Judges (Mind Loft)

About Judges (Mind Loft)

Judges is a placement puzzle in the Star Battle family, with judges for stars and coloured courts for regions. Every row, every column and every court needs exactly two judges, and no two judges may sit in neighbouring cells, corners included. The numbers around the edge count how many seats each row and column still needs, and an auto-mark option crosses out the cells a new judge rules out.

Mind Loft says each board is generated and checked to have exactly one solution that can be reached by deduction alone, so there is never a need to guess. The board stays covered until you press Start, and your time goes on the day's leaderboard; there are hints that seat one judge, an undo, a reveal, and a streak to keep.

A new bench appears at midnight Eastern. Monday to Saturday boards are 10x10 and graded to get harder as the week goes on, and the Sunday Edition is 12x12. Judges is the two-per version of Mind Loft's Jesters, which seats one per row.

It suits players who have outgrown one-star Queens boards and want the denser reasoning of two-star Star Battle.

How to play Judges (Mind Loft)

1. Press Start to uncover the day's bench.
2. Tap a cell to mark it as empty, or switch to Judge (or hold or right-click) to seat a judge.
3. Seat two judges in every row, column and coloured court.
4. Keep every pair of judges apart, including diagonally.
5. Finish with all 20 judges seated (24 on Sunday) and see your time on the leaderboard.

Screenshots

Tips

• Small courts are the place to start: a court of four cells in a block can hold only limited arrangements of two.
• When two courts fill two rows between them, every other court must stay out of those rows.
• Use the edge counts to see which rows and columns are nearly complete.

Questions