How to play Stars (Star Battle)

Stars is a grid split into coloured regions. Exactly one star goes in every row, every column and every region, and no two stars may ever touch — not even at a corner. Boards are 7×7, 8×8 or 9×9, and every one of them has a single solution you can reason your way to.

The four rules

Tap once to rule a cell out, twice to place a star.

Exactly one star per row, column and colour region.

Two stars can never touch, not even diagonally.

Region borders are drawn in thick ink, so colour is never the only clue.

One deduction, step by step

Stars is played by ruling cells out, not by placing stars. Almost every move is «this cell cannot hold one», and the stars fall out on their own.

A region that never leaves the row. The star of this row has to be inside the region, because the region has nowhere else to put its own — so every cell of the row outside it is out.

A star empties its neighbourhood. The eight cells around it, plus the rest of its row, its column and its region. With Auto × on, the board keeps that up to date for you.

One cell standing is a star. When a row, a column or a region has a single cell left that has not been ruled out, that is where the star goes. Nothing left to check.

Where to start

Look at the smallest regions first. A region of two or three cells is nearly a placed star already: whatever rules out one of its cells decides the rest.

Then look for regions that fit inside a single row or a single column. That row already has its star spoken for, so every cell of it outside the region is out — often five or six cells at once, before you have placed anything.

From there it is bookkeeping. Every star you place empties its row, its column, its region and its eight neighbours; turn on Auto × and the board keeps that bookkeeping for you, leaving your own × marks for the deductions you actually made.

Questions people ask

Is Stars the same as Star Battle?

Yes. The puzzle is also sold as Two Not Touch. Puzlia serves one-star boards: exactly one star per row, column and region, at all three sizes.

Do I need to see the colours to play?

No. Every region border is drawn in thick ink, so the shape of a region is readable without colour at all. The palette is a second signal, never the only one — and two neighbouring regions never get the same colour.

What does Auto × do?

It crosses out the cells that can no longer hold a star, and updates as you go. It never touches the marks you placed yourself, and it costs nothing to undo: taking a star back removes its crosses in the same single step.

Do I have to guess on Hard?

No. A 9×9 board asks for longer chains — usually counting which rows a group of regions can still use — but there is always a next move you can justify.

Play it

Same daily board for everyone, or unlimited puzzles

Today's Stars Start on Easy (7×7)

How to play Stars