Puzzle guides
Find your next useful technique, from spotting a hidden single in Sudoku to planning a Mahjong match. Each guide explains an approach and links to games where you can try it.
How to Solve Sudoku: From Your First Scan to Expert Technique
Most people learn Sudoku by staring at the grid until a number appears. There is a much faster way, and it is entirely teachable. Here are the techniques that take you from Easy to Expert, in the order you should learn them.
5 min read20 August 2026
StrategyMahjong Solitaire Strategy: Nine Rules That Actually Work
Mahjong solitaire rewards looking beyond the next matching pair. These nine habits help you preserve options, uncover tiles and recognise a risky move.
Vivek4 min19 August 2026
StrategyHow to Get Better at Hidden Object Games
Finding things quickly is a trainable skill, not a talent. Here is what actually improves your search speed, and why staring harder is the worst possible strategy.
Vivek4 min18 August 2026
FeatureWhy Puzzle Games Feel So Good
Puzzle games are among the simplest things you can play and among the hardest to stop playing. The reasons are mostly design, and they are worth understanding.
Vivek5 min17 August 2026
StrategyWord Puzzle Tactics: Finding Words Faster in Any Grid
Word puzzles reward vocabulary less than people assume and search technique far more. Here is how to find words faster in grids of any shape.
Vivek4 min16 August 2026
FeatureMatch-3 vs Merge: Which Puzzle Genre Fits How You Think?
Matching and merging both use observation and planning, with different rules for what happens when items combine. Compare the formats before choosing your next game.
Vivek3 min15 August 2026
What these guides are for
Most “puzzle tips” writing online is the same six sentences rearranged: take your time, use hints wisely, practice makes perfect. None of it is wrong and none of it changes how you play. These guides try to do the opposite, name specific, teachable techniques, explain why they work, and say when to use them.
Where a technique has a standard name, we use it. Sudoku players talk about naked singles, hidden singles and pointing pairs because those are precise ideas worth being able to refer to, and learning them in that order is what takes someone from Easy puzzles to Expert ones. The same applies elsewhere: mahjong solitaire has a real four-tile problem, and visual search has a genuine failure mode in object blindness.
Using the guides with a game
These guides explain common puzzle techniques and link to games where you can try them. Rules, controls and difficulty can differ between titles, so check the individual game page and its in-game instructions as well. If a description does not match what you see, send the game name and the detail that needs correcting through our contact page.
Choose a puzzle for the experience you enjoy: spotting patterns, planning a move or finding a small detail. These guides offer ways to approach that experience, without promising improvements to memory, intelligence or health.
Where to start
- New to a genre? Start with the guide for it, then play the games linked inside, each article points at the specific titles it is describing.
- Stuck on something specific? The Sudoku and Mahjong guides are organised by technique, so you can jump to the one you have not learnt yet.
- Not sure what you enjoy? Match-3 vs Merge and Why Puzzle Games Feel So Good are about choosing, not winning.
Every article links to the relevant games, and every game page carries its own tips section for the things that are specific to that title.