Large print 4 by 4 sudoku

The rules

• Fill every empty cell with 1, 2, 3 or 4.
• Each row must contain 1, 2, 3 and 4 once each, and so must each column.
• Each of the four boxes, two cells by two and marked by thicker lines, must also contain 1, 2, 3 and 4.
• The shaded digits are given. There is exactly one way to complete the grid.

Learning sudoku on the smallest grid

With only four digits you can hold the whole puzzle in view, which makes this the best place to learn. Pick any empty cell and ask one question: which digits can I already see in this cell's row, in its column and in its little box? Whatever is left over is the answer. If you can see a 1, a 3 and a 4, the cell is a 2.

At the start some cells will have two possible digits. Leave those and move to another cell. On this page there is always a cell, or a digit within a row, column or box, that is fully decided, and each digit you write in settles its neighbours. A puzzle is finished in a handful of such steps.

The second way to look is by digit. Take the digit 3 and find the box that has no 3 yet. Cross off, in your mind, the row and the column of every 3 you can see. In a box of four cells there is rarely more than one cell left standing.

When someone is new to sudoku, do the first puzzle together and say the reasoning aloud: this row has a 2, this column has a 4, the box has a 1, so it must be 3. The level with fewer digits is the next step, and after that the 6 by 6 grid uses exactly the same two ways of looking.

Tips for printing and playing

• Printed in large print, each of the sixteen cells is a quarter of the grid's width, so there is plenty of room to write with a thick pen.
• Because a puzzle is short, print several numbers at once; Next moves to the following puzzle without leaving the page.
• It works well as a warm-up before the 6 by 6 or 9 by 9 grid, or as a complete puzzle for someone who wants something brief.
• On screen there are only four digit buttons under the grid, each a large target for a finger.
• Check shows wrong cells without filling in the right digit, so a slip can be put right without spoiling the rest.

How these puzzles are made and checked

A second solver, written separately from the generator, starts from the given digits only. The puzzle is kept only if that solver finds exactly one solution and it is the stored one. The same checker confirms what the level promises about singles.

The puzzle of the day is chosen by the date on your device: puzzle 1 was the puzzle for 1 January 2026, and the number goes up by one each day. Half filled: 366 puzzles, so the same puzzle comes round again after 366 days. Fewer digits: 366 puzzles, so the same puzzle comes round again after 366 days. Every number stays open in the archive control above the grid. More detail is on the page how the puzzles are made, checked and printed.