Summary: Queens is a placement puzzle on a square grid of coloured regions. You put exactly one queen in each row, each column, and each region, and no two queens may touch — not even at a corner. This is not chess n-Queens: long diagonals are allowed, and each region still takes exactly one queen. This guide uses a 5×5 board as the worked example.
Overview
The puzzle is a square grid split into coloured regions. A Queens page shows the regions and the grid. It does not print the queens. You place them. Each region is a connected block of cells, usually a different colour. A 5×5 page has five regions; an 8×8 page has eight.
The left-hand grid is the one to solve. The right-hand grid is the finished key. Rows are numbered 1–5 from the top, columns 1–5 from the left. The walkthrough below uses the left-hand board; ignore the right-hand key until you want to check.
The Goal
Place one queen in every row, every column, and every region so that no two queens touch. When those three counts are right and no queen sits in another queen’s eight neighbouring cells, the page is done.
The Rules
- One queen per row, per column, and per region. A 5×5 page needs five queens. A region can be one cell or many; it still gets exactly one queen.
- Queens may not touch, including diagonally. The eight cells around a queen stay empty. Sharing a side is illegal. Sharing a corner is illegal.
- A long diagonal is allowed. Two queens may sit on the same chess diagonal if they are not adjacent. This 5×5 does not put two queens on the same long diagonal; other pages can.
- The printed page shows regions only. Queens appear on the solution. On a themed page the solution marker may be a letter, a number, a colour, or a picture — treat that marker as the queen.
How to Play
Work the left-hand 5×5. Start with the one-cell region. The pink cell at row 4, column 3 is a region by itself.
- Place the forced queen. A one-cell region has nowhere else to go. Put a queen on row 4, column 3. That row, that column, and the pink region are done. Cross out the eight cells that touch it: row 3 columns 2–4, row 4 columns 2 and 4, and row 5 columns 2–4.
- Finish the purple region. Purple is the L of cells at row 4, column 4 and row 5, columns 2–5. After the first queen, every one of those cells touches it except row 5, column 5. Place the second queen there. Column 5 is now done.
- Finish the small orange region. Orange is only row 2, columns 4 and 5. Column 5 already has a queen, so row 2, column 4 is the only cell left. Place the third queen there.
- Place the green queen. After steps 1–3, drop every remaining green cell that shares a row, a column, or the touch-ring with a placed queen: row 2 and rows 4–5 are taken, row 3 columns 2–4 were crossed in step 1, and row 3 column 5 is column 5. The only green cell left is row 3, column 1. Place the fourth queen there.
- Place the last queen. One row and one column remain: row 1 and column 2. Put the fifth queen at row 1, column 2. That cell is still in the blue region and does not touch the queens at row 2, column 4 or row 3, column 1. Every region now has one queen, and no two touch.
Check the key on the right. The five Qs sit at (row 1, column 2), (2, 4), (3, 1), (4, 3), and (5, 5).
If you want a printed set of boards like this, start with the free Puzzle Maker Pro demo or open Puzzle Maker Pro – Queens.
What Changes From Page to Page
- Grid size. Printed Queens grids run 5×5 to 8×8. A larger grid has more regions and a longer solve. The rules do not change. Two pages of the same size still differ by region shape.
- Region shapes. Every page grows a new set of irregular regions. A one-cell region is a free first placement whenever it appears.
- The queen marker. The puzzle still hides the queens. The solution can print a Q, another letter or number, a colour, or a picture. The placement rules stay the same.
Outcome
You can read a Queens grid by region, place a queen in a one-cell region on sight, clear touching cells, and finish the rest of the board from those cuts. Want to make a set? See Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro – Queens. The rest of the how-tos live under Queens Tutorials.
FAQ
How is this different from the chess n-Queens puzzle?
Chess n-Queens forbids any two queens from sharing a row, a column, or a diagonal of any length. This Queens page adds irregular regions and a no-touch rule, and it allows a shared long diagonal when the two queens are not adjacent.
Can two queens share a long diagonal?
Yes, if they are not touching. The illegal contacts are the eight neighbouring cells only.
Are the queens printed on the puzzle?
No. The player page shows the grid and the regions. Queens appear on the solution.
What if a region is only one cell?
That cell is the queen for that region. Place it first, then clear its row, column, and eight neighbours.
What grid sizes do these puzzles use?
The usual printed sizes are 5×5, 6×6, 7×7, and 8×8. 5×5 is the usual starter size (five queens); an 8×8 is the same rules with more regions.
Do I have to guess?
Start from forced cells — a one-cell region, or a region whose other cells have already been ruled out — and let each placement clear a row, a column, and the touching ring. You should not need to guess: each forced queen knocks out a row, a column, and its touching ring until the last cell is left.