About Logic Grid Puzzles
Logic grid puzzles are free online logic puzzles where you use a handful of clues to work out who owns which pet, who ordered which cake or which runner finished first. Every clue rules something in or out, and by marking a grid of ✓s and ✗s you narrow the possibilities until only one answer is left. They are the same kind of puzzle as the famous Einstein puzzle, also known as the zebra puzzle.
Each puzzle here is built around a little story — neighbors on Maple Street, astronauts headed for different planets, a dog show, a pirate treasure hunt — with more than thirty themes in all. Easy puzzles have four people and three categories, medium puzzles have four categories, and hard puzzles have five people across four or five categories. There's also a free daily logic puzzle that gets a little harder as the week goes on.
Every puzzle has exactly one solution, and every one can be solved by pure reasoning — no guessing. If you get stuck, the hint button doesn't just give you an answer: it points to the clue or grid pattern that unlocks your next deduction, so you learn the technique as you go.
How to play Logic Puzzles
- 1
Read the story and the clues
Start with the short introduction: it tells you how many people there are and which categories you need to match. Then read through all of the clues once before you start marking.
- 2
Mark what the clues say directly
Some clues hand you a fact outright, like Anna owns the cat (✓) or the tea drinker isn't 30 (✗). Tap a square once for ✗ and twice for ✓. With Auto ✗ on, a ✓ crosses out the rest of its row and column for you.
- 3
Work out the trickier clues
Clues such as either… or…, older than or of the two, one… and the other… rarely give an answer on their own, but they rule things out. For example, if Ben is older than someone, Ben can't be the youngest.
- 4
Carry information between grids
The staircase of small grids lets you combine facts. If Anna owns the cat and the cat owner drinks tea, then Anna drinks tea. If Anna owns the cat and the cat owner isn't from Denver, Anna isn't either.
- 5
Finish the results table
When every person has exactly one ✓ in each category, the Results tab fills in and the puzzle is solved. Use Check at any time to see whether any of your marks are wrong.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Click / tap a square | Cycle blank → ✗ → ✓ → blank |
| Right-click, or drag | Mark ✗ (drag across squares to mark several at once) |
| Arrow keys | Move the cursor around the grid |
| X or Space · Enter or C · Backspace | Mark ✗ · mark ✓ · clear the square |
| U or Ctrl+Z · H · P | Undo · hint · pause |
| Tap a clue | Cross it off once you've used it |
| Focus / All grids | Switch between one large grid and the whole puzzle |
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Logic Puzzles tips and strategy
Use ✗ generously
Most of the solving happens with crosses, not ticks. Whenever a row or column is down to one open square, that square must be a ✓ — the grid does the rest of the work.
Squeeze the comparison clues
A is older than B means A can't have the lowest value and B can't have the highest. A finished exactly two places ahead of B rules out even more — with five places, A can only be first, second or third, and B can only be third, fourth or fifth.
Read 'one… and the other…' clues carefully
Of Anna and the dog owner, one drinks tea and the other is 30 tells you four things at once: Anna isn't the dog owner, the tea drinker isn't 30, and both Anna and the dog owner are either the tea drinker or the 30-year-old.
Remember that different names mean different people
A clue that mentions three different people separates all of them from each other. Even an ordinary clue like the cat owner is older than Ben quietly tells you Ben doesn't own the cat.
Cross-check two items against a third category
If the cat owner could only be 20 or 25, and the tea drinker could only be 30 or 35, they can't be the same person. This "no overlap" trick breaks open many hard puzzles.
Stuck? Take a hint, then look again
A hint highlights one square and names the clue or pattern behind it. Use it to learn the move, then see how many more deductions you can make on your own. Solves with hints aren't ranked on the leaderboard.
How the daily logic puzzle works
A new daily puzzle unlocks at midnight, and everyone gets the same one, so you can compare times with friends and on the daily leaderboard. Difficulty follows the week: Monday is an easy four-by-three warm-up, Tuesday to Thursday are medium four-by-four puzzles, Friday and Saturday are hard five-person puzzles, and Sunday is the big one — five people across five categories.
Your progress saves automatically, so you can come back to a half-finished puzzle later in the day. When you finish, you get a spoiler-free result to share: one square for each small grid, green if you solved it cleanly, yellow if a check found a mistake there and purple if you used a hint.
The Einstein puzzle (the zebra puzzle)
The best-known logic grid puzzle appeared in Life International magazine in 1962: five houses in a row, each with a different color, owner nationality, drink, pet and brand of cigarettes, followed by fifteen clues and the question who owns the zebra? It is often called Einstein's puzzle or Einstein's riddle, usually with the claim that only a small percentage of people can solve it — but there's no evidence that Albert Einstein wrote it, and no known source for that figure either.
The format grew into a staple of puzzle magazines, where the grid-and-clue layout you see here became standard. Our Sunday five-by-five puzzles are close to the size of the original zebra puzzle, so they're a good test once you've mastered the easier levels.
More deduction games to try
If you enjoy pure logic, try the number grids of Sudoku and KenKen, reveal hidden pictures in Nonograms, or clear a field of hidden mines in Minesweeper. You'll find all of them, and plenty more, in our free puzzle games collection.
Frequently asked questions
What is a logic grid puzzle?
A logic grid puzzle gives you a set of people or things, several categories (such as pets, drinks and ages) and a list of clues. Using only the clues, you work out which items go together, marking ✓ and ✗ in a grid until every match is known.
How do you solve logic grid puzzles?
Mark the direct clues first, then use each ✓ to cross out the rest of its row and column. Next, work through the comparison and either/or clues to rule out more squares, and combine grids: if A goes with B and B goes with C, then A goes with C. Repeat until only one option is left everywhere.
Did Albert Einstein write the Einstein puzzle?
Almost certainly not. The puzzle was first published in Life International in 1962, years after Einstein's death, and there's no record of him writing it. The popular claim that only 2% of people can solve it is also unsupported.
Does every puzzle have only one solution?
Yes. Every puzzle is checked by a solver before it's published: it has exactly one answer, and that answer can be reached by reasoning alone, without guessing.
What does an either/or clue mean?
Anna owns either the cat or the dog means Anna owns one of those two pets and none of the others. It doesn't tell you which one yet — another clue will. Items from the same category are always different, so she can't own both.
What happens if I make a mistake?
Nothing is locked in. Tap Undo, or press Check to highlight any wrong marks. A hint will also point out a mistake before it suggests your next move.
Can I play logic puzzles on my phone?
Yes. On a phone the puzzle opens in Focus view: one large grid at a time, with the mini-map in the corner to jump between grids and the clues just below. Tap All grids whenever you want to see the whole puzzle.
Are the logic puzzles free?
Yes — every puzzle, including the daily puzzle, is free to play in your browser with no download or account. Your first three hints in each puzzle are free too.