What "hard" means here
Every hard Queens board contains at least one step our solver ranks in its top tier: a square you can only rule out by placing a queen there in your head and watching some region run out of room. It still never needs a guess, because the test always settles it. It does need you to look further ahead than one move.
We don't grade by eye. Every board goes through our solver, which plays it the way a careful person would, one forced move at a time, and ranks each deduction from the obvious to the deep. A hard board is any board where the solver had to use its top-tier move at least once: try a square, follow the consequences, and rule it out. One of those is enough to earn the label.
The moves you need
Everything below, plus the patience to look one move ahead.
1. Two regions, two rows
If two regions live entirely inside the same two rows, those regions need two queens and two rows can only hold two, so every other cell in those rows is out. Look for three regions in three rows next. It works the same way on columns.
1 These two regions sit entirely inside the top two rows. Each needs a queen, and two rows can hold only two.
2 So the top two rows' queens belong to those two regions — every other cell up there is X'd, before a single queen is placed.
2. One queen clears a cross and a ring
The moment you place a queen, her whole row and column are finished and the four diagonal corners around her are out too. Clear all of it before you look for the next queen. On a board this size that is a dozen eliminations for one placement.
1 Place a queen.
2 Her row and column are done — one queen each — and the four diagonal corners touch her. One queen, twelve eliminations.
3. Test the stubborn square
When the board goes quiet, pick the emptiest region and the square in it that looks most likely. Place a queen there in your head, clear her cross and ring, and watch what happens to the other regions. If any region is left with no square at all, that placement was impossible and you cross it off for real. That is the whole top-tier move, and every hard board needs it exactly where the solver did.
Want it named on a real board? Every day's Queens solution plays the solve through step by step, and the Queens vs Star Battle guide maps each move onto its two-star cousin.
Today's hard board
Recent hard boards
Missed a day? Nothing here expires. Every hard board we've released stays playable.
Every past board, all three tiers
Moving between tiers
If a hard board keeps stalling, drop to the medium tier for a few days and let the eliminations become automatic. There is no clock on it. Past hard, the next step sideways is Star Battle: the same instincts, two stars per line, and a bigger board.
Hard Queens FAQ
Is hard Queens free to play?
Yes. Every hard Queens board here is free to play in the browser with no app and no account. A new one is published every day, and every past hard board stays playable.
How long should a hard Queens puzzle take?
Roughly five to twelve minutes once the moves are familiar. Your first few will run longer while you learn to see the eliminations, which is what the tier is for.
Does a hard Queens puzzle ever need guessing?
Never, and neither does any other tier. Every board we publish has exactly one solution and our solver confirms it can be reached by logic alone before it goes live.
Is this the LinkedIn Queens game?
We are not affiliated with LinkedIn. Our boards follow the same one-queen-per-row, column and color rules that LinkedIn made popular, but every board here is our own, and you get three tiers a day instead of one board.