Royal Family

About Royal Family

Royal Family is a region puzzle in the family of Queens and Star Battle, with chess pieces in place of crowns. Each day's numbered board is a 5x5 grid divided into six coloured zones, and you have six pieces to place. Every zone must hold exactly one piece, and no piece may attack any other under the normal rules of chess.

The different pieces are what make it more than a Queens variant: a knight's jump, a bishop's diagonals and a rook's lines each rule out different squares, and the board highlights each piece's attacks as you place it. The pawn starts already on the board so that the puzzle has a single solution. Unlike Queens, the goal is not to fill every row and column, only every zone.

The puzzles are designed to be solved by logic, though the game admits newcomers may guess while they learn to see the attacks. If you are stuck, a lightbulb under a piece shows which zone it belongs in. Your solve time is your score on the leaderboard, and an archive keeps earlier boards; puzzle 342 fell on 2 October 2026.

It suits Queens players who know how chess pieces move and want the same kind of deduction with more variety.

How to play Royal Family

1. Open Royal Family and look at the 5x5 board, its six coloured zones and the pawn already placed.
2. Place the remaining pieces one at a time; the board shows each piece's attacks.
3. Make sure every zone holds exactly one piece and no piece attacks another.
4. Use a lightbulb hint if stuck, and finish quickly for a better leaderboard time.

Tips

• Place the queen first: it attacks the most squares, so it has the fewest legal spots.
• The knight is the easiest to fit late, since its jumps leave nearby squares free.
• Small zones have few squares; check which pieces can sit there without attacking the pawn.

Questions