How Sudoku Scoring Works on sudoku.com and AARP
The score in a Sudoku game is not part of the puzzle, so every app calculates it differently and few explain how. This page explains the two systems people ask about most. The first is the one used on this site, which has the same point table as sudoku.com: what a correct digit is worth, why the value drops while you think, how completing a row multiplies it, and what hints and mistakes do to the total. The second is AARP's Sudoku, which scores the whole puzzle at the end instead. There is a score calculator for both.
Points for a correct digit
Every level has a base value, and the first thing a correct digit earns is that base value:
| Level | Base value | Drops by (every 5 s) | Minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 50 | 5 | 5 |
| Medium | 150 | 15 | 15 |
| Hard | 210 | 21 | 21 |
| Expert | 230 | 23 | 23 |
| Master | 250 | 25 | 25 |
| Extreme | 250 | 25 | 25 |
Is this the same as sudoku.com scoring?
The point table is. We checked the game code that sudoku.com serves (on 1 October 2026): each level has the same base value, the same step and the same minimum as the table above, with a new step every five seconds, and every correct digit adds the current value multiplied by a factor for the rows, columns and boxes it completes. Their Master level, which sudoku.com also calls Evil, uses 250 points, like Extreme. Sites can change their code at any time, so treat this as a snapshot. Pastime Arcade is not affiliated with sudoku.com.
The speed decay
The value of your next correct digit falls by one step for every five seconds that pass since your last score update. On Hard, a digit placed within five seconds of the previous one is worth 210, after five seconds 189, after ten seconds 168, after twenty seconds 126, and after forty-five seconds it reaches the floor of 21, where it stays. Placing a digit resets the clock. This is why a run of quick placements produces a much higher total than the same placements spread out, and why the score jumps at the end of a puzzle when everything falls into place.
Combos: completing a row, column or box
If a digit completes a row, a column or a 3×3 box, the value is multiplied by five for each unit completed. Finish a row alone and the digit is worth 5×; finish a row and a column with the same digit and it is worth 10×; finish a row, a column and a box at once and it is worth 15×. On Hard that last case pays 3,150 points for a single, well-timed digit. Completions are the largest lever in the whole system, which is why players chasing a high score save the cells that close several units and place them quickly one after another.
Hints, mistakes and the end of the game
- Hints pay the level's base value, with no multiplier and no speed decay, and they reset the five-second clock. You have three per puzzle.
- Mistakes cost nothing in points. They cost a life; three end the game unless you take the second chance.
- Finishing adds no bonus. The final score is simply the sum of every correct placement.
Sudoku score calculator
Work out what a digit is worth on sudoku.com or here, or what an AARP puzzle will score, before you play it or to check a score you got.
How AARP Sudoku scoring works
The Sudoku on AARP's games site is made by Arkadium, and it scores the puzzle once, when you finish:
Final score = share of the puzzle solved without errors or help (up to 100) × (difficulty bonus + time bonus)
- Difficulty bonus: Easy 100, Medium 200, Hard 300, Expert 400.
- Time bonus: 180, 360, 540 or 720 seconds (3, 6, 9 or 12 minutes, by level) minus the time you took, and never below zero.
- Revealed cells do not count towards the share solved, so revealing 10% of an Expert puzzle solved in 8 minutes turns 64,000 into 57,600.
Scores for a puzzle solved with no errors or help:
| Level | 1 min | 2 min | 3 min | 5 min | 8 min | 12 min | Slower than |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 22,000 | 16,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | 3 min: 10,000 |
| Medium | 50,000 | 44,000 | 38,000 | 26,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 6 min: 20,000 |
| Hard | 78,000 | 72,000 | 66,000 | 54,000 | 36,000 | 30,000 | 9 min: 30,000 |
| Expert | 106,000 | 100,000 | 94,000 | 82,000 | 64,000 | 40,000 | 12 min: 40,000 |
Why your score is always 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000. Once you take longer than 3, 6, 9, 12 minutes (Easy to Expert), the time bonus is zero and the score is just 100 × the difficulty bonus. Any time saved below that limit adds 100 points a second.
