Starlock Puzzle 38
A fixed practice grid from the library — permanently at this address, so you can send it to somebody and compare.
About Starlock
Starlock is a logic grid. The board is divided into coloured regions of odd shapes, and your job is to place stars so that every row, every column and every region contains exactly one — with no two stars ever touching, not even at a corner.
There is no vocabulary, no trivia and no language in it at all, which is why it plays identically whether you learned to read in English, Hindi or Japanese. It belongs to the star battle family of pencil puzzles, which has been in puzzle magazines since the early 2000s. What is new here is that the grid is generated fresh every day, checked by a solver to have exactly one answer, and timed — so instead of "did you solve it", the question is "how fast".
Common questions about Starlock
Is there always exactly one solution?
Yes. Every published grid is run through an exact solver that counts solutions and rejects any grid with more than one. If you have found a placement that satisfies all three rules, it is the answer — there is no second valid arrangement to worry about.
Do I ever have to guess?
No. Every daily grid is solvable by pure elimination. If you find yourself guessing, there is a deduction available somewhere on the board that you have not spotted yet — usually in the smallest region.
What size is the grid?
Monday through Thursday it is 8×8. Friday, Saturday and Sunday it is 9×9, because that is when people have time. In unlimited mode you can choose anything from 6×6 up to 10×10.
Is this the same as Queens or Star Battle?
It is the same family of logic puzzle — one star per row, column and region, no two touching. That mechanic is decades old and belongs to nobody. The grids here are our own, generated by our own solver, with our own scoring and artwork.
Do I need an account?
No. There is no sign-up, no email and no login. Your streak and your results are stored in your own browser and never sent anywhere.