Sudoku Puzzle Versions Explained

As mentioned in my previous posts, you can find Sudoku Puzzle Games in many different variations or forms. There is one thing that all these versions have in common.

That is standard that each of the numerals in a particular region has to be unique. One good thing about having so many Sudoku versions to choose from is this: You will never run out of challenges even if you have already solved 1000 puzzles!

If you are beginner to Sudoku here is my advice: begin with the standard grid layout of 9 x 9 before you move on to other variations that are available to you. At this point your aim is to solve the Sudoku puzzle with as little “givens” as you possibly can.

What variations or versions of Sudoku puzzles are available there?

As mentioned above Sudoku puzzle games are normally being solved as a 9 x 9 grid which contains 3 x 3 regions. While this is the most basic grid layout, there are many other versions available as well.

Besides the most standard sudoku version, the following grid layouts are also quite common and makes Sudokus even more challenging:

• 4 x 4 grid with 2 x 2 regions,


• 5 x 5 grid with pentomino regions also known as “Logi-5”,


• 6 x 6 grid with 2 x 3 regions. This grid is used in the World Puzzle Championship,


• 7 x 7 grid with six heptomino regions in addition to a “disjoint” region,


• 9 x 9 grid that normally has nonomino regions.

There also exist larger grid puzzles, for instance a 16 x 16 grid layout puzzle was published by Dell named as "Number Place Challenger". In Japan, Nikoli once published a 25 x 25 grid Sudoku Puzzle.

You will also come across the Sudoku puzzle where the numbers in the main diagonal areas has to be completely different! Another somehow very unique version is called "Gattai 5 Sudoku".

This is a Sudoku with 9 x 9 grids, which at the corner regions convergence into the refined shape of quincunx. In USA this puzzle was named as “Samurai Su Doku”.