Sudoku Made and maintained by Brian Hamilton and Karan Hamilton.
Brian builds the playable puzzle tools, while Karan helps test clarity, difficulty feel, and the player experience.
Playable puzzles and controls are tested in the browser for rule accuracy, usability, and a clear solving experience. See how we make and test puzzles, our editorial standards, or report a problem.
Sports Sudoku: Nine Tiles and a Five-Ball Problem
Sports Sudoku plays classic Sudoku with nine tiles from the sports bag — soccer ball, basketball, football, baseball, tennis ball, trophy, medal, goal net, and stadium. Icons, digits, or a mixed lineup: whatever is on the grid, each tile appears exactly once in every row, column, and box.
A board with five balls on it
Five of the nine tiles are balls, and the beginner 4x4 board is all of them bar one: soccer ball, basketball, football, and baseball. The basketball's colour and the football's shape hold up fine at phone size, but the soccer ball and the baseball are both small, round, and white, and they are this board's classic mix-up. The Both display mode puts a small number on every tile, which is worth switching on before you blame the referee.
Trophies must be earned
Tiles join the board in order, and this set hands out its rewards accordingly. The tennis ball and the trophy arrive at 6x6 — so you cannot even see silverware from the beginner board — and the medal, goal net, and stadium only open up on the full 9x9. Finish a hard 9x9 and you have, in the only sense that matters here, filled the stadium.
The round ball is labelled Soccer Ball and the pointed one Football, following the standard emoji names. We know. Apologies to most of the world — the logic is unaffected.
For rained-off practice
This board was half-built for the sports-mad kid who claims to hate puzzles. Frame it as game analysis rather than homework: which positions are still open, which tile is forced into this box, prove it before you commit — the same discipline as calling a play. A 6x6 also fits neatly into the flat parts of a sporting day: the team bus, the rain delay, the wait between heats.
Full time
Every puzzle here has one solution, and no tile repeats in any row, column, or box — there are no rematches. The Themed Sudoku page is the rulebook — it covers difficulty grading and hints, and lists the rest of the season's fixtures.
Sports Sudoku FAQ
Smaller boards use the first tiles in the set, and the set opens with four balls: soccer ball, basketball, football, and baseball. If the soccer ball and baseball blur together at small sizes, Both mode adds a number label to every tile.
The tile labels follow the standard emoji names, which use American conventions: the round ball is the Soccer Ball and the oval one is the Football. Rename them whatever you like at your table — the puzzle does not mind.
The tennis ball and trophy arrive on the 6x6 board, and the medal, goal net, and stadium only appear on the full 9x9. The rewards scale with the challenge.