Sudoku for Seniors: How to Start, with 4 Easy Printable Puzzles

The rules of sudoku in one minute

A sudoku is a square of 81 small boxes: 9 rows, 9 columns, and 9 bigger 3 by 3 squares marked by thick lines. Some boxes already have a number. Your job is to fill the empty ones so that:

• every row has the numbers 1 to 9, each once,
• every column has the numbers 1 to 9, each once,
• every 3 by 3 square has the numbers 1 to 9, each once.

That is all. There is no adding or multiplying; the numbers could just as well be letters or pictures. (Our Cute Paws Sudoku actually uses paw prints instead of numbers.)

Move 1: the box that can only hold one number

Pick an empty box. Look along its row, down its column, and around its 3 by 3 square, and cross off in your head every number you see there. If only one number from 1 to 9 is left, that is the answer for the box.

Example: an empty box sits in a row that already has 1, 3, 5 and 8, in a column with 2, 4 and 9, and in a square with 6. The only number missing from all three is 7, so the box is a 7.

On easy puzzles you will find a box like this almost every time you look. Write it in, and the puzzle gets easier with every number.

Move 2: the number that can only go in one box

Now turn it around. Pick a number, say 4, and one 3 by 3 square that does not have a 4 yet. Look at the rows and columns that pass through that square. Wherever a 4 already sits in one of those rows or columns, that line is blocked. Often only one empty box in the square is left free, and the 4 must go there.

A good habit: take the numbers one at a time, 1, then 2, then 3, and check each 3 by 3 square for them. It is calm, steady work, and on an easy puzzle it fills in a lot of boxes quickly.

These two moves are enough for every puzzle on this page. When you want more of a challenge, Sudoku strategies shows the next techniques, step by step.

Five tips that make sudoku more enjoyable

1. Use a pencil and an eraser, and write in the answers you are sure of. Small "maybe" numbers can go in the corner of a box.
2. Print big. A full-page grid is easier on the eyes and leaves space for those small notes. Our large print sudoku page has 6 more puzzles.
3. Start where it is crowded. Rows, columns and squares with many numbers already in them have the fewest choices left.
4. Take a break when you are stuck. Fresh eyes spot in a minute what you missed for twenty.
5. Do it together. Sudoku is a nice shared activity: one person reads out what is missing, the other looks for it. On NitroPlayer you can also play a sudoku duel with a friend or a grandchild through a private link.

Playing sudoku on a tablet or computer

Our free online Sudoku works in any browser, with nothing to download and no account needed. It is a good next step after paper because:

• Tap a number and every copy of it is highlighted, so you see straight away where it is still missing.
• You can undo any move, and write notes in a box.
• A hint button fills in one box when you are really stuck.
• Zoom with Ctrl and + on a computer, or pinch on a tablet, to make everything bigger.
• Choose Easy to begin, and come back for the daily sudoku, a new puzzle each day.