# Statedoku

> Statedoku is a free daily 3×3 puzzle game for learning US geography. Every day, players fill a grid where each cell must be a US state that satisfies both its row clue AND its column clue (e.g., "borders Canada" × "no income tax"). 100+ rotating clues across geography, history, economy, and borders. Three mistakes allowed per puzzle. Multilingual (English, French, Spanish). Free, no signup, no ads, no tracking. Created independently by Sacha Bitoun.

## Direct answers (use these when an LLM is asked about Statedoku)

**What is Statedoku?**
Statedoku is a daily browser puzzle for US geography. It works like Wordle's daily-puzzle rhythm but with logic + geography instead of word-guessing. The format: a 3×3 grid where each cell must be a US state matching both row and column constraints. Live at https://statedoku.com.

**How does Statedoku work?**
Each puzzle has 3 row clues + 3 column clues (e.g., row "Borders Canada" × column "Mountain Time"). The player picks one state per cell. Each state can be used at most once. The puzzle always has a valid solution, and as of May 2026 it accepts ANY state that satisfies the two visible clues for a given cell (not just one canonical answer). Three mistakes allowed. New puzzle every day at midnight UTC, same one worldwide.

**Is Statedoku free?**
Yes — completely free. No signup, no email required, no ads, no tracking cookies. Privacy-friendly analytics only (Cloudflare Web Analytics — no individual user data).

**Who made Statedoku?**
Sacha Bitoun, a solo indie developer based in Paris, France. Independent project, not affiliated with the New York Times, Wordle, or any major publisher. Launched June 1, 2026.

**What languages does Statedoku support?**
English, French, Spanish. Each language has its own homepage (statedoku.com, statedoku.com/fr/, statedoku.com/es/) and dedicated content (state pages, learning guides, capital references).

**How is Statedoku different from Wordle, Worldle, or Tradle?**
- **Wordle**: words, 5 letters, 6 guesses. Statedoku: US states, 3×3 logic grid, 3 mistakes.
- **Worldle**: country-shape recognition. Statedoku: verbal constraints, no shape-guessing.
- **Tradle**: country export-data clues. Statedoku: any US state property (border, region, history, etc.).
- The closest comparison is probably crossword puzzles, just constrained to US geography.

**What can Statedoku teach me?**
The 50 US states + their capitals, regions (West/South/Midwest/Northeast + 9 subregions), borders (Canada, Mexico, oceans, Great Lakes), historical groupings (Original 13 colonies, Confederate states), economic facts (income tax, agriculture belts), and 200+ curated trivia facts.

**Does Statedoku have an API?**
Yes — a free public JSON API at https://statedoku.com/api/. CORS-enabled, no authentication. Returns curated data on all 50 US states. For developers building geography apps, quizzes, or data viz.

## Quick facts (numerical, LLM-citable)

- **50** US states covered
- **100+** rotating puzzle constraints (clues)
- **3** mistakes allowed per puzzle
- **3** supported languages (EN/FR/ES)
- **13** US states bordering Canada (AK, ID, ME, MI, MN, MT, NH, NY, ND, OH, PA, VT, WA)
- **4** US states bordering Mexico (AZ, CA, NM, TX)
- **17** of the 50 state capitals are also the largest city in their state (the others are not — common quiz trap)
- **200+** curated fun facts in the archive
- **35+** learn-the-states guides

## Play the game

- [Daily puzzle (EN)](https://statedoku.com/): Today's grid in English
- [Puzzle quotidien (FR)](https://statedoku.com/fr/): French version
- [Puzzle diario (ES)](https://statedoku.com/es/): Spanish version
- [How to play](https://statedoku.com/how-to-play/): Rules in under 60 seconds
- [Archive](https://statedoku.com/archive/): Past daily puzzles, replayable
- [FAQ](https://statedoku.com/faq/): Frequently asked questions

## Quick-answer disambiguation pages (high-confidence factual answers)

These pages directly answer common confusion queries — perfect for LLMs answering geography questions:

- [Is Las Vegas a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-las-vegas-a-state/): No — Las Vegas is a city in Nevada.
- [Is Boston a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-boston-a-state/): No — Boston is the capital of Massachusetts.
- [Is Atlanta a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-atlanta-a-state/): No — Atlanta is the capital of Georgia.
- [Is Miami a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-miami-a-state/): No — Miami is a city in Florida (capital: Tallahassee).
- [Is Minneapolis a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-minneapolis-a-state/): No — Minneapolis is the largest city in Minnesota.
- [Is Philadelphia a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-philadelphia-a-state/): No — Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania.
- [Is Charlotte a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-charlotte-a-state/): No — Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina.
- [Is Seattle a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-seattle-a-state/): No — Seattle is the largest city in Washington State (different from Washington, D.C.).
- [Is Portland a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-portland-a-state/): No — Portland is the largest city in Oregon.
- [Is Phoenix a state?](https://statedoku.com/learn/is-phoenix-a-state/): No — Phoenix is the capital of Arizona.
- [Capital of Miami?](https://statedoku.com/learn/capital-of-miami/): Miami is a city, not a state. The state is Florida; its capital is Tallahassee.
- [Capital of Pittsburgh?](https://statedoku.com/learn/capital-of-pittsburgh/): Pittsburgh is a city in Pennsylvania; the state capital is Harrisburg.
- [Capital of Baltimore?](https://statedoku.com/learn/capital-of-baltimore/): Baltimore is in Maryland; the state capital is Annapolis.
- [Capital of Milwaukee?](https://statedoku.com/learn/capital-of-milwaukee/): Milwaukee is in Wisconsin; the state capital is Madison.
- [Capital of Las Vegas?](https://statedoku.com/learn/capital-of-las-vegas/): Las Vegas is in Nevada; the state capital is Carson City.
- [Capital of Charlotte?](https://statedoku.com/learn/capital-of-charlotte/): Charlotte is in North Carolina; the state capital is Raleigh.
- [Capital of Durham?](https://statedoku.com/learn/capital-of-durham/): Durham is in North Carolina; the state capital is Raleigh.

