It is known to many that sudoku is one of the most popular, challenging, and accessible puzzle games ever created. But the thing that made you addicted to sudoku is simply making sense of a simple number pattern. Sudoku is an interesting game because, once you began solving sudoku puzzles and got the different tips and strategies of it, you likely started challenging yourself by increasing the difficulty level.
After finishing the hundredth puzzle, you might be looking for a little more variation. Although it is unquestionably unique, there are hundreds of puzzle games that share some commonalities with sudoku, and I’m guessing you’ll love them if you’re a sudoku fan.
Some of the games similar to sudoku are Hitori, Futoshiki, Numbrix, and the most popular one, Kakuro.
Games Like Sudoku - What are Hitori, Futoshiki, and Numbrix?
Hitori is played with a grid of squares or cells, with each cell initially containing a number. The game is played by eliminating squares/numbers and this is done by blacking them out. Unlike sudoku, there is no requirement to have every digit in each row or column.
The objective is to transform the grid to a state wherein (1) no row or column can have more than one occurrence of any given number, (2) black cells cannot be horizontally or vertically adjacent, although they can be diagonal to one another, and (3) the remaining numbered cells must be all connected to each other, horizontally or vertically.
Futoshiki is a board-based puzzle game, also known under the name Unequal. The purpose of the game is to discover the digits hidden inside the board’s cells; each cell is filled with a digit between 1 and the board’s size. On each row and column, each digit appears exactly once; therefore, when revealed, the digits of the board form a so-called Latin square.
On the other hand, Numbrix is a type of logic puzzle played on a rectangular grid of squares. Some of the cells that are shaded in a color have given numbers in them. The objective of the game is to fill in the white squares with the missing numbers, in sequential order, going only horizontally or vertically (diagonal paths are not allowed).
Sample puzzles of Hitori, Futoshiki, and Numbrix are shown below.
What is a Kakuro Puzzle?
Kakuro (also written as Kakkuro or Kakoro) is a kind of logic puzzle that is often referred to as a mathematical transliteration of the crossword. The aim of the game is to fill all the blank squares in the grid with only the numbers 1-9 so that the numbers you enter add up to the corresponding clues. Each “clue” is the sum of the digits to be placed in its group of squares, and no digit can be repeated within a group. Every Kakuro puzzle has only one solution and can be solved through logic alone.
Is Kakuro Harder than Sudoku?
Like both crossword and sudoku, Kakuro is easy to learn, but can range from simple to difficult. An unsolved Kakuro puzzle looks more like a crossword grid; the rules, however, are more similar to sudoku. Unlike sudoku, however, Kakuro also relies on math. Don’t get intimidated just yet, though—the only math required is a simple addition.
A sample puzzle below is an example of Kakuro. There are still many games like sudoku that exist and it only shows how creative people’s minds are and how we simply like to solve puzzles.
