How to Build a Queens Puzzle
A complete guide to designing, validating, and sharing your own Queens game levels and Star Battle puzzles.
Choose your grid size
Start with the board size selector. Beginners should try 5x5 or 6x6 first — fewer regions means simpler logic. As you get comfortable, work up to 7x7 and beyond. A 5x5 grid has 5 regions, a 7x7 has 7, and so on.
Plan your regions
Before painting, think about what shapes your regions will take. Good puzzles have regions of varying sizes and irregular shapes. Avoid making all regions the same size or perfectly rectangular — asymmetry creates more interesting deductions.
Paint the regions
Select a color from the palette and click or drag on cells to paint them. Each region must be contiguous (all cells connected horizontally or vertically). Use the eraser to fix mistakes. Make sure every cell is assigned to a region.
Check region coverage
The builder validates your grid in real time. You need exactly N regions for an NxN grid, and every region must be used. If a region is missing, you'll see an error message above the grid.
Submit and validate
Hit Submit Puzzle to check that your puzzle has exactly one unique solution. The validator will tell you if the puzzle has no solution, multiple solutions (and show you both), or if the regions aren't contiguous.
Share your puzzle
Once validated, you'll get a unique link to your puzzle. Share it anywhere — social media, messaging apps, or with friends. Anyone with the link can play your puzzle instantly in their browser.
Tips for Designing Great Queens Puzzles
Use Irregular Region Shapes
The most interesting Queens puzzles have regions with unusual shapes — L-shapes, T-shapes, zigzags, and asymmetric blobs. Rectangular regions tend to create trivial puzzles because the logic is too straightforward. Think of each region as a constraint that forces the solver to reason about adjacency.
Vary Region Sizes
Having some small regions (2–3 cells) and some large regions (8+ cells) creates a natural difficulty gradient. Small regions constrain the solution heavily — if a region has only 2 cells, the queen must go in one of those two positions. Large regions give more freedom, which means the solver needs to use elimination from other constraints.
Test Before Sharing
Our puzzle maker automatically validates that your puzzle has a unique solution, but try solving it yourself too. A puzzle that's technically valid but requires only one obvious step isn't very fun. The best puzzles require a chain of deductions — each placement reveals the next.
Start Small
If you're new to puzzle design, start with 5x5 grids. They're quick to build and easy to debug if something goes wrong. Once you're comfortable, move to 7x7 — the sweet spot for most players. Save 9x9+ for when you really understand how region shapes affect difficulty.
Also known as Star Battle puzzle design, the same principles apply whether you're creating Queens levels or Star Battle grids. The underlying logic is identical.
Want to understand the relationship between Queens and Star Battle? Read about Star Battle puzzles.