Sudoku Variants Magazine
So what are the sudoku variants? The list below outlines what the variants are, with brief rules about how to play that particular puzzle type:
- Graeco Latin sudoku: in this puzzle you need to place 1 - 5 and A - E once in each row and column. In addition, you must not repeat any of the 25 individual combinations (A1,A2,A3...E3,E4,E5) in a single cell
- Arrow sudoku: a 9x9 puzzle that in addition to standard sudoku rules, contains arrows. The circled number is the sum total of the other cells along the path of the arrow, which may include repetition if that repetition does not break usual sudoku rules
- Calcudoku: 9x9 puzzles, larger than you would normally see. In these puzzles you must place 1 - 9 once in each row and column, and there are also various bold-lined sum regions (that could be +,-,/ or x). With subtraction and division regions, you must divide or subtract the smaller number(s) from the largest one in that region
- Consecutive sudoku: sudoku rules apply, and in addition grey rectangles between cells tell you that the values of those cells is consecutive (e.g. if one cells contains a '2' a grey rectangle between that and an adjacent cell tells you the adjacent cell must contain 1 or 3
- Isosudoku: a sudoku variant containing additional partial regions: the diagonals running from left to right (\) must not contain repetition; many of these are partial regions as they don't contain all nine numbers
- Jigsaw sudoku: also called irregular sudoku, the 3x3 box regions of standard sudoku are replaced by bold lined regions in a range of interesting shapes
- Sudoku Plus: in addition to usual sudoku rules, numbers around the outside tell you the sum total of the three cells nearest that number (e.g. the first/last three cells in the adjacent row/column)
- Sudoku Minus: A new variant for this site, the rules are as above but this time the numbers around the outside are the result of subtracting the two lowest values from the highest value in the appropriate three cells
- Sudoku Times: A new variant for this site, this time the numbers around the outside are the result of multiplying together the three numbers at the start/end of the adjacent row/column
- Sudoku X: one of the most well known sudoku variants, this has standard sudoku rules and two additional regions that must contain 1 - 9 once only: the two major diagonals, marked in grey
To view a sample of the first page of the magazine, please click to view Variety Sudoku Magazine page 1 (opens in new window).
The magazine contains 25 pages of puzzles, with four puzzles on each page. There are then solution pages that contain 8 puzzles per page. We hope that you will find the magazine enjoyable, and particularly enjoy those variant puzzles that you will not have come across before. If you are coming to sudoku variants for the first time, then you might like to start with the more straightforward variants like sudoku X first before moving on to the others.
Like sudoku variations? You can play ten new sudoku variant puzzles each and every day at the Puzzle Connoisseur's Club, including fantastic new variants such as
Sandwich Sudoku Online. This exciting new sudoku variant has numbers around the edge of the grid, and these tell you the sum of the numbers between the 1 and 9 in that row and column. For instance a total of 0 means that the 1 and 9 are adjacent, whilst if the total is 4 then you know that either 149 or 941 appears somewhere in the region, since without the 1 being available the only way to make a sum of 4 is with a single digit. Likewise if the total is 5, then the region must contain the 2 and 3 in some order between the 1 and the 9.
In terms of difficulty, the hardest will be the arrow sudoku, calcudoku, isosudoku and sudoku minus. With the sudoku minus being noticeably harder than the sudoku plus and sudoku times, it is recommended to make a note of the various combinations or ways of making each number for the first puzzle that you solve, so that you can refer to these when solving the other nine puzzles.
To download the Sudoku Variants Puzzle Magazine in PDF format on A4 paper to print off the puzzles you want when you want to play them, click the 'Buy Now' button below, all for just £1.97 (UK Pounds) or $3.15 (US Dollars):