What LinkedIn Queens is
Queens is a daily puzzle published by LinkedIn. The board is a square grid split into coloured regions, and you place crowns so that each row, each column and each coloured region holds exactly one, and no two crowns touch - diagonals included.
Each board has exactly one solution and never requires a guess. A new one appears once a day at midnight Pacific time, and that is the whole daily serving.
Star Battle and Two Not Touch: the same family
Star Battle is the classic puzzle of this family, known from logic magazines and championships. The rule is identical; only the count is a parameter. In the one-star variant you place one star per row, column and region; in the two-star variant, two of each.
- Star Battle 1★ is exactly the Queens rule - the crown is simply called a star.
- Star Battle 2★ raises the bar: two stars in every row, column and region, still never touching.
- Two Not Touch is the name The New York Times publishes the two-star variant under.
The name Queens nods at the eight queens chess problem, but the rules differ: in Queens and Star Battle a piece blocks only the neighbouring cells, not the whole diagonal of the board. In exchange there is the coloured-region condition, which the chess problem has no equivalent for.
Where Tiny Woods fits
Tiny Woods plays by exactly the rule of Queens and Star Battle 1★: one critter in every row, every column and every region, and no critter touching another, not even at a corner. What differs is how much of it you get, and the setting it arrives in.
- 600 verified boards across ten chapters, from the meadow to the night sky - not one a day.
- Sizes from 4x4 to 8x8, so the entry is gentle and the late chapters are demanding.
- A daily puzzle with a streak and an archive, if you like the daily ritual.
- Quick play: endless fresh boards at a difficulty you pick, for when 600 boards and one a day still is not enough.
- Auto X, the equivalent of Queens' Auto-place X: the game crosses out the cells a placed critter rules out.
- Full offline play: on a plane, on the metro, with no account and no sign-in.
- Hints in three stages: two free ones explain the logic of the next move, the third plays it for you for 25 leaves or a watched video.
- A woodland setting: painted critters, quiet colours and no time pressure.
Tiny Woods is not affiliated with LinkedIn or The New York Times. Queens, Star Battle and Two Not Touch are named here only to describe the shared family of rules.
What carries over from Queens one to one
If you play Queens, your whole toolkit works in Tiny Woods unchanged:
- Starting from the smallest region, where the choice is narrowest.
- Crossing out the eight cells around every piece you place.
- Ruling out the row and the column the instant a piece lands.
- The rule of a region trapped inside a single row or column.
- Counting candidates from the region side, not only from the row side.
The difference is mostly pace: Queens gives you one board a day, while Tiny Woods lets you walk a whole chapter in one sitting or spread it over weeks.
Which one to play, and when
- You want a daily ritual and a comparison with others: stay with Queens and add the Tiny Woods daily puzzle to it.
- You want to play longer than five minutes a day: you need a set of boards rather than one, which is why Tiny Woods ships 600.
- You want to play without a connection: Tiny Woods keeps every board inside the app.
- You want a harder challenge than one piece per row: look for the two-star Star Battle variant, also published as Two Not Touch.
Common questions
Are Queens and Star Battle the same game?
They are the same family of rules. Queens matches the one-star Star Battle variant: one piece per row, column and region, with no touching, diagonals included. Star Battle is also published with two stars, which is noticeably harder.
What is Two Not Touch?
Two Not Touch is the name The New York Times publishes the two-star Star Battle variant under. The touching rule is the same, but each row, column and region holds two stars instead of one.
Can I play Queens-style puzzles offline?
Yes. Tiny Woods keeps all 600 boards and the daily puzzle inside the app, so it works with no connection and no account.
How many Queens-style boards does Tiny Woods have?
600 verified boards across ten chapters, sized from 4x4 to 8x8, plus one fresh daily puzzle every day.
Is Tiny Woods affiliated with LinkedIn?
No. Tiny Woods is an independent game. LinkedIn, Queens and Two Not Touch are marks of their respective owners and are named here only descriptively.