Daily Sudoku: A Free New Puzzle Every Day — and How to Solve It

01What makes this Daily Sudoku different

There's no shortage of Sudoku online. Most sites hand you a random grid and a ticking clock, and that's about it. We wanted something that feels more like a small daily ritual: one puzzle, shared by everyone, that's genuinely worth coming back for tomorrow.

That idea shaped every choice behind the game you see above, from how puzzles are chosen to how your progress is kept safe when you close the tab.

02Sudoku rules in 60 seconds

A Sudoku grid has 81 squares arranged in 9 rows and 9 columns. It's also divided into nine smaller 3×3 boxes, marked by the thicker lines. A few squares already contain numbers. Your job is to fill in the rest so that:

That's the whole rulebook. No number may repeat inside any row, column, or box, and when all 81 squares are filled correctly, the puzzle is solved.

03How to play on this page

The game works the same way on a phone, tablet, or computer. If you've never played a digital Sudoku before, here's the whole routine:

1. Tap an empty square. It lights up, and its row, column, and box are gently shaded so you can see exactly which squares it depends on.
2. Tap a number on the pad below the board, or type 1–9 on your keyboard. The timer starts with your first move, not when the page loads, so take your time looking first.
3. Switch on Notes when you're not sure yet. Numbers you tap then appear as small pencil marks instead of answers.
4. Keep an eye on the number pad. The tiny figure under each digit shows how many are still missing. Once all nine of a digit are placed correctly, that button fades out.
5. Fill the final square and the timer stops. You'll see your time, mistakes, hints used, and a light-hearted rating.

The toolbox, explained

04Understanding the difficulty levels

Each day's puzzle carries one of four difficulty labels, shown in the status bar above the board. The biggest visible difference is how many numbers you start with, but that's only half the story.

05Solving techniques, from first steps to expert

You don't need all of these on day one. Learn them roughly in this order, and you'll notice each new technique opens up puzzles that used to feel impossible.

When you're stuck, you aren't missing luck. You're missing one small piece of information, and it's hiding somewhere on the board.

06Common mistakes to avoid

Most frustrating Sudoku moments trace back to a handful of habits. The good news is that all of them are easy to fix.

• Guessing to "see what happens." Every puzzle here can be solved with logic alone. A guess that happens to be wrong can hide for a long time and quietly ruin a whole region.
• Letting notes go stale. An out-of-date pencil mark is worse than none at all. Tidy them as you go.
• Noting everything too early. On Easy and Medium days, scanning alone often solves half the grid. Save detailed notes for when scanning stops giving you answers.
• Tunnel vision. Staring at one stubborn square wastes minutes. Move around the board; progress elsewhere usually unlocks it.
• Rushing the finish. The last few squares feel automatic, and that's exactly when a slip happens. Double-check each one before tapping.
• Treating hints as a shortcut. A hint works best as a lesson. After using one, ask yourself why that number had to go there. Next time, you'll spot it yourself.

07Streaks, personal bests & sharing

A daily puzzle is more fun when you can see yourself improving. The game quietly keeps track of three things for you:

You can also replay a finished puzzle with Play Again. Replays are just for fun, so they don't change your streak or personal bests.

08Is Sudoku good for your brain?

It's one of the most common questions puzzle lovers ask, and it deserves an honest answer rather than a flashy one.

The most-cited evidence comes from a 2019 study by researchers at the University of Exeter and King's College London. They looked at more than 19,000 adults aged 50 to 96 and found that people who did number puzzles like Sudoku more often tended to score better on tests of attention, reasoning, and memory. The findings were published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

The researchers were careful to point out that this shows an association, not proof of cause and effect. People with sharper minds may simply enjoy puzzles more. The study also doesn't show that Sudoku prevents dementia, and the team said so plainly.

09A short history of Sudoku

Despite its Japanese name, Sudoku's modern story begins in the United States, and its roots go back to an 18th-century mathematician.

1. 1700s

   Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler studies "Latin squares," grids where each symbol appears once in every row and column. A completed Sudoku is a Latin square with one extra rule: the boxes.

2. 1979

   Dell Magazines publishes a puzzle called Number Place. It's widely credited to Howard Garns, a retired architect from Indiana, and it's essentially the Sudoku we know today.

3. 1984

   Japanese puzzle publisher Nikoli introduces it under a long name meaning "the digits must remain single." The name is soon shortened to Sudoku.

4. 1997

   Wayne Gould, a New Zealander and retired judge in Hong Kong, discovers Sudoku in a Tokyo bookshop. He spends years writing a computer program that can produce puzzles.

5. 2004

   Gould's puzzles appear in The Times of London in November. Within months, newspapers around the world follow.

6. 2005–06

   Sudoku becomes a global craze. The first World Sudoku Championship is held in Lucca, Italy, in 2006.

7. 2012

   After an enormous computer search, mathematicians led by Gary McGuire show that a Sudoku needs at least 17 clues to have a single solution.

With numbers like those, there's no danger of running out of fresh puzzles, which is exactly what makes a daily Sudoku habit so easy to keep.

10Frequently asked questions