Nurikabe 1

Here is a Nurikabe for you to enjoy.  Not too hard, not too easy.

Nurikabe Rules

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Nurikabe Rules

A Nurikabe is a Japanese spirit that manifests itself as a wall to impede travelers walking at night. The puzzle Nurikabe is so named because the object is to figure out where the black cells are placed based on the clues.  I guess the black cells are the Nurikabe spirits.  Here are the rules and a sample puzzle:

1. Each number in the grid indicates a region of edge-connected cells of exactly that number.  No two numbered areas can touch except at corners.  Each number will be a part of exactly one region

2. Each numbered region is surrounded by either the walls of the puzzle, or black cells.  All black cells must be edge-connected together to form one contiguous region.

3. No numbered cells can be painted black.

4. No black cells can be connected together to form a 2x2 area of black cells in any part of the grid.

Masyu 1

Here is my first Masyu puzzle.  It moves along pretty quick in the beginning, but I think you'll find a little thinking is required towards the end.

Masyu rules

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I do realize there are quite a few more givens than you would normally find in this kind of puzzle, but I haven't yet learned how to pare them down to bare minimum.  Give me time.  Hopefully, you'll still find it fun.

Masyu rules

Masyu (also sometimes known as pearls) belongs to the same family as Slitherlink.  They are both puzzles where you must use the clues to draw a single connected loop.  Here are the rules:

1. Use the clues to draw a single, connected loop that does not cross or branch off.
2. Lines must pass through the black circles (or pearls), and must turn at a 90 degree angle within the pearl.  The lines coming out of the pearl on each leg of the angle must continue straight for at least one square.
2. Lines must also pass through the white circles (or pearls), and must go straight through the pearl, but must make a 90 degree turn on at least one of the squares adjacent to the pearl.
3. Not all squares in the grid are required to be filled, but every square with a pearl will have a line through it.

Here's an example:

Fillomino 2

Ok, my first attempt at a fillomino was just, shall we say, lame.  Hopefully this one is a little better.  For one thing, it's the standard 10 x 10, and for another, it's got some pretty large ominoes in it.  I thought these would be easy to make, but as it turns out, they can be a headache to make while still making the starting pattern look nice.  Still, I had fun designing it.  Enjoy!

Fillomino Rules

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Fillomino 1

And here is the Fillomino I created.  It's a tiny one.  I promise they will get bigger.

Fillomino Rules

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Slitherlink 1

And welcome to the first actual puzzle for you to solve.  Enjoy!

Slitherlink rules

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Fillomino Rules

Fillomino is so-named because the task is to fill a grid with polyominoes.  Polyominoes are basically dominoes of different sizes.  They can be any size from one to the size of your grid, though that would make for a very uninteresting puzzle.  The rulese are:

1. A polyomino consists of a series of edge-connected squares.  When the puzzle is solved, each square in a polyomino will contain a number that is equal to the number of the squares in the polyomino.

2. No polyomino touches another polyomino of the same size along an edge.  They may touch at corners.

3. Every square in the grid must contain a number and be part of a polyomino.

4. Some polyominoes may have no clues given.  They still must follow the rules above, though.

Sample and solution follows

 

Slitherlink Rules

Slitherlink is probably one of the first Nikoli puzzles I discovered that did not originate in America.  Kakuro and Sudoku both originated with Dell Pencil Puzzles as Cross Sums and Number Place before they traveled to Japan and back again with the Japanese names.  But, this is about Slitherlink, not those. The rules are summarized below.

1. Draw a single connected loop between the dots that does not touch or cross anywhere in the grid.
2. Lines may only be horizontal or vertical.
3. Numbers indicate how many sides in the imaginary square surrounding that number that the loop passes through.
4. Unnumbered squares may contain any number of lines surrounding the square.

An example with its solution is shown below.

There are many strategies and patterns that can be used in solving Slitherlinks.  Perhaps the most well known are the side-by-side 3's, and the corner 3's as well as what I call 'cascading 2's', which is what happens when there is a series of 2's in a diagonal.  Really clever puzzle designers can also force the loop to take a path where there are no numbered clues, but bounce around from dot to dot simply because there is no other path to take.  The possibilities are endless, and even after many years of solving, I'm still learning new strategies.

Rules and some cool links

After posting my first two puzzles, I realized that I do not have a rules page like many others do.  I'm going to go ahead and create some rules pages and provide links in all my puzzles to them, but I also encourage you to check out some other puzzle creators' rules pages, not only because they can probably write clearer rules, but also because you need to see their puzzles as well.  I will put those links in the sidebar to the left, or right, or wherever they fit best.

Also, I am going to link to a Japanese page that provides an awesome puzzle editor.  Don't worry, they provide an English page.  Not only does it make it easier to solve these puzzles, but it makes them a cinch to create.  I mean, there's still all the work involved in coming up with an idea, implementing it and test solving, but you sure do save on paper.  And that's a very green thing to do. 

Welcome to Puzzlepalooza!

I have been a fan of Nikoli puzzles for some time now.  I've even ordered one of their Penpa Puzzle Mix books and have killed many rubber trees erasing and fixing mistakes, even as the pages fell out and drifted peacefully away to some blissful puzzle afterlife.  Of course, the Internet is a never ending supply of challenging puzzles, and you don't have to worry about your web pages falling out (although I've never had my Penpa book throw up a flashing page congratulating me on being its 1 millionth reader).  I've cruised several puzzle pages lately and it seems to me that the creators seem to have almost as much, if not more fun, creating the puzzles than it gave me to solve them.  So, I decided to give puzzlesmithing a try myself.  After much head scratching, crying, praying to the Puzzle Gods and presenting the required virgin paper sacrifices (good thing they were already clad in pure white), I present my first two self-made puzzles; a Slitherlink and a Fillomino.  The Fillomino is a small one and shouldn't present too much challenge, but the Slitherlink is a standard 10 x 10, and although it is not an extremely difficult one, it has its moments.  Feel free to comment, but do not post spoilers and please go easy on me; these are my first creations and they're shy little creatures.  Big, nasty comments will scare them away and likely prevent any future puzzles from coming around.  Enjoy!