The 5 Sudoku Techniques Every Beginner Should Learn First
Par L'équipe Sudoku Sama · Publié 17 juillet 2026 · Mis à jour 19 juillet 2026
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There are dozens of named Sudoku techniques, and trying to learn them all at once is the fastest way to get discouraged. You don't need dozens. Master these five, in this order, and you'll solve the large majority of easy, medium, and even many hard puzzles — without ever guessing. We'll walk through each one with a worked grid diagram so you can see exactly what the pattern looks like on a real board.
Why techniques beat practice alone
Grinding through hundreds of puzzles by trial and error builds slow, shaky habits. Learning a technique teaches your eye a pattern — and once you can recognise a pattern instantly, you stop reasoning from scratch every time. That instant recognition is what makes stronger solvers look fast; they're not thinking harder, they're seeing shapes they already know.
So the goal isn't to memorise steps, it's to see the shape. Learn these five one at a time, get comfortable recognising each on a real grid before adding the next, and give yourself a week or two with each. Here they are in the order they build on each other.
1. Scanning
Scanning is the foundation everything else rests on. You pick one digit and ask "where can it go?" across the board, using its existing placements to project elimination lines into the empty regions. Start with the digit that appears most often — it gives you the most lines to work with.
1Un 5 dans cette colonne et un 5 dans cette ligne bloquent déjà quatre cellules du bloc.
2Deux 5 supplémentaires — dans une ligne et une colonne — bloquent le reste, sauf une cellule.
3Seule cette cellule reste ouverte. Le 5 s'y place.
In the sequence above, the existing copies of the digit send lines through the box, and those lines corner it into one cell. That's the whole idea: known digits eliminate positions until only one remains. Master this and you'll finish most easy puzzles on scanning alone. More detail is in the scanning guide.
2. Naked Singles
A naked single is an empty cell whose row, column, and box together already contain eight different digits — leaving exactly one candidate, which must go in. No single house does all the work; it's the three combined that leave one option standing.
1La ligne 5 contient déjà 2, 6, 8 et 9 placés — quatre chiffres écartés.
2La colonne 5 écarte aussi 1 et 5 — six chiffres exclus.
3Le bloc central écarte 7 et 3 — huit chiffres exclus.
4Seul le 4 reste. Il doit être placé ici.
Watch each house strip away possibilities until a single digit survives. Naked singles are the placement that most deductions ultimately resolve to, so learning to spot them — especially once you keep pencil marks — is essential. See the naked single guide for more.
3. Hidden Singles
This is the highest-value technique for a beginner: hidden singles place more digits than anything else, and they hide in cells that still look busy. A hidden single is a digit with only one legal cell in a house, even though that cell may still show room for other digits.
1Deux lignes contiennent déjà un 7, bloquant quatre cellules de ce bloc.
2Deux colonnes ajoutent aussi un 7, bloquant trois cellules de plus.
3Seule cette cellule reste ouverte — le 7 s'y place.
The winning cell doesn't look special — it isn't down to one option on its own. It's simply the only place in the house that particular digit can go. Train yourself to ask, for each digit, "does this house have just one spot left for it?" and hidden singles will start jumping out. The hidden single guide shows more examples.
4. Cross-Hatching
Cross-hatching is scanning made deliberate. Instead of sweeping the whole board loosely, you pick one box and one digit, and work only the three rows and three columns crossing that box until the digit has exactly one home. It's the fastest way to finish a box that's nearly full.
1Un 3 dans cette ligne et dans cette autre ligne bloque déjà six cellules du bloc.
2Deux colonnes portant un 3 bloquent le reste — sauf une cellule.
3Seule cette cellule reste. Le 3 s'y place.
Working one box at a time like this keeps your search organised so you never skip a placement — a common cause of feeling stuck. The cross-hatching guide demonstrates it on a single box.
5. Pointing Pairs
The first real elimination technique — the first one that prunes candidates rather than placing a digit directly. When a candidate inside a box is confined to a single row or column, it points outward, letting you remove that candidate from the rest of that line beyond the box.
1Dans ce bloc, le candidat 6 ne convient qu'à ces deux cellules — toutes deux dans la même colonne.
2Le 6 doit donc se trouver dans cette colonne à l'intérieur du bloc — il ne peut apparaître nulle part ailleurs dans la colonne.
3Les autres candidats 6 de la colonne ont disparu.
It doesn't place a number itself; it clears possibilities so that other techniques can then find a single. Pointing pairs are the most productive intermediate pattern, and the moment simple singles dry up, they're usually what gets a puzzle moving again. The pointing pair guide animates the full elimination.
How they work together
These five aren't isolated tricks — they form a loop. Scanning and cross-hatching place obvious digits; each placement you make feeds naked and hidden singles elsewhere; and when those run dry, a pointing pair prunes candidates so new singles appear. Round and round until the grid fills. On easy and medium puzzles, that loop is the entire solve.
What to learn after these five
Once these feel automatic, you're ready for their bigger siblings — naked and hidden pairs and triples, box-line reduction, and eventually the first genuinely advanced pattern, the X-Wing. Our complete strategy guide lays out the full progression in order, and the techniques index has an animated walkthrough for every method from beginner to expert.
But don't rush ahead. The five above will carry you further than you'd expect, and rushing to advanced techniques before the basics are automatic just slows you down.
Frequently asked questions
Which technique should I actually learn first?
Hidden singles, if you had to pick one — they place more digits than any other technique and appear in every puzzle at every level. But scanning is the foundation you'll use to find them, so learn the two together.
Do I need pencil marks for these five?
Scanning, cross-hatching, and hidden singles you can often do in your head on easier puzzles. Naked singles and pointing pairs become much easier once you write candidates in. As you move up in difficulty, turn notes on — they're the surface every technique beyond these five depends on.
How long until these feel automatic?
With a little daily practice, a couple of weeks per technique is realistic. Recognition — seeing the shape without consciously reasoning — is the goal, and it comes from repetition, not from memorising definitions.
What's the difference between scanning and cross-hatching?
They're the same underlying idea at different scales. Scanning sweeps the whole board for one digit; cross-hatching focuses that sweep on a single box using the rows and columns crossing it. Cross-hatching is just more systematic.
Practise these now
Reading about a technique isn't the same as recognising it under your own eyes. Open a solo puzzle and consciously look for each of these five as you solve — name them as you spot them. That deliberate naming is what turns a definition into instinct.
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- Sudoku for Beginners: How to Solve Your First Puzzle, Step by StepNew to Sudoku? Learn the three rules, your first moves, and solve an easy puzzle step by step — with worked grid diagrams and no experience needed.
- How to Get Better at Sudoku: 7 Habits That Actually WorkImprove at Sudoku with habits that build real skill: stop guessing, use notes, learn one technique a week, practise deliberately — with worked examples.