Sudoku and Star Battle are both grid-based logic puzzles you solve by pure deduction, so solvers naturally wonder how alike they really are. The short answer: Star Battle is moderate to Sudoku. Below we lay out what the two share, where they part ways, and whether the skills you have built on Sudoku will carry over.
- Grid: n×n with regions
- Closeness to Sudoku: Moderate
- Also called: Two Not Touch
What is Star Battle?
Place a fixed number of stars in every row, column and region so that no two stars ever touch. Here are the rules in full:
- Each row, each column and each marked region must contain exactly the same number of stars (often one or two).
- No two stars may touch — not even diagonally.
- Those two rules alone determine the grid.
See a Star Battle grid
Star Battle asks you to place a fixed number of stars so that each row, column and region has the same count, and no two stars touch — not even diagonally. Below, a one-star-per-row solution: each row, and each column, has exactly one star, all kept apart.
One star per row and column, with no two stars adjacent (even diagonally).
The "every row, column and region gets its quota" idea mirrors Sudoku's one-of-each rule, and the no-touching rule is the same king's-move constraint as Anti-King Sudoku. You place stars rather than digits, but the counting-and-elimination logic feels very familiar.
What Star Battle shares with Sudoku
- The "every row, column and region gets its quota" idea mirrors Sudoku's one-of-each rule.
- The no-touching rule is the same king's-move constraint as Anti-King Sudoku.
- It is a pure-logic, single-solution placement puzzle.
How Star Battle differs from Sudoku
- You place a handful of stars, not digits 1–9 — the cells are mostly empty.
- What matters is how many and where, not which number goes where.
Do Sudoku skills transfer?
The mechanics differ, but the counting instinct is shared: "this region still needs one star and only two cells can take it" is the same elimination logic as a Sudoku hidden single.
The verdict
Star Battle keeps Sudoku's row/column/region bookkeeping and its no-touch rule, but trades digits for a scattering of stars.
Prefer to stay with Sudoku?
If Star Battle appeals, these Sudoku variants scratch the same itch and you can read up on each here: