LinkedIn has quietly built one of the most complete daily puzzle lineups on the internet. What started with a handful of games has grown into seven distinct puzzles — each with its own logic, rhythm, and community of daily solvers. If you are new to LinkedIn Games, or you have only played one or two, this guide walks through every game, how it works, and where you should start.
The full lineup at a glance
| Game | Type | Grid / Board | Core skill |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinpoint | Word association | 5 clues | Lateral thinking |
| Queens | Logic placement | Variable grid | Constraint reasoning |
| Tango | Logic grid | 6×6 | Pattern constraints |
| Zip | Path drawing | Variable grid | Spatial planning |
| Crossclimb | Word ladder | Words | Vocabulary + reasoning |
| Patches | Spatial tiling | Board | Shape fitting |
| Mini Sudoku | Number placement | 6×6 | Classic deduction |
Every game publishes one new puzzle per day, and every puzzle has exactly one intended solution. That simple design is why the games work so well as a daily habit: a few focused minutes, one clean problem, one satisfying solve.
Pinpoint — guess the hidden connection
Pinpoint is the flagship. You are shown five clues — words or short phrases — and your job is to find the single category or theme that connects all of them. Early clues are deliberately ambiguous; as more clues appear, the common thread tightens.
The skill is not vocabulary but lateral thinking: holding several possible interpretations in your head and letting each new clue eliminate them. Most players guess somewhere between clue two and clue five; solving on clue one is rare and celebrated.
Start here: LinkedIn Pinpoint answers and archives.
Queens — one crown per row, column, and region
Queens is a constraint puzzle. On a grid divided into colored regions, you place exactly one crown (👑) in every row, every column, and every colored region — and no two crowns may touch, not even diagonally.
It feels like sudoku's sharper cousin: the three overlapping constraints (row, column, region) plus the no-touch rule mean that a single forced cell often cascades into several more. It is one of the easiest games to learn and one of the most satisfying to master.
Rules and strategies: LinkedIn Queens strategy guide.
Tango — suns, moons, and balance
Tango asks you to fill a 6×6 grid with suns (☀️) and moons (🌙). Two rules govern everything:
- Every row and every column contains exactly three suns and three moons.
- No more than two identical symbols may sit next to each other in a line.
That is it — two rules, but they interact constantly. Tango puzzles reward systematic scanning: rows or columns that already show two of one symbol are usually the fastest place to start.
Deeper tips: LinkedIn Tango rules and tips.
Zip — one path, every cell
Zip is a path-drawing puzzle. Numbered dots mark waypoints; you must connect them in order with a single continuous path that fills every cell of the grid without crossing itself.
Zip is pure spatial planning. The best solvers do not start drawing immediately — they count cells between waypoints first. If waypoint 3 and waypoint 4 are eight cells apart, the path segment between them must consume exactly eight cells, and that arithmetic constrains the route.
More on the technique: LinkedIn Zip strategy.
Crossclimb — the daily word ladder
Crossclimb is a word ladder: you transform a start word into an end word by changing exactly one letter at each step, and every intermediate rung must be a real word. Crossword-style clues accompany the rungs to keep you oriented.
Word ladders are an old puzzle form (Lewis Carroll invented them in the 1870s), and Crossclimb is a clean modern take. The trick is working backwards from the end word as much as forwards from the start.
Ladder techniques: LinkedIn Crossclimb strategy.
Patches — rebuild the hidden picture
Patches is a spatial tiling puzzle: scattered patches must be dragged onto a board to rebuild a hidden picture, matching edges and colors. It is the most visual game in the lineup and the one that feels least like "math".
Because the solution is a complete image, Patches rewards edge-first assembly — corners and border pieces first, then large distinctive regions.
Solving approach: How to solve LinkedIn Patches.
Mini Sudoku — the six-by-six warm-up
Mini Sudoku condenses classic sudoku into a 6×6 grid: fill the grid with digits 1–6 so that every row, column, and 2×3 box contains each digit exactly once.
It keeps all of sudoku's deduction — naked singles, box-line interactions — but finishes in a fraction of the time. It is the perfect entry point if full 9×9 sudoku feels intimidating.
Techniques: LinkedIn Mini Sudoku strategy.
Which game should you start with?
- Want words? Start with Pinpoint or Crossclimb.
- Want pure logic? Start with Queens or Mini Sudoku.
- Want spatial thinking? Start with Zip or Patches.
- Want the gentlest ramp? Tango has only two rules and the fastest solves.
There is no penalty for trying them all — each game tracks its own streak, so you can build several at once.
Getting unstuck
Every puzzle here has exactly one solution, and every day we publish the full answer for each game — with a step-by-step explanation of how the solution can be found, not just what it is.
- Browse today's answers: all games
- Ask the AI assistant for a hint without spoiling the answer
- Older puzzles live in each game's archive, free for everyone
Happy solving — see you at tomorrow's puzzle.