Games like Queens, Tango and Zip
12 October 2026
LinkedIn's daily games turned millions of people into logic-puzzle fans, but one puzzle a day goes fast. The good news is that Queens, Tango and Zip all belong to big families of classic pencil puzzles. If you like one of them, there's a whole shelf of similar puzzles waiting.
Here's what to play next, grouped by the game you already enjoy.
If you like Queens
1. Unlimited Queens
The obvious first step: the same rules, as many grids as you want. Queens Unlimited has four levels, from 6×6 warm-ups to 10×10 expert grids that need real region reasoning. Every puzzle is checked to have one solution reachable by logic.
2. Star Battle
Queens is the one-star version of Star Battle. The full puzzle asks for two (or even three) stars per row, column and region, still with no two touching. The extra stars change everything: you start reasoning about how many stars a group of regions can hold, not just where one goes. If expert Queens feels easy, two-star Star Battle is your next step.
3. Kakuro
Kakuro looks like a crossword filled with numbers. Each run of white cells must add up to its clue, with no repeated digits. It scratches the same itch as Queens: a few forced spots, then a cascade. Play today's Kakuro.
If you like Tango
4. Binairo (Takuzu)
Tango is a variant of Binairo, also called Takuzu or binary puzzle. Binairo uses 0s and 1s instead of suns and moons, has no = or × signs, and usually adds one more rule: no two rows (or columns) may be identical. Grids go up to 14×14, and the identical-rows rule creates lovely late-game deductions. Our expert Tango uses 8×8 grids as a bridge.
5. Nonograms
If you enjoy Tango's line-by-line thinking (count what's left, see what fits), nonograms will feel familiar. Each row and column has number clues describing runs of filled cells, and solving them reveals a picture. Today's nonogram takes five to fifteen minutes.
If you like Zip
6. Unlimited Zip
Zip Unlimited goes from 6×6 to 8×8 grids with walls. Bigger grids make you plan around corners and dead ends instead of drawing on instinct.
7. Hidato and Numbrix
Zip comes from the family of numbered-path puzzles. In Numbrix, you fill a grid with consecutive numbers so each number touches the next one up, down, left or right, which is a Zip path written out in numbers. Hidato allows diagonal steps too, which makes it feel quite different.
8. Slitherlink
Slitherlink asks you to draw a single loop along the grid lines, guided by numbers saying how many sides of each cell the loop uses. Like Zip, it's about one continuous line. Unlike Zip, it's pure deduction from the first move. It's coming to Pencil Grids in 2027.
Why these puzzles are so satisfying
All of these puzzles share one design idea: the answer is unique, and you can reach it without guessing. Every move you make is something you can prove. That's why a good logic puzzle feels calm, even when it's hard. You're never gambling, just noticing.
It's also why practice pays off so quickly. The same handful of techniques shows up again and again. Learn them once in our guides for Queens, Tango, Zip, nonograms and Kakuro, and every grid gets easier.
Queens, Tango and Zip are games by LinkedIn. Pencil Grids is independent and not affiliated with LinkedIn. Our puzzles are original and generated by our own software.