What is Mini Sudoku 6×6?

A 6×6 Sudoku board played with the digits 1 to 6. It is divided into six blocks of 2×3 - two rows tall and three columns wide - rather than the squares a 4×4 or 9×9 board uses.

What are the rules of a 6×6 Sudoku?

Every row, every column and every 2×3 block must contain the digits 1 to 6 exactly once. The rules are the ordinary Sudoku rules; only the board and the block shape change.

Why are the blocks 2×3 and not square?

Six cannot be split into a square block, so a 6×6 board uses blocks two rows tall and three columns wide. It is worth noticing where a block ends, because the shape is easy to misread at first.

Is 6×6 harder than 4×4?

A little, and deliberately so. There is more to search through, but the reasoning is the same. It is the natural step between a 4×4 and a full 9×9 board.

Do you need to guess on a 6×6 board?

Never. Every board has exactly one solution. We generated 150 boards at each level and checked them with an independent solver: all of them could be finished by plain scanning, without a single technique beyond spotting what is missing.

Why does 6×6 have only two difficulty levels?

Because on a board this small the rest would be labels with nothing behind them. We measured every level down to ten clues and each was still solvable by scanning alone, so the two we offer differ in how much help the board starts with - 16 clues against 13 - rather than pretending to need harder techniques.

Can I print 6×6 Sudoku?

Yes. The printable page puts six 6×6 boards on one A4 sheet, with cells large enough to write in comfortably.

Mini Sudoku 6×6

A Mini Sudoku 6×6 is an ordinary Sudoku on a board of six rows, six columns and six blocks of 2×3, filled with the digits 1 to 6. The rules do not change. What changes is that there is now something to search for - without a full grid's worth of it.

The rule, in one sentence

Every row, every column and every 2×3 block must contain 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 - each exactly once. That is the whole game, and it is the same sentence that describes a 9×9 board with the digits 1 to 9.

The first move on the board above

Look at the bottom row. It already holds 1, 2, 3, 6 and 5, and one square is empty. Six digits belong in every row, five of them are there, so the empty one can only be the 4. No technique, no pencil marks - just noticing what is missing.

From there the same question works everywhere: pick a row, a column or a block that is nearly full, and ask which digit has nowhere else to go.

The blocks are not square - and that matters

Six cannot be split into a square block, so a 6×6 board uses blocks that are two rows tall and three columns wide. This is the one thing that catches people out: a beginner who has come from a 4×4 board expects a square and reads the block boundary in the wrong place.

It is worth tracing the heavy lines once with a finger before starting. Once you see the six wide blocks, the board reads exactly like any other Sudoku.

Why this size is the natural next step

A 4×4 board teaches the rule, but it barely asks you to search - sixteen squares fit in one glance. A full 9×9 asks for a great deal of searching at once. A 6×6 sits between them: thirty-six squares, enough that you have to look, few enough that you can still hold the board in your head.

There is nothing to get stuck on. We generated 150 boards at each level and checked every one with an independent solver: each had exactly one solution, and every single one could be finished by plain scanning, with no technique beyond spotting what is missing.

Why only two difficulty levels

Because more would be dishonest. We measured every level from sixteen clues down to ten, and all of them were still solvable by scanning alone - a smaller board simply does not have room to hide the kind of pattern that makes a 9×9 hard. So the two levels differ in how much help the board starts with, 16 clues against 13, rather than pretending to demand harder reasoning.

Where to go next

When a 6×6 stops taking any thought, the full Easy 9×9 is the same rule again with the digits 1 to 9 and blocks of 3×3. Nothing new to learn - just more board. If you would rather start smaller, the 4×4 is where the rule is easiest to see.

Difficulties & scoring

This type is played on Easy and Medium - a smaller board has less room to hide the kind of pattern that makes a full grid hard, so the levels differ in how much help the board starts with. The score multiplier for Mini Sudoku 6×6 is ×0.6. The "normal time" below is tuned for this type.

Difficulty	Base score	Max (×0.6)	Normal time	Hints
easy	150	180	2 min	5
medium	300	360	4 min	4

How the score is calculated

Your score builds up from 0 as you place correct numbers, up to the full base when the board is finished. Then two bonuses are added:

base × your progress × (1 + combo bonus + time bonus) × 0.6

Progress: the live score climbs from 0 to the base as the grid fills with correct numbers.
Combo bonus (up to +50%): keep a clean run for the full bonus. Each error or hint is a combo break that shrinks the bonus - but it never takes Sparks away below the base.
Time bonus (up to +50%): beat the normal time and you earn extra, proportional to how much faster you were. Finishing slower than normal costs nothing - there is no time penalty.
The total is multiplied by ×0.6 and never drops below 0.

Coins

The coins you earn reflect your score - the more Sparks, the more coins (about 1 coin for every 45 Sparks, minimum 1). Spend coins in the Shop on hints and Jokers.

Tip: a clean, hint-free solve under the normal time scores the highest. The Daily Challenge is always Classic and fully scored.