Mini Sudoku — Free 6×6 Sudoku Online

How to Play Mini Sudoku — Rules, Strategy and Daily 6×6 Puzzles

Mini sudoku is everything people love about sudoku compressed into a grid you can finish over a coffee. The standard mini format is 6×6: six rows, six columns and six regions that each hold the digits 1 to 6 exactly once. It removes the long grind of a 9×9 without removing a single drop of the logic, which is why mini sudoku searches spike every morning alongside "mini sudoku answer today" and why a well-worn mini sudoku book still sits next to more crossword and word-game fare on millions of desks. This page gives you a fresh date-seeded 6×6 every day, unlimited 5×5, 6×6 and 8×8 grids, and a full guide to the rules and tactics that make small grids fast to solve.

What Is Mini Sudoku?

Mini sudoku is a Latin-square placement puzzle on a smaller board. Where the full game uses a 9×9 grid divided into nine 3×3 boxes, the mini version uses a 6×6 grid divided into six 2×3 regions — two rows tall and three columns wide. Some publications print a 6×6 with 3×2 regions instead; both are valid, and switching between them is a good way to check that you are really reading regions rather than memorising shapes. Because there are only six digits, a complete grid has just 36 cells, so the puzzle is small enough to hold in your head and quick enough to finish on a phone between meetings.

We also offer two neighbouring sizes. The 5×5 uses five irregular five-cell regions instead of boxes, which is the gentlest possible introduction to irregular-region logic. The 8×8 uses 2×4 boxes and plays much closer to a full 9×9. All three sizes use the same engine, the same controls and the same daily-seeded mechanism, so switching size never means learning a new interface.

Mini Sudoku Rules

The whole rule set fits on one line: every row, every column and every 2×3 region must contain the digits 1 through 6 exactly once.

• Rows: six horizontal lines, each a permutation of 1–6.
• Columns: six vertical lines, each a permutation of 1–6.
• Regions: six coloured 2×3 blocks, each a permutation of 1–6. Thick lines mark the region edges, and each region carries its own colour on this page.
• Givens: the bold digits are clues. They cannot be changed or erased.
• Unique solution: every board here is machine-checked to have exactly one answer before you ever see it.

Because a 6×6 has 36 cells and 18 "units" (six rows, six columns, six regions), a single wrong digit breaks three constraints at once. That is why mistakes show up quickly — the mistake counter and the red highlighting exist so you can catch them before they cascade.

How to Solve Mini Sudoku — Five Tactics

1. Scan for naked singles first. With only six digits, a cell whose row, column and region already contain five different numbers is solved. On an easy grid there are usually three or four of these before you place anything.
2. Then hunt hidden singles. Pick one digit and sweep the six regions. If a 4 can only legally sit in one cell of a region, that cell is a 4 — even when that cell has other candidates.
3. Use pencil marks. Tap the ✏️ Pencil button, then tap digits to note candidates in a cell. On a 6×6, marking the two or three genuinely uncertain cells is usually enough to unlock the rest of the board.
4. Look for pairs and locked candidates. If two cells in a region are the only homes for {2, 5}, then no other cell in that region can be a 2 or a 5. The same idea works in reverse across a row.
5. Count the digits you have placed. Each digit appears exactly six times on a finished board. If you have placed all six 1s, every remaining blank is closed to the 1 — a check that costs nothing and catches errors instantly.

Difficulty Levels on the 6×6

Difficulty is controlled by how many givens remain, and therefore how far your deductions have to chain.

• Easy: about 18 givens. Solvable almost entirely by naked and hidden singles. One to three minutes.
• Medium: about 14 givens. The daily default. Needs pencil marks and locked candidates. Three to six minutes.
• Hard: about 12 givens. Ask for the three hints if you stall; there is no penalty and your leaderboard entry still counts.

5×5 vs 6×6 vs 8×8 — Which Size Should You Play?

The three sizes on this page are genuinely different puzzles, not just zoom levels. The 5×5 is the gentlest entry point anywhere on the site: twenty-five cells, five symbols, and irregular five-cell regions that teach region awareness without ever punishing a beginner. It is the size to hand to a child, a curious grandparent, or anyone who has never finished a logic grid before. Most adults solve an easy 5×5 in under a minute, which makes it a perfect warm-up rather than a main event.

The 6×6 is the classic mini sudoku format — the one from newspapers, puzzle magazines, and the well-known daily work-chat ritual. Thirty-six cells and tidy rectangular 2×3 regions give it a satisfying arc: quick scanning wins at the start, pencil marks and locked candidates decide the middle, and the last few cells fall in a cascade. If you only play one size, play this one, and make it the daily board it defaults to.

The 8×8 is a different animal. Sixty-four cells and 2×4 boxes put it within striking distance of a full 9×9, and hard 8×8 grids demand the same candidate discipline as classic Sudoku. Treat it as a bridge: when medium 6×6 boards feel automatic and the 9×9 still feels endless, the 8×8 is exactly the stepping stone between them.

Mini Sudoku for Kids, Classrooms and Coffee Breaks

Teachers love the 6×6 because it demonstrates constraint satisfaction in a form a ten-year-old can hold in working memory. A useful classroom exercise: solve the first three cells together on a whiteboard, then let pupils hunt the next naked single in pairs. The vocabulary transfers directly — rows, columns, regions, candidates, elimination — so a term spent on mini grids genuinely prepares students for bigger deduction games such as Nonogram or Minesweeper.

For adults the appeal is tempo. A medium 6×6 fits into the gap between meetings, a commute stop, or a coffee queue — short enough to finish, substantial enough to feel earned. Commuters who once scrolled feeds now keep a streak alive instead, and because the daily board is identical for everyone, the office conversation the next morning is about technique rather than luck. Parents splitting screen time with children find the 5×5 works the same way: one grid, two minutes, zero setup.

Why the Daily Mini Sudoku Is the Same for Everyone

The Daily grid is generated from a date-seeded algorithm: the same UTC-today date string feeds the same deterministic random stream, so every player receives the identical board. That single design choice does four useful things. Everyone starts equal, so nobody can refresh until an easy grid appears. Solve times become genuinely comparable, which is what makes the daily leaderboard meaningful. A streak rewards consistency rather than luck. And pattern recognition compounds, because recurring shapes come back tomorrow instead of never appearing again.

When you finish today's board, your time is submitted to the shared Top 50. Want more? Switch to Unlimited for an infinite stream of fresh grids — the "New Puzzle" button never runs out, and every one of them is verified uniquely solvable before it reaches you.

Print Mini Sudoku Puzzles — Build Your Own Book

Paper still has virtues no screen can match: no notifications, no battery anxiety, and a pencil annotation habit that many solvers prefer. To print from this page, switch to Unlimited, choose your size and difficulty, and use your browser print command. One grid per page prints crisply because the board is vector-drawn lines and text rather than an image, so it stays sharp at any zoom.

A pleasant routine is a weekly booklet: print seven dailies-plus-one — one medium 6×6 for each day and a hard 8×8 for Sunday — staple the corner, and you hold a personalised puzzle magazine that cost nothing. Travellers going offline can queue a dozen grids the same way, and because every generated board is verified uniquely solvable before it reaches you, the printed page never contains a broken grid. Keep a folder of favourites and you will gradually assemble a training library that mirrors exactly the techniques described in our strategy guide.

Seven Mini Sudoku Mistakes (and How to Undo Them)

1. Misreading the regions. On a 6×6 the boundary between the left and right region stacks runs down the middle of the board, and newcomers routinely treat it as an ordinary column line. Trace the thick borders with a finger before your first placement.
2. Overconfidence on easy boards. Speed is delightful until a careless tap plants a wrong digit that looks plausible for six moves. When the mistake counter ticks, stop immediately and re-audit the last three placements rather than bulldozing onward.
3. Neglecting the digit census. Each digit appears exactly six times on a finished 6×6. Counting placed copies of an unfinished digit takes seconds and exposes contradictions early.
4. Erasing pencil marks too eagerly. Marks are working notes, not clutter. Clear only the digit you just placed from its peers, and leave the rest until the endgame.
5. Playing the wrong size for your mood. Tired brains belong on the 5×5, curious ones on the 6×6, ambitious ones on the 8×8. Matching difficulty to energy keeps the streak alive through bad weeks.
6. Ignoring the hint button out of pride. A hint reveals one verified cell and costs nothing on the leaderboard. Studying why that cell had to be that digit teaches more than ten minutes of stalemate.
7. Quitting the daily after one bad day. Streaks forgive nothing, but skill compounds regardless. A missed day is a statistic; the pattern recognition you banked stays yours.

More Sudoku and Logic Puzzles

Mini sudoku is a doorway, not a destination. When you are ready for the full 9×9, play Sudoku or check a tricky grid against the Sudoku solver. If you want the same small-grid logic with a twist, try Killer Sudoku for cages and sums, Jigsaw Sudoku for irregular regions, or Sandwich Sudoku for outside-the-grid clues. Broader still, Nonogram, Minesweeper and 2048 cover the rest of the logic puzzle and number games shelves.

Is Mini Sudoku Good for Your Brain?

Sudoku-style grids train working memory, scanning and deductive reasoning, and the mini format is particularly friendly to short sessions because it is quick to finish and cheap to restart. Many players keep a 6×6 as a warm-up before a full grid, and teachers use the 5×5 and 6×6 to introduce constraint logic to children who would bounce off a 9×9. Everything on this page runs in your browser with no account and no download, so it loads on a phone, a tablet, a Chromebook or a locked-down work network in a second or two. Print any Unlimited puzzle for a paper copy, or just play here for free, as often as you like.