How to play 6x6 Sudoku

Fill the small grid so every row, column and box holds 1 to 6.

About 6x6 Sudoku

6x6 Sudoku is played on a six by six grid split into six boxes of two rows by three columns. Every row, column and box holds the digits 1 to 6 once each, and the puzzle starts with some of them already in place.

With 36 cells instead of 81 there is far less to fill, which makes it a good way to learn the rules before taking on the nine by nine grid. Most boards rate Easy, and the rating is shown in the bar just as it is for the larger grid.

Each box is two rows tall, so a digit missing from a box can only go in one of those two rows. If the digit already stands in one of them elsewhere on the grid, it belongs in the other, and often only one cell of that row in the box is still free.

Nearly every 6x6 board can be finished with singles: over 3000 generated puzzles, about 97 in 100 rated Easy. Choosing Medium or Hard makes the game try up to 1500 fresh puzzles for one that rates as asked, and in the rare case that none does, it deals the last one it tried. Each band of two rows holds two boxes, so once a digit stands in one row of the first box, the second box must hold it in the other row.

The goal of Sudoku

Fill every empty cell so that each row, each column and each box holds every digit exactly once. The classic grid is nine by nine, with nine boxes of three by three and the digits 1 to 9; the 6x6 grid has six boxes of two rows by three columns and the digits 1 to 6. Every puzzle has exactly one solution.

How to set up Sudoku

Choose Easy, Medium, Hard or Any as the difficulty of your next new puzzle. Easy puzzles need only the simplest deductions, Medium ones also need eliminations such as pointing pairs and naked pairs, and Hard ones need techniques beyond those.

Sudoku rules

Select a cell and enter a digit. Turn on Notes to pencil in candidate digits instead; notes are reminders, not moves, and writing a digit in a cell clears its notes. Erase empties a cell, Undo takes back your last move, and Restart lays the same puzzle out again.

A digit repeated in a row, column, box or cage is marked as a conflict, and so is a full cage that does not add up to its sum. A digit that breaks no rule but is still wrong is left unmarked, unless you turn on Check entries in the settings.

Hint fills in the next cell that logic forces from your current position, or points out your first wrong entry. Hints are unlimited, but a puzzle finished after a hint, or with Check entries on, is not recorded as a win.

The full Sudoku guide, with strategy tips and common questions