Slow Squares

Printable star puzzles

The board is a square grid cut into outlined regions. Place stars so that every row, every column and every region holds exactly one — always one, at every size — and so that no two stars touch, not even at a corner. Nothing is given: the board starts empty and every star is yours to find. Elsewhere the same rules go by the name Queens.

Every day there is a new board in each of three sizes, dealt to everybody alike and solvable without a single guess. Pick a size, print the sheet, and take it wherever a screen would not go — a pencil and a few crosses are all it takes.

Today’s sheets

A4, black and white, one puzzle a sheet, with how to play on the last page. No sign-up, nothing to fill in.

6 × 6 ★PDF8 × 8 ★PDF10 × 10 ★PDF

A new set every day at midnight UTC.

Compose your own sheet

How to play

Place stars so that every row, every column and every outlined region holds exactly one of them.

No two stars may touch, not even at a corner.

Crosses are your own notes of where a star cannot go; only the stars are the answer.

Tap a cell to cross it out, tap again for a star, once more to clear it. Drag across cells to cross out several at once.

A star turns red when it touches another, or when its row, column or region holds too many.

Solved: one star in each row, each column and each region, and no two of them touching.

Solving techniques →

Questions people ask

Is it free?
Yes. The sheets, the boards on the site and the archive are free, without an account and without advertising. The PDFs are made once a day and anyone may download them.
How many puzzles are there a day?
One new board a day at each level — 6 × 6 ★, 8 × 8 ★, and 10 × 10 ★ — the same for everybody, dealt at midnight UTC. Earlier days stay downloadable in the archive below.
Do I need to sign up?
No. Every sheet downloads without an account. An account only keeps your online plays and your streak in one place across your devices.
Does every puzzle have exactly one solution?
Yes. Every board is checked to have a single solution and to be solvable by reasoning alone — no guessing is ever needed. The solution is not printed; the sheet holds the puzzle and the rules.
May I hand the sheets out or use them in a classroom?
Yes — print, photocopy and hand them out as you like, for a class, a club or a waiting room. Only leave the credit line at the foot of the sheet where it is.

Earlier days

No timer. Leave and come back — it’s saved.

Play today’s board online