Sudoku Practice Center

The fastest way to improve at Sudoku isn’t solving random puzzles — it’s deliberate practice on specific techniques. Each practice page below gives you dozens of positions where one particular technique is the next step, so you get repeated exposure to the patterns that matter.

Think of it like learning an instrument: playing songs is fun, but scales and exercises build the muscle memory that makes everything easier. These practice puzzles are your scales.

How Practice Mode Works

Each practice page focuses on a single technique:

1. A brief refresher explains the technique and links to the full technique guide for that strategy.
2. A drill board shows a position from a real puzzle where that technique is the next step. Every candidate is pencilled in, so you can go straight to looking for the pattern. Tap the candidates it removes (or place the digit it proves) and press Check.
3. Immediate feedback: a wrong answer is circled, a miss is counted and then shown, and Show me explains the step in plain English. Next puzzle loads another position, as many times as you like.
4. A worked example on the same board steps through the technique stage by stage if you’d rather watch one first.

Practice puzzles are ordered by technique difficulty below. If you’re new to Sudoku, start at the top and work your way down. Each technique builds on the ones before it.

Beginner Techniques

These two techniques are the foundation of all Sudoku solving. Master them and you can solve any easy puzzle — and they remain essential at every difficulty level above.

• Naked Single — A cell with only one possible number. The most basic technique, but spotting them quickly is a skill that needs practice. Learn the technique →
• Hidden Single — A number that can only go in one cell within a row, column, or box. Harder to spot than naked singles because the cell may have other candidates. Learn the technique →

Intermediate Techniques

These techniques use candidate elimination — removing possibilities rather than directly placing numbers. You’ll need them starting at medium difficulty and they become even more important in hard puzzles.

• Naked Pair — Two cells in a unit sharing exactly the same two candidates. Those candidates can be eliminated from all other cells in the unit. Learn the technique →
• Hidden Pair — Two candidates that only appear in two cells within a unit. All other candidates in those cells can be removed. Learn the technique →
• Naked Triple — Three cells in a unit with candidates drawn from the same three numbers. Extends pair logic to handle more complex situations. Learn the technique →
• Hidden Triple — Three candidates confined to three cells in a unit. Rarer than naked triples but equally powerful. Learn the technique →
• Pointing Pair — When a candidate in a box is restricted to a single row or column, it can be eliminated from that line in other boxes. A key bridge between box-level and line-level logic. Learn the technique →
• Pointing Triple — The three-cell version of pointing pairs. Same logic, applied when a candidate is restricted to three cells in a line within a box. Learn the technique →
• Box/Line Reduction — The mirror of a pointing pair: a candidate confined to one box within a row or column is cleared from the rest of that box. Learn the technique →
• Naked Quad — Four cells in a house that share only four digits. Learn the technique →
• Hidden Quad — Four digits confined to four cells in a house. Rare, and a good test of scanning by digit. Learn the technique →

Advanced Techniques

These grid-spanning techniques are required for expert and evil puzzles. They analyze patterns across multiple rows and columns simultaneously.

• X-Wing — A candidate appearing in exactly two cells in each of two rows, aligned on the same columns. Forms a rectangle pattern that eliminates the candidate from those columns. Learn the technique →
• Swordfish — Extends X-Wing from two rows to three. A more complex pattern but the same underlying logic. Learn the technique →
• XY-Wing — Three bivalue cells forming a Y-shape. The candidate shared by the two wing cells can be eliminated from cells that see both wings. Learn the technique →
• XYZ-Wing — A three-candidate extension of XY-Wing. The shared candidate can be eliminated from cells that see all three pattern cells. Learn the technique →
• Skyscraper — Two strong links on one digit that share a base line. Learn the technique →
• Two-String Kite — A row link and a column link on one digit, joined in a box. Learn the technique →
• W-Wing — Two matching bivalue cells joined by a strong link. Learn the technique →

Expert Techniques

These are the patterns that crack evil puzzles once the advanced techniques run dry.

• Simple Coloring — Follow one digit’s conjugate pairs in two colours to find a trap or a contradiction. Learn the technique →
• Unique Rectangle — Avoid the deadly pattern that would give a puzzle two solutions. Learn the technique →
• BUG+1 — Every cell bivalue but one: place the digit that saves the unique solution. Learn the technique →
• Jellyfish — The four-row fish, after X-Wing and Swordfish. Learn the technique →
• Finned X-Wing — An X-Wing with an extra fin, and the limited eliminations it still allows. Learn the technique →
• Empty Rectangle — A box cross plus a strong link removes one candidate. Learn the technique →
• Chains — X-Chains, XY-Chains and Alternating Inference Chains. Learn the technique →

Which Techniques Do I Need for Each Difficulty?

Use this table to identify which practice pages to focus on based on the difficulty level you’re working toward.

Tips for Effective Practice

• Focus on one technique per session. Trying to learn everything at once leads to shallow understanding. Spend 15–20 minutes on a single technique before moving on.
• Read the technique guide first. Each practice page links to a full explanation. Understanding why a technique works makes it much easier to spot in a puzzle.
• Use pencil marks. Every technique beyond naked singles requires accurate candidate lists. Get comfortable with candidate mode — it’s not optional at intermediate and advanced levels.
• Repeat until it’s automatic. You’ve mastered a technique when you spot it without deliberately searching for it. That takes repetitions — don’t rush to the next technique too soon.
• Then apply it in real puzzles. After practicing a technique in isolation, go solve full puzzles at the appropriate difficulty level. The real test is finding the technique when you don’t know in advance which one you need.

Ready to Start?

Pick the technique you want to work on and dive in. If you’re not sure where to begin, start with naked singles — building speed on the fundamentals improves everything else.

For full explanations of each technique with step-by-step examples, visit the Technique Guides. For broader strategy advice, check out our beginner strategies and advanced strategies articles.