Shikaku & Sudoku [Spiral-bound]

Nikoli (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sudoku | Publication Date: February 2, 2010

“Widely regarded as the world’s most prolific wellspring of logic games and brainteasers ... if anyone comes up with the next craze, it will be Nikoli.”—The New York Times

 

Here comes shikaku, an exciting new logic puzzle from Nikoli, the Japanese company that sparked the sudoku craze: Picture a square grid made out of rectangles of different sizes, each of which contains a number indicating its area in square units, but not its exact shape or position. Then imagine the lines between the rectangles erased. Can you use the numbers to figure out how to redraw the lines? It’s harder than it looks. Shikaku’s elegantly simple rules offer a surprising challenge that will delight even the most demanding puzzle fans.

Product Details

• Spiral-bound: 160 pages
• Publisher: Puzzlewright; Spi edition (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402757557
• ISBN-13: 978-1402757556
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #728,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shikaku not the best for pencil-paper solving, April 9, 2011

By 

Alison Howard (Mount Prospect, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Shikaku & Sudoku (Spiral-bound)

I'm a Nikoli addict, I'll admit it. (See my other reviews of the Nikoli ____ & Sudoku books). I bought all of their US-released books, subscribe to their puzzle site, and have even had books shipped from Japan. What I like about these books in particular is the size and binding. These things matter to a puzzle addict. The spiral binding allows you to hold the book more easily, and the book is made with high-quality thick paper (not newsprint like many crossword books). That means you can solve in pen (if you dare!) and not have it show through to the other side, or you can erase without worrying about the paper abrading or ripping. These half-sudoku books are kind of a shame (we Americans have PLENTY of sudoku to choose from), and I wish it had more of the "new" puzzle type.

Shikaku in particular is not my favorite Nikoli puzzle type, but of course, I had to buy the book anyway. I discovered that Shikaku is not as easily solved on paper as it is on the Nikoli website. Ok, so the rules for Shikaku: Each number you see in the grid tells you the area of the room it's in. So if you see a 21, you know it's either going to be 21x1 boxes, or 3x7 boxes. Each room can only have one number in it, the rooms cannot overlap, and when you're finished, every box in the grid will be accounted for. I think this puzzle type would be great for beginning math students. But to do them on paper means you must find a method to account for boxes you know are part of a room even though you don't know the location of the entire room. I've tried lightly shading in these boxes, which seems to be the best I can come up with. Good luck and have fun!

4.0 out of 5 stars Shikaku is great!, November 23, 2010

By 

MGR_STL - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shikaku & Sudoku (Spiral-bound)

I teach middle school math, and many of my students really like the Shikaku puzzles. It provides good practice for area and factors, and is quite fun! I'd rather it be a book of Shikaku-only, but this will have to do.