One crown per row, column and kingdom. Watch the towers.
Crowns is a crisp logic puzzle in the family of “Queens” and Star Battle games. The board is split into coloured kingdoms, and you must crown exactly one ruler in every row, every column and every kingdom. Two crowns may never touch: not side by side, and not diagonally either.
Our twist is the watchtower. Some squares are stone towers with a number on them. A tower can’t hold a crown, and its number tells you exactly how many crowns sit in the eight squares around it. A “0” clears its whole neighbourhood; a “2” tells you two crowns guard it. Every puzzle has exactly one solution, so you never need to guess.
A new Crowns arrives every day at midnight in your time zone, the same for everyone. Early in the week it’s a 6×6 with a few friendly towers; weekends bring an 8×8 with big, sprawling kingdoms. Practice mode makes a fresh board whenever you want one.
- 🔲Grid6×6 to 8×8
- 🗼TwistWatchtowers
- ⏱️Play time2–5 min
- 📅New puzzleEvery midnight
🎮How to play
- 1
Tap a square once to mark it ✕ (no crown here). Tap it again to place a 👑, and once more to clear it.
- 2
Drag across squares to mark several ✕ at once.
- 3
Place one crown in every row, every column and every coloured kingdom.
- 4
Crowns can’t touch each other, even at the corners.
- 5
Watchtowers can’t hold a crown. Their number is how many crowns touch them. Rule breaks show in red.
💡Tips & tricks
- Tip 1
Start with the smallest kingdom. If it only covers two or three squares, the crown has very few places to go, and everything around those squares is affected.
- Tip 2
If a kingdom fits entirely inside one row or column, that row or column’s crown must be in that kingdom. Cross out the rest of the line.
- Tip 3
A watchtower showing 0 is a gift: none of its eight neighbours can hold a crown.
- Tip 4
Keep Auto ✕ on while you learn. It greys out every square a crown already rules out, so you can focus on the real decisions.
🙋Questions
Is Crowns the same as Queens?
The core rules are the same: one per row, column and colour region, and no two touching. Crowns adds watchtowers (numbered squares that tell you how many crowns surround them), which make every day’s board a little different to solve.
Will I ever need to guess?
No. Every Crowns puzzle is checked to have exactly one solution, so you can always find the next crown by logic.
What does Auto ✕ do?
It shows a faint ✕ on every square that your crowns already rule out (same row, column, kingdom, or touching). You can switch it off for a purer challenge; your own ✕ marks always stay.
How are points calculated?
Faster solves score more and each hint costs points. Bigger weekend boards are worth up to double. Solve the daily on consecutive days to build your streak.