Strategy articles for every game on Melio. Written for players who’ve done the basics and want to actually get better. Short on filler, long on specifics.
30 articles, grouped by game.
Y-wing's slightly bigger cousin. A trivalue pivot {x,y,z} plus two bivalue wings {x,z} and {y,z}, all sharing the digit z. Any cell that sees all three loses z as a candidate. Worked example, when it appears.
Four cells in a rectangle across two rows, two columns, and two boxes, all sharing the same two candidates. If left alone, the puzzle would have two solutions — but a well-formed sudoku has exactly one. Use that to force an elimination.
When two cells in a unit share the same two candidates, those two digits are locked into that pair. Everywhere else in the unit can drop both digits. The most-used intermediate technique after pointing pairs.
The skyscraper sits between X-wing and the harder fish patterns. Two strong links on a single digit, ending in cells of different heights — and the elimination that falls out. Worked example included.
Score = base × time factor × mistake factor × hint factor. Here's exactly what each one does, why the formula is shaped this way, and how to push a 1,000-point Expert solve toward 2,000.
The Y-wing is shaped like a chain, not a rectangle. Three bivalue cells, three candidate values, one elimination. Here's the pattern, why it works, and how it plays with the X-wing.
The X-wing is the gateway from 'I solve hard sudokus by scanning' to 'I solve expert sudokus by reasoning.' Here's how to spot it, why it works, and what to do once you find one.
The first technique you learn after scanning. Pointing pairs unlock half the puzzles labeled 'medium' and a third of those labeled 'hard.' Worked examples, the precise rule, and the box-line cousin.
Bracket structure, difficulty calibration, the rematch flow, and how to use spectator URLs as a casting feed. A practical walkthrough for running a 4-16 player sudoku event in one evening.
The psychology of streaks, why 5 minutes of puzzling beats an hour of scrolling, the research on puzzles and cognitive aging, and a 30-day starter plan.
The X-wing extended. Swordfish (3 rows) and jellyfish (4 rows) catch eliminations that X-wing can't. Step-by-step with examples, when to look, what to look for.
Sudoku used to be a solo activity. Melio makes it multiplayer: race the same puzzle, solve one together, or stream a match for an audience. Here's how each mode works.
How to actually start solving sudoku if you've never finished one. Where to scan first, what pencil marks are for, when you're stuck, and when to move up a difficulty.
The techniques you need when basic scanning stops working. Pointing pairs, box-line reduction, naked pairs, hidden singles, and the X-wing pattern, with examples.
Five letters, six guesses. The rules take 30 seconds; learning to win in three or four takes a bit longer. The colored squares, the strategy, hard mode, and what a good opener gets you.
Hard mode kills the two-word strategy. Here's what changes, the openers that survive, and the trap-avoidance habits that get you to a 100% win rate.
Picked CRANE? RAISE? ADIEU? Here's the optimal second guess for each, the math behind why pair strategies dominate, and the trap most players fall into on guess 2.
ADIEU, CRANE, AROSE, RAISE, the openers everyone recommends, ranked by what they actually accomplish. Plus the math behind a good opener.
Connections is a 16-word puzzle: find four hidden categories. Rules in 30 seconds, what the four colors mean, and the three habits that turn 0/4 days into 4/4 days.
Every Connections puzzle reuses a handful of grid shapes. Spotting which one you're looking at narrows the category-guessing space from huge to small. Six archetypes, examples, and how to attack each.
Purple is wordplay 95% of the time. Here's the four wordplay patterns Connections uses, how to spot them, and the elimination trick that turns purple into the easiest group.
The classic Windows-era logic puzzle. Click safe squares, flag mines, don't blow up. Rules in 30 seconds, what each number means, and the basic pattern-reading that gets you past your first sub-3-minute Beginner.
The 1-2-1, 1-2-2-1, and corner patterns that flag mines for you with zero guessing. Plus how to recognize them mid-game without slowing down.
Slide tiles, merge matching numbers, race to 2048 and beyond. The rules take 30 seconds. The one habit that turns a 200-point bumble into a 20,000-point clean game takes one paragraph.
Pick a corner, never leave it, build a chain. The single strategy that consistently reaches the 2048 tile, and the small habits that take you to 4096 and beyond.
Drag through adjacent letters to spell words. 80 seconds. Higher letter count = more points. The patterns top scorers exploit and the four habits that lift your average from 800 to 2,000+.
Plurals, common suffixes, prefix stacks, and diagonal chains. The high-leverage patterns to scan for first when the timer starts ticking.
Need a quick definition rather than a full article? Try the sudoku glossary or the Connections theme glossary. New guides ship every week or two — subscribe via the RSS feed for fresh ones.
Have a topic you want covered? Email hello@meliogames.com. Real human reads each one.