I love sudoko and KenKen! What other puzzles might I like?

October 16, 2017 2:42 AM

I can sit for hours and focus on sudoku, killer sudoku, and KenKen. The rules are clear and self-contained, and they don't require external knowledge or vocabulary to complete (unlike crosswords, for example, where I might get stuck if I don't know someone's last name). What other puzzles are like this?
posted by cadge to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (18 answers total)

Check out Simon Tatham’s portable puzzle collection. I have the iOS version on my phone, and it’s not the most elegant port but I’ve still spent ages playing it.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 3:00 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Sherlock might be the sort of thing you're looking for. The rules took me a bit to parse out, but once I understood them, it became a totally engrossing game that scratches a very sudoku-like itch for me.

Warning that if you're on iOS, my understanding is that the linked game is somewhat lacking. That said, it's a *fantastic* android option, with tons of puzzles for very little money, and it's worth every penny I paid for it.
posted by mishafletch at 3:28 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

Not quite the same thing, but my particular addiction is logic puzzles (playable for free online at logic-puzzles.org and so on, plus they sell books of them). Very soothing when you want to think without actually thinking about anything, and don't require any specific prior knowledge.
posted by huimangm at 3:42 AM on October 16, 2017 [1 favorite]

You'd probably like nonograms/Picross. The rules are a little more complicated than something like sudoku, but the gist is to use information given (numbers arranged around a grid) to fill in the squares of the grid. I'm sure there are paper versions, but just about every digital platform has one or two versions available - Nintendo just released one for the Switch, and they have other versions on the 3DS that have been highly rated.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:26 AM on October 16, 2017 [6 favorites]

I'm a fan of area mazes, lately, though they require some very basic geometry knowledge.
posted by jeather at 6:15 AM on October 16, 2017

Online or printable, I like kwontom loop, also known as slither link. If you like Sherlock, the (desktop) games created by EKS games have been my favourite games for... 20 years? More? I own almost all, and they're fantastic logic based games requiring no outside knowledge.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 7:15 AM on October 16, 2017

I like the Pic-a-Pix and Fill-a-Pix puzzles at Conceptis. They have some free ones you can try and the paid ones are relatively inexpensive. They have iOS (and probably Android) versions as well, but I find it easier to play them on my laptop with a mouse.
posted by elmay at 8:14 AM on October 16, 2017

Nonograms are definitely what you want for this.
posted by Night_owl at 10:22 AM on October 16, 2017

Nthing Conceptis games. I also like their Sym-a-Pix game.
posted by Lexica at 10:36 AM on October 16, 2017

I love all these kind of games and am currently obsessed with Hexcells. It comes in Original, Plus and Infinite which are three separate games. You can get all three together on the iOS store or Steam for £3.99 - Infinite has an auto generate mode though so if you only wanted one, get that one and then you can play foreeeeeever lucky I don't have a doctorate to finish or anything oh wait.
posted by theseldomseenkid at 11:41 AM on October 16, 2017

I agree with the nonograms recommendations. This site has a ton (as well as other types of games you might like): http://www.griddlers.net/
posted by iximox at 1:09 PM on October 16, 2017

Copying this from an answer I gave the other day:

If you like playing with colors, try Blendoku and Blendoku 2, which is basically like arranging paint color chips. (Link to article because the home page is just a video.) This is probably unplayable if you are colorblind. I think you'll either really like it or really not like it!
posted by Room 641-A at 5:45 PM on October 16, 2017

Give Star Battles a try.
posted by Nedroid at 7:21 PM on October 16, 2017

Kakuro
posted by Malla at 9:24 PM on October 16, 2017

Besides Sherlock, linked above, Everett Kaser's Greek Squares is the logical sequel to Sudoko: why do the nonets have to all be squares? However, essentially any game on his site satisfies your criteria; Greek Squares is just a good starting point.
posted by one for the books at 10:54 PM on October 16, 2017

Try Futoshiki. The rules could not be simpler, yet they generate puzzles of extraordinary compexity. The easy levels are trivial to solve, but as you work up to bigger and harder boards the layers of logic needed to "unpeel" them multiply rapidly and make them extraordinarily challenging. I also love that the key to cracking them is often to be found in the most unlikely corner of the board!
posted by genesta at 10:17 AM on October 17, 2017

Try out Conceptis Puzzles. Every week they have one free puzzle of each type, which will allow you to try them out. They also have pretty good tutorials and rule explanations.
posted by evening at 5:01 PM on October 18, 2017

Seconding Futoshiki.
posted by mayurasana at 11:35 AM on October 22, 2017