How to play LinkedIn Queens
Queens is LinkedIn's flagship daily logic puzzle: a grid divided into colour regions, where your job is to place crowns so that every row, every column and every colour region contains exactly one — with no two crowns touching, not even diagonally.
Looking for today's Queens answer? Daily spoiler-safe hint pages for the LinkedIn games are coming to Hints & Answers soon. This guide covers the rules and the solving technique that cracks every board — see all six games on the LinkedIn games hub.
Queens rules
- Place exactly one crown in each row of the grid.
- Each column must also contain exactly one crown.
- Each colour region gets exactly one crown too.
- No two crowns may touch each other — horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
- Every puzzle has a single unique solution, and it can always be found by pure logic. You never need to guess.
- In the app, tap a square once to mark an X (definitely empty) and twice to place a crown.
How to win at Queens — strategy
1Start with the smallest regions
A colour region with only one square is a free crown — place it, then X out its entire row, column and the squares around it. Every board has an easiest thread, and it usually starts here.
2Use the row-trap rule
If a colour region fits entirely inside one row (or one column), that row's crown must come from that region — so you can X that region's colour out of every other row, and X every other colour out of nothing, but crucially: other regions can no longer use the rest of that row.
3X-marking is not optional
The fastest solvers mark eliminations relentlessly. Each placed crown kills up to three squares in the neighbouring rows plus a full row and column — marking them makes the next forced move visible instead of invisible.
4Look for paired regions
When two colour regions only exist across the same two columns, those two columns belong to them — every other region can be X'd out of both columns. This 'claiming' logic is what separates fast solves from stuck ones.
5Never guess — find the forced square
If you feel like guessing, there is a deduction you haven't spotted yet, usually an adjacency squeeze: a crown that would leave some region with no legal square is impossible. Test candidate squares against the regions around them.
LinkedIn Queens — common questions
Is there a new LinkedIn Queens puzzle every day?
Yes — one Queens puzzle per day, the same board for every player worldwide, with a streak counter for consecutive days played. There is no public archive of past boards inside LinkedIn.
Can Queens always be solved without guessing?
Yes. Every official Queens board has exactly one solution reachable by logical deduction alone. If you're stuck, re-scan the smallest regions and the rows where a region is trapped.
Where do I play Queens?
In the LinkedIn mobile app or at linkedin.com/games — it's free with any LinkedIn account. Your solve time can be compared with your connections afterwards.