About Star Garden
Star Garden is a logic puzzle about finding a home for every piece. Use the shape of the garden to work out where each piece belongs, one certain placement at a time.
Play through levels, try the daily puzzle, or choose a board in Free Play. The flowers and other pieces you choose are decorations; they all follow the same rules.
If you enjoy Meowdoku or LinkedIn’s Queens, Star Garden offers familiar placement puzzles with flower pieces and daily gardens.
Your goal
Place exactly one piece in every row, every column, and every region: a connected area enclosed by a bold outline and filled with one color. Pieces must not touch, even at a corner.
Meet all three rules to finish the garden. You do not need to mark every remaining square with a cross. The examples below use the default flower piece; other garden pieces follow the same rules.
One in each row and column
Each horizontal row needs one piece. Each vertical column needs one too. Once a row or column has its piece, no other square along it can contain one.
One in each region
Each outlined region needs exactly one piece, whatever its shape or size. Region boundaries matter just as much as rows and columns.
Turn on Number regions in Settings if you find the numbers helpful. You do not need to distinguish regions by color alone.
Pieces cannot touch
Leave a gap between pieces, including diagonally. This rule applies across region boundaries too.
Mark what you know
A cross (×) is a note that a square cannot hold a piece. Marking ruled-out squares helps you spot where a piece must go.
If only one possible square remains in a row, column, or region, its piece belongs there. Then check which other squares that placement rules out.
The ! markers flag pieces that touch or put more than one piece in a row, column, or region. They check those rules, not whether every choice will lead to the solution. You can turn Highlight conflicts on or off in Settings.
Some early levels include a fixed starting piece. It is part of the puzzle and cannot be removed.
Controls
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Touch or pen | In Choose a tool mode, select Place or Mark, then tap a square. Drag to mark several empty squares. |
| Mouse | Click with the selected tool. Right-click to mark a cross, or drag to mark several empty squares. |
| Keyboard | Tab into the board; arrow keys move between squares. S places a piece, X marks a cross, and Delete or Backspace clears a square. M changes tools. |
| Help | Hint explains a useful next step. Undo takes back an edit; Redo restores it. On the board, Command/Control-Z undoes and Shift-Command/Control-Z redoes. |
In Settings, Tap to cycle lets each tap change a square from empty to cross to piece to empty. Dragging still marks crosses. This is an alternative to choosing tools; use whichever feels more comfortable.
Choose a garden
- Levels: follow a progression of puzzles and unlock new flower pieces by completing collections.
- Daily: solve the same daily puzzle as everyone else.
- Free Play: choose a board size and difficulty for a fresh puzzle.
The placement rules stay the same in every mode. For a walkthrough, choose Learn by playing in the help menu. The lesson provides a way to return to your garden afterward.
Tips
- Start with a small region or one with few possible squares left.
- Look along rows and columns as well as inside each region.
- Use Hint when you cannot find a certain move; there is no need to guess.