About TryHard Puzzles

Who runs this

TryHard Puzzles is built and run by a solo software developer who got hooked on Star Battle, ran out of good places to play it, and did what developers do about that. There's no company behind it, no content team, and no growth department — just someone who thinks a well-made logic puzzle is one of the better ways to spend ten minutes.

What we make

• Star Battle — the puzzle the NYT publishes as Two Not Touch. Four fresh boards daily across easy, medium, hard and expert, plus printable packs for paper solvers.
• Queens — the format LinkedIn made famous, except three boards a day instead of one, with every past board still playable.
• Slidesmith — our own game, and the first one we invented. You slide tiles on a 5×5 board to build five small patterns in as few moves as you can, scored like golf against a par the server works out before release. Three runs a day, easy, medium and hard, free with no account, and every past run stays playable.
• Solutions and guides — step-by-step solutions for every daily puzzle, an illustrated strategy guide, and a blog covering techniques, history, and honest opinions about brain training.

How the puzzles are made

Every Star Battle and Queens board we make is generated in-house and has to pass two machine checks before it ships: a solver proves the solution is unique, and a second pass proves that pure logic — no guessing — is enough to reach it. Difficulty labels come from measuring which techniques that solve actually required, not from vibes. If the details interest you, we wrote up the whole pipeline.

What it costs

Nothing. Every daily puzzle is free to play without an account. A free account keeps your streak and best times on every device and unlocks the printable downloads. There's no premium tier and no paywall.

Questions people ask

Where can I play Star Battle online for free?

At TryHard Puzzles. Four new Star Battle boards are published every day (easy, medium, hard and expert), playable in the browser with no app, no paywall and no account needed. Every past board stays in the archive.

Is Two Not Touch the same as Star Battle?

Yes. Two Not Touch is the New York Times name for Star Battle. The rules are identical: two stars in every row, column and outlined region, and no two stars touching, even diagonally.

Is there an unlimited version of Inkwell Stars?

Yes. Inkwell Games' Stars is Star Battle under another name. TryHard Puzzles publishes the same puzzle four times a day with a full archive, and posts a step-by-step solution for every Inkwell Stars board.

Can I play more than one Queens puzzle a day?

Yes. TryHard Puzzles publishes three Queens boards a day (easy, medium and hard), with a written solution for each, and and every past board stays playable in the archive.

What is Slidesmith?

Slidesmith is our own game, and the first one we invented: a daily sliding puzzle scored like golf. You slide tiles on a 5×5 board to build five small patterns in as few moves as you can, against a par the server works out before release. Three runs a day, easy, medium and hard, free with no account.

Do the puzzles ever require guessing?

No. Every board is checked by a solver before it is published: one pass proves the solution is unique, a second proves that logic alone reaches it. If a puzzle needed a guess, it would not be published.

Who makes TryHard Puzzles?

One independent developer, with no company behind it. The site is not affiliated with the New York Times, LinkedIn, Inkwell Games, Netflix or Krazydad; it publishes its own puzzles in the same genre.