Complete Guide to All LinkedIn Games: Queens, Pinpoint, Crossclimb, and Tango

I remember when LinkedIn was just a place to post your resume and connect with former colleagues. Those days are long gone. LinkedIn now has four daily puzzle games, and honestly? They are surprisingly good. I play all four every morning before I check my email. This guide covers everything you need to know about each game — how they work, what skills they test, and which one might become your favorite.

Why LinkedIn Has Games at All

Before we dive into each game, let me address the elephant in the room: why does a professional networking site have games? The short answer is daily engagement. LinkedIn wants you opening their app every day, not just when you are job hunting. Games give you a reason to show up. The long answer involves advertising revenue, user retention metrics, and a strategic pivot toward becoming a daily habit platform. If you want the full backstory, check out our post on why LinkedIn launched Pinpoint.

Game 1: Queens — The Grid Logic Puzzle

Queens was the first LinkedIn game, launched in May 2024. It is a logic puzzle played on a grid where you need to place exactly one queen in each row, column, and colored region. No two queens can touch each other, not even diagonally. Think of it as a simplified, color-coded version of the classic N-Queens problem from computer science.

How Queens Works

The grid is typically 7x7, divided into colored regions. Your job is to place 7 queens — one per row, one per column, and one per colored region — with no adjacent queens. You tap cells to mark them as queens or as eliminated. The game provides a few pre-placed queens to get you started.

What Skills Queens Tests

Queens is pure logic. No vocabulary, no trivia, no general knowledge. Just deductive reasoning. If you enjoy Sudoku, you will probably enjoy Queens. The constraint satisfaction aspect — working within multiple overlapping rules — is very similar. I find Queens easier than hard Sudoku but more interesting than easy Sudoku. It hits a sweet spot.

My Queens Strategy

Start with the most constrained regions. If a colored region only has one available cell that does not conflict with existing queens, fill it in immediately. Then propagate — every queen you place eliminates cells in adjacent rows, columns, and neighboring cells. This cascade effect means the puzzle often solves itself once you make the first few placements correctly. Practice the logic with any grid puzzle before trying the daily challenge.

Game 2: Pinpoint — The Word Association Puzzle

Pinpoint is the game this entire site is built around, so I might be biased when I say it is the best one. But the numbers back me up — Pinpoint has more daily players than any other LinkedIn game. You get up to five clues that all belong to the same category, and you try to guess the category with as few clues as possible. Check our how to play guide for the full mechanics.

What Makes Pinpoint Special

Unlike the other three LinkedIn games, Pinpoint tests vocabulary breadth and lateral thinking rather than logic or trivia recall. You are not solving for a single correct answer through deduction. You are recognizing patterns in how words connect to categories. It is the most creative of the four games, and the one where your general knowledge pays off the most. Our unlimited practice mode lets you play as many rounds as you want to build that knowledge base.

Pinpoint Tips for New Players

Wait for at least two clues before guessing. Think in categories, not specific words. Build a mental library of common Pinpoint categories like geography, professions, food types, and science terms. And play our archive of past puzzles to see what categories come up most often. For a deeper dive, see our post on solving Pinpoint puzzles faster.

Game 3: Crossclimb — The Trivia Ladder

Crossclimb is the most trivia-heavy of the four games. You are given clues and need to figure out words that form a ladder — each word changes by one letter from the previous word. It combines trivia knowledge with word manipulation, making it a hybrid of Jeopardy and Wordle-style letter games.

How Crossclimb Works

You get a set of trivia clues. Each answer is a word, and the words form a chain where consecutive words differ by exactly one letter. For example: COLD, CORD, WORD, WARD, WARM. The clues help you fill in the words, and the ladder structure provides cross-checking — if you get one word right, it constrains the words around it.

What Skills Crossclimb Tests

Crossclimb tests two things: trivia knowledge and flexible thinking. You need to know the answer to the trivia clues, but you also need to be able to mentally shift letters around to make the ladder work. It is the most intellectually demanding of the four games in my opinion, because it requires two different types of thinking simultaneously.

Game 4: Tango — The Binary Logic Grid

Tango is the newest addition and the simplest conceptually. You fill a grid with two symbols (traditionally suns and moons) so that each row and column has an equal number of each symbol, no three identical symbols appear in a row, and certain cells are constrained to be equal or opposite to their neighbors. It is like a simplified binary Sudoku with adjacency rules.

Why Tango Is More Fun Than It Sounds

I know, the description sounds dry. But Tango is surprisingly satisfying once you start playing. The adjacency constraints create interesting chain reactions — placing one symbol can force placements across the entire grid. It is the fastest of the four games to complete, usually taking me 2-3 minutes, which makes it a nice palate cleanser between the more involved games.

Tango Strategy Tips

Look for forced placements first. If a row already has 3 suns and the grid is 6x6, the remaining cells must be moons. Similarly, if two identical symbols sit next to each other, the cells on either side must be the opposite symbol. These forced placements cascade and often solve large sections of the grid automatically.

Which LinkedIn Game Should You Start With?

If you love word games and vocabulary: start with Pinpoint. If you prefer pure logic: Queens or Tango. If you are a trivia buff who also likes wordplay: Crossclimb. Honestly, try all four — they each take 1-3 minutes, so the total daily investment is under 10 minutes. And playing all four gives you a nice cognitive warm-up for the workday.

How the Games Connect Socially

All four games show your results to your LinkedIn connections. This is the social layer that makes LinkedIn games different from NYT games. When your colleague solves Queens in 90 seconds, you see it. When your boss gets Pinpoint in two clues, you know. It is low-stakes competition with a professional veneer, and it works remarkably well as a conversation starter. I have had more networking conversations start with "nice Pinpoint score today" than with any LinkedIn message I have ever sent.

Daily Routine: My Recommended Order

I play them in this order every morning: Tango first (quick warm-up), then Pinpoint (my favorite), then Queens (logic focus), then Crossclimb (most demanding). This progression goes from easiest to hardest for me, building momentum. But find your own order. Some people prefer to tackle the hardest one first while their brain is fresh. There is no wrong answer — just play them all.

Ready to start? Check out today's Pinpoint puzzle or explore our full archive of past puzzles to practice. And if you want strategies for dominating all four games, bookmark our Pinpoint vs Queens comparison for more insights.