Sudoku

Learn more about the New York Times game Sudoku including access, how to play, and answers to common questions.

About Sudoku

Sudoku is a daily numbers puzzle that challenges players to fill out a grid of nine 3x3 squares with number sequences of 1-9 not repeating in the columns, rows, or 3x3 section.

Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3×3 box contains digits 1 to 9, without repeating.
Fill in cells until the board is complete. Numbers in sets, rows or columns cannot repeat (each number can only appear on the board nine times).
If a square is incorrect, it will be marked with a red dot in the bottom right corner.

There are three levels of difficulty that can be selected for Sudoku:

Easy: nytimes.com/puzzles/sudoku/easy
Medium: nytimes.com/puzzles/sudoku/medium
Hard: nytimes.com/puzzles/sudoku/hard

Sudoku can be played with or without a subscription.

Note: Sudoku does not have statistics at this time.

Where to Play

You can play Sudoku in the Games app, in the Play tab of the New York Times News app, or at nytimes.com/puzzles/sudoku.

When to Play

Sudoku puzzles are released Tuesday - Saturday at 10 p.m. EST; Sunday-Monday at 6 p.m. EST.

Gameplay Settings

Gameplay Settings are available on the main puzzle page.

Use Normal Mode to enter numbers you are confident or sure about.
Use Candidate Mode to add or remove multiple possibilities for a square.
You can also toggle between Candidate and Normal mode by selecting these options at the bottom of the puzzle in the Games app or pressing spacebar on the website. Holding Shift will also toggle between modes until you release.
Auto-Candidate Mode automatically fills the board with all eligible candidates within each cell. Entering a number in Normal Mode will also eliminate relevant candidates in that cell's row and column.
Use the Undo button to undo your last action, including entering and deleting both candidates and normal entries.
Use the X button to clear a cell of all normal entries and candidates.

Gameboard Settings

Gameboard Settings are found by selecting the gear icon in the top right corner of the app or website.

Dark and Light Mode (app only) - Dark Mode allows you to change the display of The New York Times app to a light-on-dark color scheme, while Light Mode changes the display to a dark-on-light color scheme.
- The app will respect your device's preferred display settings by default.
Check guesses when entered - Upon entering a number into a cell in normal mode, correct guesses will be highlighted in blue and incorrect guesses will be marked with a red dot.
Show error counter - The error counter keeps a running tally of the number of errors made throughout the course of playing the puzzle.
Highlighting - Highlighting the box allows you to see more clearly the cell or box that you have currently selected. Other options include highlighting the rows, columns, and any identical numbers throughout the rest of the puzzle that correspond to the box you have currently selected.
Play Sound on Solve - The app or website will play a jingle after the puzzle is completed successfully.