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Guide

How to Play Star Battle

N stars per row, column, and region — and no two stars touching, even diagonally. The rules, the techniques, and the questions everyone asks.

How to Play

  1. 1.

    Place stars so every row, every column, and every bold region contains exactly the required number of stars — 1 on small boards, 2 on the classic 10×10, 3 on 14×14.

  2. 2.

    No two stars may touch, not even diagonally: all 8 cells around a star must stay empty.

  3. 3.

    Tap a cell to mark it with an X (can't be a star), tap again to place a star, tap a third time to clear it. Drag across cells to paint X's quickly. Long-press or right-click a cell to add a dot note.

  4. 4.

    In 2-star puzzles, the two stars that share a row, column, or region also may not touch each other.

  5. 5.

    The puzzle is solved when every row, column, and region has its exact star count with no stars touching — and every board can be finished by pure logic, no guessing.

FAQ

Place stars so that every row, every column, and every bold region contains exactly the required number of stars — one star on 5×5 and 8×8 boards, two on the classic 10×10, three on 14×14. No two stars may touch, not even diagonally. That's the whole rule set.

No — this is the most common misconception. A star blocks only the 8 cells immediately around it: the cells directly above, below, beside, and diagonally adjacent. Two stars CAN share a diagonal as long as they are at least two cells apart. Stars are not chess queens — nothing is blocked at a distance.

Yes — Two Not Touch is the New York Times' brand name for 10×10 two-star Star Battle puzzles, hand-crafted by Krazydad. The rules are identical. Our daily uses the same canonical 10×10 two-star format, and every board is verified to have a unique, logic-only solution.

Queens is essentially a one-star Star Battle: one crown per row, column, and colored region, with the same no-touch rule. Star Battle generalizes it — the classic format asks for two stars per row, column, and region, which adds counting arguments Queens never needs. If you enjoy Queens, the 5×5 and 8×8 one-star boards here will feel instantly familiar.

No. Every puzzle is machine-verified to have exactly one solution reachable through logical techniques alone — from simple star-neighbor eliminations up to confinement and counting arguments. If you're stuck, there is always a provable next move; the strategy guide walks through how to find it.

A new daily Star Battle is published every day at midnight US Eastern — a 10×10 two-star board, the same for everyone. Every past daily stays playable in the archive at its own permanent URL, and the unlimited library covers four sizes and three difficulty tiers.

Any modern browser on phone, tablet, or desktop. Tap to cycle a cell and drag to paint X's. Long-press (touch) or right-click (mouse) adds a dot note, and on desktop you can play entirely with the keyboard.

Yes. Every puzzle has a permanent URL — dailies live at their date, and every library board has its own link you can send to anyone. After a solve, the share button copies your time in one tap.