A LITTLE FOCUS. A FRESH START.
Play Jigsaw Sudoku
Play free Jigsaw Sudoku online. Irregular nine-cell regions replace square boxes, with five difficulty levels, notes, hints, and browser-local saves.
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LEARN THE TWIST
How to play Jigsaw Sudoku
Also called irregular Sudoku, Jigsaw replaces the usual boxes rather than adding a rule on top of them. Rows and columns still contain 1–9 exactly once.
The rules
Fill each row, column, and outlined nine-cell region with 1–9, without repeats. Irregular regions replace the usual 3×3 boxes.
A useful first move
Trace one outlined region at a time. When a region’s possible positions for a digit all lie in the same row, that digit cannot appear elsewhere in that row.
If an outlined region already contains every digit except 7, its remaining cell is 7 even when that cell lies far from the others. The thick region boundary, not a 3×3 square, determines membership.
SOLVE IT STEP BY STEP
Follow the region boundary, even around a corner
In Jigsaw, the outline tells you which nine cells belong together. Their shape may be awkward, but their job is familiar: hold one of every digit. Before taking notes, trace the boundary once. A square-looking group of nine cells has no special status unless it is actually an outlined region.
- Lower-right region cell
- 7
Count the cells inside the outline.
There are three across the top, four across the middle, and two at the bottom: nine in total. The unshaded corners are outside this region and do not enter its digit count.
Find the missing digit.
The region already contains 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9. Only 7 is absent, so the highlighted lower-right cell must be 7.
Carry the placement into its row and column.
Remove 7 from the notes of all other cells in that row and column. Those eliminations may affect other irregular regions, letting one completed region unlock the next.
Use a region’s overlap with a row
You do not always need to know the exact cell. If all possible places for 6 inside a region lie in row 5, then that region’s 6 must occupy row 5 somewhere. Remove 6 from the rest of row 5 outside the region. This locked-candidate argument works with irregular regions just as it does with ordinary boxes; the boundary determines which cells count as “outside.”
Common mistakes to avoid
- Do not keep applying imaginary 3×3 boxes. The irregular regions replace those boxes.
- A region can bend into another part of the grid. Check membership by tracing its connected outline, not by how close two cells look.
Try the reasoning yourself
A region’s only candidates for 6 are at row 5, columns 2 and 4. Can row 5, column 8, outside that region, be 6?
Show the answer and why
No. One of the two region cells must be 6, and both lie in row 5. Either placement excludes 6 from every other cell in that row, including column 8.
Controls, difficulty, and saved games
Choose Beginner, Easy, Medium, Hard, or Expert above. Select an empty cell, then tap a number or use your keyboard. Notes let you pencil in candidates; three hints are available. Three mistakes end the puzzle.
Every mode and difficulty keeps a separate save in this browser. You can switch puzzles and return to your place. Clearing site data removes these saves; they do not sync with another device or the iPhone app. Settings include night mode and optional automatic cell advancement.
Correct entries earn points. High scores are stored by mode and difficulty and update only when beaten; completed-puzzle count and day streak are shared.
FIFTEEN WAYS TO PLAY
Explore all Sudoku modes
A familiar grid, a different kind of logic. Every mode is free to play in your browser.