Games like Sudoku
The games most like Sudoku are its number cousins, Killer Sudoku, KenKen, Kakuro, Futoshiki and Hitori, which keep the no-guessing logic and change the clues. For the same logic with no sums, try Slitherlink, Akari, Nurikabe or LinkedIn’s Tango. For a short daily, try Clues by Sam or one of the free puzzles we make. All of them are free to start, and we played each one from another maker before writing about it.
How Sudoku works, and where it came from
A Sudoku is a 9 × 9 grid divided into nine 3 × 3 boxes. Fill it so every row, column and box holds each digit from 1 to 9 exactly once. The digits are only symbols: nothing is added up, and nine colors would work just as well.
The puzzle is older than its name. French newspapers printed close relatives in the 1890s: Le Siècle in 1892 and La France in 1895. The modern form first appeared in 1979, in Dell Magazines, as Number Place, most likely designed by Howard Garns. The Japanese publisher Nikoli took it up in 1984, and in 1986 its founder Maki Kaji shortened the name to sudoku, from su, number, and doku, single. Wayne Gould came across a Sudoku book in a Tokyo bookshop in 1997, and The Times launched the puzzle in Britain on November 12, 2004.
Two numbers show how deep such a small idea goes. There are 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960 possible finished grids. And a proper Sudoku, with one answer, needs at least 17 starting digits, a result proved in a paper titled “There Is No 16-Clue Sudoku”.
Nikoli, for its part, is named after the racehorse that won the Irish 2,000 Guineas in 1980, the year the company began. Many of the puzzles below came through its magazine.
What makes a puzzle like Sudoku
Sudoku’s appeal is less about digits than about how it treats you. We looked for games that share these four things:
- Rules you can learn in a minute. No moves to memorize and no board to set up.
- One answer, found by logic. A good puzzle never leaves you with a coin toss.
- Certainty that spreads. Each square you are sure of makes the next one easier to find.
- No clock against you. You can stop, think and come back.
The family resemblance is real, too. A finished Sudoku is a Latin square, a grid where nothing repeats in a row or column, with an extra rule for the boxes. Drop the boxes and add a different clue, and you have KenKen or Futoshiki.
Games like Sudoku at a glance
Sudoku first, so you can compare. Everything here plays in a browser. Nothing on this page is a paid game, though Daily Killer Sudoku, KenKen, Kakuro Conquest and Nurikabe show ads.
| Game | Made by | What you do | Daily? | Free? | Plays in the browser |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sudoku | The New York Times | The classic | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Daily Killer Sudoku | Not named on its site | Sudoku with almost no digits given: every cage has a total to reach | Yes, several each day | Yes, with ads; ad-free through Patreon | Yes |
| KenKen | KenKen Puzzle, LLC | Fill a grid so no number repeats in a line and each cage makes its total | Yes, in sizes 3 to 9 | Yes, with ads; an ad-free premium is sold | Yes |
| Kakuro Conquest | Not named on its site | A crossword of numbers: every run adds up to its clue, with no digit twice | No: as many as you like | Yes, with ads | Yes |
| Futoshiki (Unequal) | Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection | Fill a small grid, no digit twice in a line, with > signs between squares | No: as many as you like | Yes | Yes |
| Hitori (Singles) | Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection | Black out squares until no number repeats in a line | No: as many as you like | Yes | Yes |
| Slitherlink (Loopy) | Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection | Draw one closed loop around numbers that count its sides | No: as many as you like | Yes | Yes |
| Akari (Light Up) | Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection | Place bulbs until every square is lit and no bulb shines on another | No: as many as you like | Yes | Yes |
| Nurikabe | Not named on its site | Shade a sea around numbered islands of the right sizes | Yes: a special daily, weekly and monthly, and any time at other sizes | Yes, with ads; you can pay to remove them | Yes |
| Tango | Fill a grid with two symbols, balanced in every line | Yes | Anyone can play | Yes | |
| Clues by Sam | Sam, of Ad Artis | Sort a grid of 20 suspects into innocent and criminal | Yes, harder as the week goes on | Daily puzzle free; puzzle packs sold | Yes |
| Lacey’s Web | Us | Join numbered knots into one web | Yes, at midnight your time | Yes | Yes, on a phone or a computer |
| Grandma’s Knitting | Us | Knit what the numbers say, and a picture appears | Yes, at midnight your time | Yes | Yes, on a phone or a computer |
| The Kid’s Treasure Map | Us | Flag every treasure from the numbers around it | Yes, at midnight your time | Yes | Yes, on a phone or a computer |
| Lie of Sight | Us | Work out which of a family is lying about what they saw in a room | Yes, at midnight your time | Yes, all of it: the daily, plus 64 free cases | Yes, on a phone or a computer |
Checked on each game’s own site in November 2026. Prices and offers change, so check there too.