How to score 100,000. Only Expert can get there: it needs a time bonus of 600, so the whole puzzle in 2 minutes or less, with nothing revealed. The ceiling, a puzzle solved in no time at all, is 112,000; on Hard it is 84,000.
Sources: Arkadium's help page Sudoku: How to play, Menu, Tips, Scoring and an AARP staff answer in the AARP community thread "Sudoku. How do you score 100K+?", both checked on 11 October 2026. Pastime Arcade is not affiliated with AARP or Arkadium.
Other Sudoku apps
Most other apps use their own formula, which is why the same solve can score very differently from one app to the next. Two examples:
- DKM Sudoku Points, a timed challenge on dkmgames.com, pays 5 × a multiplier for each correct cell. The multiplier starts at 20 and drops by one every 15 seconds, wrong entries are subtracted and multiplied by the number of errors so far, and finishing in time adds 500 points plus 2 for every second left.
- Puzzle difficulty ratings, such as the Sudoku Explainer (SE) rating some collections print next to a puzzle, are a different kind of score: they describe how hard the puzzle is, based on the hardest technique it needs, not how well you played it.
What is a good Sudoku score?
Because the score depends on the level, the number of empty cells and your pace, there is no single answer, and we do not have a reliable average to quote. The formula does give a frame. A Hard board with 51 empty cells scored at full speed with no completions is worth about 10,700; with every completion timed well the theoretical maximum is around 37,000. The same arithmetic gives about 2,150 and 8,450 for an Easy board with 43 empty cells, and about 14,500 and 46,000 for an Extreme board with 58. Pauses pull a real solve down from those figures and completions push it up, so the best yardstick is your own best score for each level, which Statistics keeps for you. On AARP the arithmetic is simpler: the table above is the whole story, so a good score is any time that beats the level's limit.
Playing for score versus playing for fun
If the score matters to you, solve the board fully with notes first, then enter the digits in a rapid sequence, saving cells that complete two or three units for last. If it does not, switch the timer off in Settings and ignore the number; the puzzle is exactly the same either way.
Frequently asked questions
How does sudoku.com scoring work?
Each correct digit earns a base value for the level (50 on Easy up to 250 on Master and Extreme), which drops one step every five seconds you wait and is multiplied when the digit completes a row, column or box. This site uses the same point table; the sections above show it with examples.
What does the Sudoku score mean?
It is the sum of the points earned for each correct digit. Each digit's value depends on the level, on how quickly you placed it after your previous move, and on whether it completed a row, column or box.
Why does my score go up by different amounts?
The value drops one step every five seconds you wait, and it is multiplied by five for each row, column or box the digit completes. A quick digit that closes a row and a column is worth ten times a slow one that closes nothing.
Do mistakes lower the Sudoku score?
No. A mistake costs one of your three lives but leaves the score unchanged.
Do hints count towards the score?
Yes, a hint pays the base value for the level, without any multiplier or speed decay. It also resets the five-second clock.
What is a good Sudoku score?
We do not have a reliable average to quote, so measure yourself against the formula and your own record. On Hard, 51 digits at full speed with no completions add up to about 10,700, and the theoretical maximum is about 37,000. Compare scores only within one level, since the base value changes from Easy to Extreme.
How do you get 100,000 points in AARP Sudoku?
Solve an Expert puzzle in 2 minutes or less with no errors and nothing revealed. The score is the share solved without help (100) × (400 + 720 − your time in seconds), so it reaches 100,000 at exactly two minutes. Easy, Medium and Hard cannot reach it.
Why is my AARP Sudoku score always the same?
If you take longer than 3, 6, 9 or 12 minutes (Easy to Expert), the time bonus is zero, so every solve scores exactly 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000. Finish under the limit and each second saved adds 100 points.
What is the highest possible Sudoku score?
It depends on the app. On AARP the ceiling is 112,000, an Expert puzzle solved in no time. On sudoku.com and here there is no fixed ceiling per puzzle: it depends on the empty cells and on how many rows, columns and boxes each digit completes.
Is there a Sudoku score calculator?
Yes, on this page: one calculator gives the points for a single digit on sudoku.com or this site, the other the final score of an AARP Sudoku puzzle from the level, your time and how much you solved without help.