Have you tried the mind-bending game of KenKen yet?

[Pengwuino]

Does anyone plan this game KenKen? It's like Sudoku or whatever except its... not. The idea is like Soduku but along with only having one of each number in every row/column (but not having to worry about a 3x3 brick having 1-9), the numbers have to satisfy a mathematical relation in certain boxes. For example 3 boxes could be boxed off and the box will have "60x" which means the 3 numbers need to multiply to be 60. It's really entertaining and also makes you feel stupid sometimes. i was doing one puzzle with someone I know today and we started off with 3 boxes that had "7+" and it was a 6x6 puzzle so 1-6 had to be used. What amazed us is how tripped up we got on figuring out "wow, what added together makes 7" and all we had was "4,2,1" (5,1,1 wasnt going to work on the board). It took us like 30 minutes of messing around with the rest of the puzzle until we realized "WAIT! 3+3+1 is 7 too!". It's a funny game, you should all try it.

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/crosswords/kenken.html

Don't question it.

 

[Danger]

This should be in the 'Quirky Habits' thread.

 

[apprageous]

iKendu is a new Sudoku like logic puzzle game now available for the iPhone and iPod touch.

http://ikendu.com"

If you like Sudoku, you'll love iKendu!

 

[MartyGrissom]

Yes, I do play KenKen a lot. Gotten preety good even up to tough 7X7 grids, but the 8X8 and 9X9 grids still have me easily stumped on the harder ones. The easier ones I can solve, but the harder ones stump me frequently as they have too many permutations to try out at times to get the correct answer. Do have some tips that I learned that i am thinking of writing a ebook about in case they may be of some use to anyone.

MartyGrissom

 

[phyzguy]

Yes, I'm hooked on the stupid thing. I do the 9x9 on the www.kenken.com every day - I can typically finish a 9x9 in about 15-20 minutes. I never get stumped, but I sometimes make mistakes and have to start over. One tip - remember that each row and column has to add up to the same number - 45 for a 9x9, 36 for an 8x8, 21 for a 6x6, etc. Since you're often given several + in the same row or column, you can sometimes use this fact to deduce the ones outside the + you are given.

 

[physics girl phd]

We get the New York Times weekend subscription (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). My family knows the KenKens are mine. I unfortunately have to skip the crosswords though, no chance of doing well without the week-long warmup and with an active toddler.