Sudoku (PuzzleMadness)

About Sudoku (PuzzleMadness)

PuzzleMadness's Sudoku is the classic 9x9 puzzle: some digits are given, and you fill the rest so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains 1 to 9 exactly once. The site's rules page stresses that it needs no arithmetic and no guessing, only logic, and that more starting digits usually means an easier grid.

The daily page opens today's puzzle on its own, and its title carries the date (on 3 October 2026 it read "Daily Medium Sudoku Puzzle for Saturday 3rd October 2026 (Medium)"). There is a separate dated puzzle for each difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard, Tough and Mixed. Past days stay in the archive, so a missed puzzle can be played later, and there is a print version and an image download of the grid. PuzzleMadness does not publish solutions: the site tells you when you have finished a grid correctly or made a mistake. Each completed puzzle adds to your total on the Sudoku monthly and all-time leaderboards, where only your best score on any one puzzle counts.

The two starting techniques the rules page teaches are enough for the Easy grids: look for the one square in a box where a digit can go, and look for a square that can only take one digit once its row, column and box are checked. The Hard and Tough grids need pencil marks and longer chains of reasoning. Sudoku heads the list of puzzles on the site's home page, and the top players on its all-time leaderboard have scores in the millions.

PuzzleMadness is a British puzzle site with dozens of daily puzzle types in the browser, from many sudoku variants to logic grids such as Nurikabe, Hashi and Slitherlink. It is free to play and carries ads. A free account keeps track of the puzzles you have finished and puts your name on the leaderboards, and the badges next to usernames mark how many puzzles a player has completed.

How to play Sudoku (PuzzleMadness)

1. Open the day's Sudoku page and pick Easy, Medium, Hard, Tough or Mixed.
2. Select a square and enter a digit with the number buttons or the keyboard; switch on pencil mode for candidates.
3. Make every row, every column and every 3x3 box contain 1 to 9 exactly once.
4. The site tells you when the grid is solved and adds the score to the monthly and all-time leaderboards.

Tips

• For each digit, scan each box for the single square it can still go in.
• Check squares that already see eight different digits in their row, column and box.
• Ctrl, Shift or Alt with a number adds a pencil mark without switching modes.

Questions