How to play / Play a shaped board

How to play a shaped sudoku board

By the end of this you will have opened a shaped board, found out which rule it adds, and seen where that rule applies.

Before you start: None. The shapes are open at every level.

Steps

1. From the home screen, choose "More shapes".
2. Pick one of Diagonal, Windoku, Anti-knight or Anti-king.
3. Read the note that opens, which says what the rule is and where on the board it applies.
4. Tap "Got it" to close the note and start playing.
5. Pick a level. Every shape is playable at Easy, Medium and Hard.

What happens

The board plays as ordinary sudoku with exactly one extra rule. Diagonal and Windoku shade the squares their rule covers, so you can see them while you play. Anti-knight and Anti-king shade nothing, because the rule ties pairs of squares rather than a region. On those two, tapping a square lights every square it now sees.

If something goes wrong

You cannot see where the rule applies

On Anti-knight and Anti-king there is nothing to shade. Tap any square and the board lights every square it now sees, which is the rule drawn for that square.

The board did not change at midnight

Shaped boards change on Monday, not at midnight. The screen says "Same board for everyone until Monday".

Related

• How to enter numbers and use pencil marksBy the end of this you will be able to fill a square, pencil in the numbers a square could be, and take back anything you did not mean.
• How to share your sudoku resultBy the end of this you will have copied a result carrying your level and time, with a link that cannot give the board away.

What this is for: read about the feature.

Last updated 2026-09-20.