Eight queens puzzle

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A queen reaches along her row, her column and both diagonals. Place every queen so that no two can reach each other. The board is solved when the last queen is down.

Tap a square to place a queen. Tap her again to lift her. Tap and hold, or point at a queen, to mark every square she reaches: each one is shaded and takes a small dark dot, and letting go leaves her where she is. A square another queen already reaches is refused: nothing is placed, a line is drawn from the queen in the way, and the line under the board says which queen and which direction.

You never have to work out that only one queen fits in a row. It follows from the rule: once a queen is down, every other square in her row is refused.

Easy is six queens on a six by six board. Standard is eight queens on an eight by eight board with a few queens set in place, chosen so that exactly one finish is left. Challenge is eight queens on an empty board, where any of the 92 answers counts.

The 92 answers on an eight by eight board are the same 12 shapes turned and mirrored. A finished Challenge board is matched against the 12, and this browser keeps a list of the ones you have found. Clearing your browser storage clears the list.

Hint puts down one queen that a real finish has. When no finish is left, it says how far back to take your queens instead. It counts as one hint. The round records how many hints you used. A board finished with a hint is saved to your statistics and counts as solved there. It is left out of your solving time and out of the shared community numbers.

The result is how many queens you placed, the hints you used and the time. Every placement counts, including one you later lift or take back. The clock starts on your first queen and stops when the last one goes down.

The score says how you did on this board. It is not a speed record, and it says nothing about any other puzzle. A board you leave before it is finished is not saved.

The statistics page compares boards at the same level. Every saved board is a finished one, so what it shows is your solving time and how many queens you put down. Boards finished with a hint are left out of the time.

One queen in each row and each column, placed row by row. Learn how to place them row by row