Sudoku Tips for Beginners: 5 Techniques Before You Guess

6 November 2026 · 3 min read

Looking for sudoku tips for beginners? Here is the short answer: you never need to guess. A good sudoku can be solved by logic alone, and five simple techniques take you through most easy and medium grids. Learn them in this order and the puzzle stops feeling like luck.

The rules first: fill the 9 by 9 grid so that every row, every column and every 3 by 3 box holds the digits 1 to 9 exactly once. The numbers that are already there are your clues.

Sudoku tips for beginners: the 5 techniques

• 1. Scan one digit at a time. Pick a digit, say 7, and look at a box without one. The 7s in the rows and columns around it rule out squares. When only one square is left, the 7 goes there.
• 2. Find the last free square. When a row, column or box has eight numbers, the missing one is easy. With seven, check which of the two missing digits fits where.
• 3. Look for the only candidate. Take one empty square and list what it cannot be: every digit in its row, column and box. If one digit is left, write it in.
• 4. Use notes for the hard squares. Write the possible digits small in a square. As the grid fills up, cross them out. Notes turn a guess into a list you can check.
• 5. Spot pairs. If two squares in a row hold only the notes 3 and 8, those two digits must go there, in some order. No other square in that row can be a 3 or an 8, which often frees a third square.

A simple order that works

Start every grid by scanning the digits 1 to 9 one after the other. It is quick and fills in more than you expect. Then hunt for rows, columns and boxes that are almost full. Only when that runs dry do you start writing notes, and only then look for pairs.

Each new number gives you fresh information, so go back to scanning after every few squares. Many beginners get stuck because they keep staring at one hard square while an easy one waits elsewhere.

Try the five techniques on today's Sudoku

Playing Sudoku on PuzzleDose

The daily Sudoku is a calm game: no timer, no points and no leaderboard, so you can take as long as you like. Tap a square, then tap a number to fill it in. Tap that same number again to turn it into a note, and once more to clear it. Tapping a filled square highlights the same number everywhere on the board, which makes scanning easier.

Made a mistake? The undo button takes back your last move, and the hint button fills in one square for you. Every grid can be solved by logic, so a guess is never needed.

Start smaller if 9 by 9 feels big

The Mini Sudoku uses the same rules on a 6 by 6 grid with the digits 1 to 6. It is a good place to practise scanning and the last free square before you move on. The full rules of both games are on the Sudoku how-to page.