Number puzzles like Sudoku
The same habit of mind, with digits, in a new shape. Three of these add arithmetic, and two don’t.
Daily Killer Sudoku
Browser, or print
The closest game on this list. The rules are Sudoku’s, but the grid starts almost empty, and dashed cages carry totals instead: the digits in a cage must add up to its total, with none repeated. The invention is usually credited to the Tokyo puzzle setter Tetsuya Nishio, and it first appeared outside Japan in The Times in 2005. This site has new puzzles every day, each with a difficulty and an average time; the one we tried was a 5 out of 10, averaging 19 minutes. Tap a cage and a Combinations panel lists what it can hold: for a two-square cage totaling 3, just 1 and 2. The story: Killer Sudoku on Wikipedia.
KenKen
KenKen Puzzle, LLC · Browser; iPhone and Android apps
No digit twice in a row or column, and no boxes. Instead, outlined cages give a target and a sign, such as 9× or 2÷. The Japanese math teacher Tetsuya Miyamoto invented it in 2004, and the name comes from the Japanese word for cleverness. The free dailies on its own site run from 3 × 3 to 9 × 9, so a beginner can finish one quickly. It has ads, and an email sign-up box popped up on our way in. “No Thanks” closes it. The story: KenKen on Wikipedia.
Kakuro Conquest
Browser
Kakuro is a crossword made of numbers: each run of white squares must add up to the clue at its start, with no digit used twice in a run. Dell Magazines’ Jacob E. Funk gave it its English name, Cross Sums, and the Japanese name shortens “addition cross”. This free site has sizes from 4 × 4 up to 9 × 17, five levels at each size, a Check button and a timer. Our 4 × 4 easy fell to plain deduction, which is how the site says all of them work. The story: Kakuro on Wikipedia.
Futoshiki (Unequal)
Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection · Browser; Windows and Linux
A small Sudoku with no boxes and very few digits: just greater-than signs between some squares. Tamaki Seto developed it in 2001, and the Japanese name means “inequality”. It is a short, tidy puzzle, and a good first step away from Sudoku. In this free version a clashing digit turns red as soon as you type it, and the manual describes an Adjacent mode, where bars mark neighbors that differ by one. The story: Futoshiki on Wikipedia.
Hitori (Singles)
Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection · Browser; Windows and Linux
Sudoku backward: the grid starts full, and you black out squares until no number repeats in a row or column. Black squares can’t touch side by side, and the rest must stay joined up. It first ran in Nikoli’s magazine in March 1990, and the full Japanese name means “leave me alone”. Here, two touching black squares flash red at once, so you always know when you’ve slipped. The story: Hitori on Wikipedia.
Logic puzzles like Sudoku, with no sums
Nothing here needs adding up. Most of them come from the pages of Nikoli’s magazine.
Slitherlink (Loopy)
Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection · Browser; Windows and Linux
Draw one closed loop along the dots. Each number says how many of its four sides the loop uses, so a 0 rules out four lines at a stroke. Nikoli’s editor made it by combining two puzzles sent in for the June 1989 issue. It feels nothing like Sudoku at first and exactly like it ten moves in, when one line forces the next. The story: Slitherlink on Wikipedia. If you like it, try Pearl in the same collection: that’s Masyu, a loop through black and white pearls, and its odd name began as a misreading of the kanji for pearl.
Akari (Light Up)
Simon Tatham’s puzzle collection · Browser; Windows and Linux
Place bulbs on a grid. Each one lights its row and column until a black square stops it. Light every square, never let two bulbs shine on each other, and give each numbered black square that many bulbs beside it. Nikoli publishes it, and its Japanese name means “art gallery”. Squares flood yellow as each bulb goes down, so you can watch the job shrink. The story: Akari on Wikipedia.
Nurikabe
Browser
Each number is an island of that many squares. Shade everything else into one connected sea, with no 2 × 2 pools. It first ran in Nikoli’s magazine in March 1991, and it’s named for an invisible wall in Japanese folklore. This site runs from 5 × 5 to 20 × 20, in easy and hard, with a special daily, weekly and monthly puzzle. It has banner ads, and it congratulates you on your last tap. The story: Nurikabe on Wikipedia.
Tango
LinkedIn · Browser or the LinkedIn app
Fill a 6 × 6 grid with suns and moons: the same number of each in every row and column, never three of a kind in a line, with = and × signs linking some squares. Three moons in a column striped themselves red the moment we placed them. It’s a close relative of Takuzu, also called Binairo, and it plays without an account, though a streak needs a sign-in. The story: Takuzu on Wikipedia.
Short daily logic puzzles
One puzzle a day, a few minutes each, and the same logic underneath.
