Star Battle Puzzle: Place One Cat in Every Zone

How do you play Cat Zones?

The board is split into colored zones, and there are as many zones as rows. Your goal is to place one cat per zone so that:

• Every row has exactly one cat.
• Every column has exactly one cat.
• Every zone has exactly one cat.
• No two cats touch, including diagonally, so each cat needs all eight neighboring cells empty.

Tap a cell once to mark it with an X (no cat can go there), tap again to place a cat, and a third time to clear it. Cats that break a rule are outlined in red. The puzzle is solved when every zone has its cat and nothing is outlined.

What is a Star Battle puzzle?

Star Battle (sometimes written Starbattle) is a classic pencil-and-paper logic puzzle. A square grid is divided into regions, and you place stars so that every row, every column and every region holds the same number of stars, with no two stars in neighboring cells, not even diagonally. Many Star Battle puzzles, especially 10×10 ones, ask for two stars per row, column and region. Cat Zones is the one-star version: one cat in every row, column and colored zone, so the whole rule set fits in one sentence and a 5×5 board makes a quick warm-up.

You never have to guess. Every Cat Zones board has exactly one answer, and you reach it by elimination: a cat rules out the rest of its row, its column, its zone and the eight cells around it. When a zone has a single cell left that isn't ruled out, its cat must go there. Stuck on a board from a book or another app with the same rules? Paint it into the Star Battle solver and it shows the answer, or tells you when a board has none or more than one. To get faster on your own, the Star Battle strategy guide walks through seven techniques with small example boards.

Star Battle, Queens and the eight queens puzzle: what's the difference?

Three puzzles with starry or royal names get mixed up a lot. Here is how their rules compare with Cat Zones:

So a Queens board is a one-star Star Battle with crowns instead of stars, and Cat Zones uses the same rules with cats. The eight queens puzzle is the odd one out: it has no colored regions, and its diagonal rule reaches across the whole board instead of stopping at the next cell. If you already play Queens, every technique you know works here unchanged, and Cat Zones adds what a once-a-day puzzle can't: unlimited boards from 5×5 to 10×10, a code for every board so a friend can play the same one, and a daily leaderboard.

Cat Zones is an independent game. It is not affiliated with LinkedIn or with any company that publishes puzzles with these rules, and every board comes from our own generator.

Star Battle tips for beginners

1. Start with the smallest zones. A zone with one cell must hold a cat; a zone of two or three cells limits the options right away.
2. Clear the eight cells around every cat. Turn on Auto-mark X if you want the game to do it for you.
3. Look for zones squeezed into one row or column. If all of a zone's cells sit in one row, that row's cat belongs to that zone, so mark every other cell in the row.
4. Count zones against rows. If two zones fit entirely inside the same two rows, those two rows are used up by them, so every other cell in those rows is empty.
5. Test a cell, don't guess. If placing a cat in a cell would wipe out every remaining cell of some zone, row or column, that cell must be empty.

These and a few more techniques are explained with examples in the strategy guide.

Teaching a child? Start with the six easy boards in our printable logic puzzles for kids, with an answer page for grown-ups.

Why play the daily Star Battle puzzle?

Everyone gets the same 8×8 board each UTC day, so you can compare times on the leaderboard and keep a streak going. Want more? Switch to Unlimited and pick any size; each new board has its own code in the address bar, so you can send a friend the exact same puzzle.

Frequently asked questions

Is Cat Zones free?

Yes. Every puzzle is free to play in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer. There is nothing to download and no account to create.

When does the daily puzzle change?

A new 8x8 daily puzzle starts at 00:00 UTC, and everyone gets the same board that day, so leaderboard times are comparable.

Does every puzzle have exactly one solution?

Yes. Each board is generated and then checked by a solver; boards with more than one answer are rejected, so you never have to guess.

What do hints do?

A hint removes one cat that is in the wrong place, or places one correct cat if all your cats are right. On the daily puzzle each hint adds 30 seconds to your time.

Is this the same kind of puzzle as Star Battle or Queens?

The rules are the classic one-star Star Battle rules, the same family as Queens-style puzzles in other apps. Cat Zones is an independent game with its own boards and is not affiliated with any of them.

Where is my progress saved?

In this browser. Your current boards, best times and daily streak stay on this device; clearing your browser data resets them.