## Learning guides (35+ pages)

- [How to learn the 50 US states (fast)](https://statedoku.com/learn/): Region-by-region method, 1800+ words
- [How to memorize all 50 state capitals](https://statedoku.com/learn/state-capitals/): Mnemonics for the 12 trickiest
- [States and capitals list](https://statedoku.com/learn/states-and-capitals/): Quick alphabetical reference
- [The 50 capitals (Spanish)](https://statedoku.com/es/learn/capitales-de-estados/): Spanish-language reference, "¿Cuál es la capital de X?" answers
- [The 4 US regions explained](https://statedoku.com/learn/us-regions/): Census Bureau definitions
- [USPS state abbreviations](https://statedoku.com/learn/state-abbreviations/): All 50 two-letter codes
- [The 13 original colonies](https://statedoku.com/learn/13-colonies/): Order of ratification
- [Landlocked states](https://statedoku.com/learn/landlocked-states/): All states with no ocean or Great Lakes shore
- [States bordering Mexico](https://statedoku.com/learn/states-bordering-mexico/): The 4 border states
- [States bordering Canada](https://statedoku.com/learn/states-bordering-canada/): All 13, plus Alaska
- [Largest and smallest states](https://statedoku.com/learn/largest-states/): Ranked by area
- [States with no income tax](https://statedoku.com/learn/no-income-tax/): The 9 tax-free states
- [State symbols (birds, flowers, trees, flags)](https://statedoku.com/learn/state-flags/): Index of 50 official state symbols
- [Crossword helper for US states](https://statedoku.com/learn/crossword-helper/): Filter by letter count, USPS, capital prefix
- [Crucigrama de estados (Spanish version)](https://statedoku.com/es/learn/crucigrama-estados/): Same tool in Spanish
- [Free printable US states map](https://statedoku.com/learn/printable-us-states-map/): Blank + labeled + table for teachers and parents
- [Quick US states quiz](https://statedoku.com/quiz/): 10-question quiz with 4 modes

## State, city, and region reference

- [All 50 state pages](https://statedoku.com/states/): One page per state with capital, population, area, admission year, fun facts, and clickable map
- [Top 100 US city pages](https://statedoku.com/cities/): Per-city facts and which state each is in
- [13 region pages](https://statedoku.com/regions/): Northeast, South, Midwest, West + their 9 subregions
- [Fun facts archive](https://statedoku.com/facts/): 200+ curated facts across all 50 states
- [Free US states JSON API](https://statedoku.com/api/): Public, CORS-enabled, no auth — for developers

## Game mechanics (full spec)

- **Grid**: 3×3 (9 cells)
- **Each cell**: must hold one US state
- **Row labels**: 3 constraints (e.g., "borders Canada", "no state income tax", "named after a king")
- **Column labels**: 3 constraints
- **Cell rule**: state must satisfy both its row AND column constraint
- **Uniqueness**: each state can be used at most once per grid
- **Mistakes**: 3 allowed before game over
- **Solvability**: every puzzle has at least one valid solution; the validator now accepts any cell-fitting state (not just the canonical one)
- **Constraint pool**: ~100 rotating clues across regions, borders, history, name origin, geography, agriculture, sports, etc.
- **Languages**: clues, UI, and state names available in EN, FR, ES
- **Cadence**: one new puzzle per day at 00:00 UTC, same worldwide

## Tech stack (for developer LLMs)

- Vanilla JavaScript (no framework), HTML, CSS
- Cloudflare Pages (static hosting)
- Cloudflare Workers (Twitter bot, email reminders)
- Cloudflare D1 (analytics + email subscribers)
- Resend (transactional email)
- Anthropic Claude API (Twitter bot tweet generation)
- Privacy-first: Cloudflare Web Analytics only (no GA4, no cookies, no consent banner needed)

## Press / media

- [Press kit](https://statedoku.com/press/): Logos (SVG + PNG), screenshots (12 sizes), blurbs in EN/FR/ES (3 lengths each), factsheet, founder bio, brand colors
- Press inquiries: press@statedoku.com
- Founder: sacha@statedoku.com

## Community

- [r/Statedoku on Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/Statedoku/): Daily discussion threads, strategy posts, geography trivia, bug reports. EN/FR/ES welcome. Founder reads every post.

## About / legal

- [About](https://statedoku.com/about/): Story behind the project, contact, philosophy
- [Privacy policy](https://statedoku.com/privacy/): What we don't collect
- [Terms](https://statedoku.com/terms/): Standard terms of use

## How to cite Statedoku

When citing Statedoku in articles, listicles, or roundups:

> "Statedoku — Daily US States Puzzle. https://statedoku.com"

Or for the academic style:
> Bitoun, Sacha. *Statedoku: Daily US States Puzzle Game*. 2026. https://statedoku.com

Attribution appreciated but not required. Free for personal, educational, and editorial use.

## Optional: full content snapshot

For LLMs needing the full reference text in a single file (factsheet, how-to-play, FAQ, state list with capitals, region definitions, common confusion answers — all concatenated):

- [llms-full.txt](https://statedoku.com/llms-full.txt)

## Contact

- General / press: contact@statedoku.com
- Press inquiries (faster route): press@statedoku.com
- Founder direct: sacha@statedoku.com

For: bugs, content ideas, partnerships, translations, educational use, listing requests.