Clues by Sam
Sam, of Ad Artis · Browser
Twenty suspects in a grid, each innocent or criminal, and a rule that you can’t guess: you may only mark someone the clues prove. On the day we played, one clue was showing at the start, and marking the person it pointed to opened that person’s clue. That chain is the feeling of a good Sudoku, with people in place of digits. It gets harder from Monday to Sunday.
Lacey’s Web
us · any browser
We make this one. Numbered knots on a spider’s web: each number says how many threads that knot held, and you spin them back into one web. It is a bridges puzzle, from the same Nikoli family as many on this page, with exactly one answer each day and no guessing. Play today’s web or read our guide to bridges puzzles.
Grandma’s Knitting
us · any browser
We make this one too. A nonogram: each number along Grandma’s swatch is a run of knitted squares in its row or column, and if you knit them all right, a picture appears. It has Sudoku’s habit of one certain square leading to the next. Play today’s picture or read our guide to nonograms.
The Kid’s Treasure Map
us · any browser
And this one, for anyone who likes Sudoku and Minesweeper equally. Each number on the Kid’s backyard map counts the treasure in the squares around it, every number is there from the start, and nothing goes off. Flag every treasure, with no guessing. Play today’s map or read our guide to minesweeper puzzles.
Lie of Sight
Ember Works LLC · Any browser, phone or computer
We make this one as well, and it has no numbers at all. A room seen from above, and a family who each say what they could see. Move them around until every story but one can be true at once: the one that never fits is the liar’s. It’s the same elimination a Sudoku player knows, done with sight lines. A free case every day.
Where to play them all
Simon Tatham’s Portable Puzzle Collection is the one to bookmark. It has 40 small games that run in a browser, released under the MIT license, and we saw no ads and no sign-up. Five of the puzzles above live there under plain English names, along with Sudoku itself as Solo, and you can choose the size and difficulty of each.
For the rules from the source, Nikoli’s own puzzle pages cover its classics in English. If you read German, Janko.at describes over four hundred kinds of logic puzzle, free and with no sign-up.
How to choose
- You want Sudoku, only harder: Daily Killer Sudoku.
- You like the arithmetic: KenKen or Kakuro.
- You want something small to start with: Futoshiki, or KenKen at 3 × 3.
- You’d rather not see a digit: Tango or Akari.
- You want one new idea to chew on: Slitherlink or Nurikabe.
- You want a few minutes a day: Clues by Sam, Lacey’s Web or Lie of Sight.
- You want a picture at the end: Grandma’s Knitting.
- You like Minesweeper too: The Kid’s Treasure Map.
For more lists like this, see games like Queens for grids where you place one thing per line, games like Nerdle for math, and games like Wordle, but not words for dailies of every kind.
Questions people ask
What games are like Sudoku?
The closest are its number cousins: Killer Sudoku, KenKen, Kakuro, Futoshiki and Hitori. For the same kind of logic with no sums, try Slitherlink, Akari, Nurikabe or Tango.
What is a good game like Sudoku with no numbers?
Tango uses suns and moons, Akari uses bulbs, and Lie of Sight, which we make, has no numbers at all. Slitherlink and Nurikabe show numbers, but only as counts, so there is nothing to add up.
Which games are like Sudoku but with math?
KenKen, Kakuro and Killer Sudoku all ask you to reach totals. KenKen uses all four operations, while Kakuro and Killer Sudoku use only addition.
What is the difference between Sudoku and Killer Sudoku?
The rules for rows, columns and boxes are the same. Killer Sudoku adds cages, each with a total its digits must reach, and usually gives few or no starting digits.
Who invented Sudoku?
The modern puzzle first appeared in 1979 in Dell Magazines as Number Place, most likely designed by Howard Garns. Maki Kaji of Nikoli brought it to Japan in 1984 and shortened the name to sudoku in 1986.
Where can I play these puzzles for free?
Simon Tatham’s Portable Puzzle Collection has many of them free in a browser, with no sign-up. KenKen, Kakuro Conquest, Daily Killer Sudoku and Nurikabe each have free sites with ads.
Is Lie of Sight like Sudoku?
In spirit. It has one answer, reached by ruling things out with no guessing, but you use a family’s sight lines in a room rather than digits in a grid.
Is Lie of Sight free?
Yes. The daily, 64 free cases: 3 practice, 16 Case Files, 10 Tricky Cases and 35 Cat Files, every past daily, Your Case and Detective mode are all free. No price, no ads.
More lists like this one
- Games like Murdle
- Games like Clues by Sam
- Games like Murdoku
- Games like Queens
- Games like Wordle
- Games like Nerdle
- Daily mystery games
- Games like Connections
- Daily puzzle games like Wordle
New to Lie of Sight? How to play has the rules and the family, with pictures.
Ready for today’s case?
A new case every day. Free, with no sign-up to start.