✦ Stars
How to Play Star Battle
Star Battle (also known as Two Not Touch) is a logic puzzle where you place stars on a grid divided into regions. Every row, every column and every region must hold the same fixed number of stars — and no two stars may ever touch, not even diagonally.
Our daily version is the classic 9×9 two-star variant: two stars per row, column and constellation. Every puzzle has exactly one solution, reachable by logic alone. This guide covers the rules and the techniques that carry you through the week.
The rules
- Place exactly two stars in every row, every column and every constellation (region).
- No two stars may touch — horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
- Mark cells you've ruled out with a ✕. Eliminations are most of the solve; the stars fall out at the end.
Solving techniques
1. Stars never touch
Every placed star immediately eliminates all eight cells around it. This is the engine of the whole puzzle: each star you commit should trigger a ring of ✕s, and those ✕s squeeze the remaining placements in every unit they touch.
2. Close out finished units
The moment a row, column or constellation reaches its two stars, every other cell in it is a ✕. Sweep for these constantly — a single placement often completes two or three units at once, and the cascade of eliminations does the next step for you.
3. Confined constellations
Count stars against rows. Two rows hold four stars, and each constellation holds exactly two — so if two constellations fit entirely inside the same two rows, they own all four of those rows' stars, and every other cell in those rows is a ✕. The same works with columns, and with any matching count: N constellations confined to N rows claim those rows completely.
4. Count the possibilities
Take one unit — usually the smallest constellation — and enumerate every legal way its two stars could sit. Any cell used in every arrangement is a star; any cell used in none is a ✕. Even when nothing is forced, you'll often find a shared consequence, like a neighbouring cell that every arrangement eliminates.
5. The what-if
On weekend boards you may reach a point where no single-unit analysis moves. Pick a promising cell and test it mentally: place a star there and follow the forced consequences. If they collide with a rule, the cell is a ✕ — and that's a deduction, not a guess. Our weekday boards never need this; weekends may need it once or twice.
Frequently asked questions
What is Star Battle?
A grid-deduction puzzle: place stars so every row, column and region holds exactly the required number, with no two stars touching. It's published in many newspapers as Two Not Touch.
Why two stars?
Star Battle comes in one-star, two-star and three-star variants. Ours is the classic 9×9 two-star form: two stars per row, column and constellation — the sweet spot between depth and a daily-sized solve.
Do Star Battle puzzles require guessing?
No. Every daily board has a unique solution reachable by logic. Weekday puzzles never need guessing; weekend puzzles may need a short what-if — testing a placement mentally and rejecting it on a contradiction.
Is it free to play?
Yes. The current week's puzzles are free, no account needed. An account only adds cross-device progress sync — it never gates play.