Queens & Cats: A Daily Logic Puzzle Is Coming to HulaGames

Queens & Cats is our next daily logic puzzle, and it’s coming soon to HulaGames. The rules fit on a sticky note: place one cat in every row, every column and every colored territory, and make sure no two cats touch, not even diagonally. Every puzzle has exactly one answer, and you can always reach it by logic alone.

It isn’t playable yet. This post is a first look at how the Queens and Cats puzzle will play, based on our design spec, so you know what to expect when it lands.

What kind of puzzle is Queens & Cats?

Queens & Cats belongs to a family of placement puzzles with roots in a classic chess problem: put queens on a board so that none can attack another. Our version swaps the chess pieces for something friendlier and adds colored territories, which turn a math problem into a satisfying daily puzzle.

The grid is square, and it’s split into colored territories. A 7x7 grid has seven territories, a 9x9 grid has nine, and so on. Your job is to place exactly as many cats as there are rows.

How it will play

The rules

1. Place exactly one cat in every row.
2. Place exactly one cat in every column.
3. Place exactly one cat in every colored territory.
4. No two cats may touch, not horizontally, vertically or diagonally.

That’s all. There’s no fail state. You can place cats freely, mark cells you’ve ruled out, change your mind and keep going at your own pace.

The controls

Tap a cell once to mark it with an X (your note that a cat can’t go there). Tap it twice to place a cat. You can also drag to mark several cells at once, which is handy when a new cat rules out a whole row.

It’s planned for both phone and desktop browsers, with tap or click controls.

Helpful extras

The current design includes:

• Undo and Reset for when you want to back up or start fresh.
• Check, which highlights any cat that doesn’t match the solution.
• Conflict warnings. If two cats touch, or share a row, column or territory, they wiggle and tint red. It’s a warning, not a block, so you learn the rules by seeing them.
• A short tutorial on a tiny 5x5 grid that walks you through placing a cat, seeing what it rules out and marking X’s.
• A colorblind-friendly option that adds patterns to territories, so you never have to rely on color alone.

Three dailies, every day

The heart of Queens & Cats is the Daily. Each day will bring three puzzles, the same for everyone:

Difficulty	Grid	Territories
Easy	7x7	7
Medium	9x9	9
Hard	11x11	11

Solving any of the day’s puzzles will keep your streak going. Solve all three and the design calls that a “Perfect Day.” A countdown shows when the next set arrives.

Because everyone gets the same puzzles on the same day, you can compare times with friends. If you’d like a sense of how daily puzzles fit into a routine, we wrote about building a daily puzzle habit.

Unlimited mode

Can’t wait until tomorrow? Unlimited mode is planned to serve as many puzzles as you want at Easy, Medium or Hard. Finish one, tap for another.

Every puzzle has one answer, and no guessing

This is the promise we care about most. Every Queens & Cats puzzle is built to have exactly one solution, and every one can be solved with logic, step by step, with no guessing.

Here’s how the design gets there. Puzzles are generated ahead of time by placing a valid set of cats first, then growing a territory around each one. A solver then checks that no second answer exists and grades the puzzle by the kind of reasoning it needs:

• Easy puzzles only need the basics, like spotting a row or territory with one possible cell left.
• Medium puzzles need you to combine clues, such as a territory that sits entirely inside one row.
• Hard puzzles need at least one short “what if” step: if a cat went here, would something run out of room?

A puzzle that can’t be finished with that kind of logic is thrown out, even if it has one answer. We want every solve to feel earned, not lucky. If you’d like to get ahead of the curve, our guide on how to solve queens logic puzzles teaches six techniques you’ll use from your very first grid.

Hints that teach

Stuck? The planned hint system comes in three steps, each based on the next logical move from where you are:

1. Nudge points you toward the right area, like a territory or row worth a look.
2. Eliminate marks one cell with an X and explains why.
3. Reveal places one correct cat.

Hints are designed to be free and unlimited. Your hint count will show on your result, so a zero-hint solve is something to be proud of.

Sharing without spoilers

When you finish, you’ll be able to share your result: your time, how many hints you used and your streak. The share won’t show where the cats go, so friends who haven’t played yet won’t get the answer by accident.

Why cats?

Cats are curious, a little territorial and famously don’t like to be crowded. That makes them the perfect stand-ins for this puzzle: one cat per territory, and nobody sits next to anybody. The cat token is glossy and cute in the HulaGames style, and the plan is for the cats to bounce in celebration when you finish.

When can you play?

Queens & Cats is in development. We don’t have a launch date to share, and we’d rather get it right than rush it. Keep an eye on its game page and the full games list. In the meantime, if you want a daily puzzle right now, Tiki Tiles has a Daily board waiting for you today.

FAQ

Can I play Queens & Cats yet?

Not yet. Queens & Cats is in development and coming soon to HulaGames. We’ll share it on the site when it’s ready to play.

How do you play Queens & Cats?

Place one cat in every row, every column and every colored territory. No two cats may touch, not even at the corners. Every puzzle has exactly one answer.

Will there be a new Queens & Cats puzzle every day?

Yes. The plan is three Daily puzzles each day, the same for everyone: Easy on a 7x7 grid, Medium on 9x9 and Hard on 11x11. Unlimited mode adds more puzzles whenever you want them.

Do I ever have to guess in Queens & Cats?

No. Every puzzle has exactly one answer and can be solved by logic alone.