How to play LinkedIn Tango

LinkedIn Tango is a daily logic puzzle on a 6×6 grid, and every cell ends up holding one of two symbols: a sun or a moon. Every line, row and column alike, finishes with three of each; no three alike may ever stand in a row; and the small = and × signs printed between some cells tell you which pairs have to match and which have to be opposites.

It plays like a two-symbol relative of sudoku: instead of fitting digits you balance a count, and instead of boxes you follow the signs between cells. Once the pair and gap patterns click, most boards fall quickly, which makes Tango a good one for a coffee break. Everyone in the world gets the same grid on the same day.

The rules

1. Fill every cell with either a sun or a moon.
2. Each row and each column holds the same number of suns and moons — three of each on a 6×6 board.
3. No more than two identical symbols may sit next to each other in a row or column.
4. Cells joined by = must match; cells joined by × must be opposites.

How a game goes, step by step

1. Read the whole board first. Note the symbols you are given and every = and × sign, because a sign is as much a clue as a placed symbol.
2. Start in the row or column that already carries the most information — the most symbols, or the most signs running through it — rather than in whichever corner you like the look of.
3. Apply the pair rule: two identical symbols side by side force the opposite symbol into the cell on either open side, because three alike in a row is never allowed.
4. Apply the gap rule next. Two suns with a single empty cell between them leave only a moon in that gap, for exactly the same reason.
5. Count what is left. A row that already holds three suns has nothing but moons to come, wherever the empty cells happen to sit.
6. Follow the signs outward from whatever you just placed — an = carries the symbol across, an × flips it — then look again for the pairs, gaps and counts that placement created.

Three tips for your first games

• Check all three rules before you commit a cell: the three-and-three count, no three alike in a row, and every sign touching it. Boards that feel stuck usually break the rule you didn't check.
• Corners are friendlier than they look. With two neighbors in play instead of four, there is less to hold in your head, so pairs and gaps tend to settle at the edges of the board first.
• One confirmed cell at the end of a long chain of = and × signs can settle four or five others, so walk the whole chain before you look anywhere else.

Ready for more? Read the Tango strategy guide