a small region.
Who it's for
Queens is for anyone who likes sudoku-style thinking in a smaller dose. The rules take thirty seconds to learn, there's nothing to know and no language needed, which is why whole offices compete over it. It can become routine once you've learned the standard tricks, and racing the clock isn't for everyone. You can always ignore the timer.
