Sudoku FlowHow Long Does a Sudoku Take? Times by Level
How long a Sudoku takes, level by level, from games won in our app without a hint: the median time and the range the middle half of games fall in.
Updated 2026-11-06
Typical times by level
The median is the middle time: half of the games were faster, half slower. The last column is the range the middle half of games fall in, from the fastest quarter to the slowest quarter.
| Level | Median (minutes) | Middle half of games (minutes) |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 3 | 2 – 5 |
| Medium | 7 | 4 – 10 |
| Hard | 10 | 6 – 15 |
| Expert | 11 | 7 – 17 |
| Master | 12 | 8 – 19 |
| Extreme | 10 | 6 – 16 |
Is my time good?
Compare it with the table. A quarter of the Hard games were won in about 6 minutes or less, and a quarter took about 15 or more, so anything in between is typical for Hard. Every level has a range like that, so one slow game says little.
Why Extreme is not the slowest
Extreme's median, 10 minutes, is lower than Master's 12. Our data cannot say why: it counts games, not players, and each level is played by whoever chooses it.
Where the numbers come from
They are totals from our app's anonymous usage data: classic games won without a hint between October 1, 2026 and November 3, 2026, at least 16,000 games per level, rounded to whole minutes. Nothing is broken down by player, country or device.
Practice
Every Find the Mistake puzzle on this site has exactly one wrong digit, and you can play each board right on its page.
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