There's a new Sudoku variant afoot, which introduces actual math into the puzzle. This variant is known by many names, including KenKen, MathDoku, KenDoKu, kenduko, cancan, square wisdom, minuplu, calcudoku, and latincalc. Perhaps the best-known of these names is "KenKen", due to an aggressive marketing push. That name, however, is trademarked; the majority of free puzzles can't use it to promote themselves, and are consequently hard to find. This page is an attempt to remedy that problem by listing the best web-based implementations of this puzzle, under whatever name.
To get started immediately:
Here are the sites I've found so far, along with a capsule description of what each site offers. (This list represents the results of a search for only a few of this puzzle's many names; more sites will be added shortly.) For each site I list, in addition to its name and URL, the following information:
| Site | Description | Number of Puzzles | Puzzle Sizes | Interactive Player | Solutions | Hints | Puzzle Variants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NekNek | Dedicated puzzle site | Approx. 1200 | 3x3 to 9x9 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| NYT Puzzles | NYT daily puzzles (no archives) | 6 (per day) | Varies | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Patrick Min | Daily puzzles (w/ archives) | 8-10 (per day) | 4x4 to 12x12 | Yes | Delayed 1 day | No | Multicell division, subtraction; Modulo operator; Many others |
| Mathdoku | Dedicated puzzle site | "Thousands" | 4x4, 6x6, and 8x8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No-ops |
| Galeo Rhinus | Dedicated puzzle site | "Billions" | 4x4 to 9x9 | Yes | Yes | No | Multiple solutions |
| DN's blog | Dedicated blog | Approx. 30 | 6x6 | No | Yes | No | Root, Power ops |
| Nextoy's Site | Puzzle promoter's site | 6 (per day?) | 4x4 to 9x9 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Thomas Snyder | Collection of blog posts | Approx. 20 | 5x5 to 9x9 | No | Usually in comments | No | Many experimental variants |
| DJ Ape | Daily(?) puzzles (w/ archives) | 2 (per day) | Varies | No | Delayed 1 day(?) | No | No-ops, Multicell division, subtraction |
| Minuplu | Dedicated puzzle site | Approx. 270 | 3x3 to 6x6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Calcudoku | Puzzle promoter's site | 30 (per week?) | 4x4 to 6x6 | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reader's Digest | Monthly puzzles (w/ archives) | 4 (per month) | 4x4, 6x6 | No | Yes | No | No |
Do you know of a site I should add? Is something out of date? Please write and let me know.
KenKen is a registered trademark of Nextoy, LLC. This means that a puzzle can't be branded as a "KenKen" puzzle without the permission of Nextoy. (The idea is that, should this type of puzzle become as popular as Sudoku, the KenKen brand will have marketing value, and Nextoy can profit from licensing it.)
This site is not affiliated with Nextoy, LLC. or official KenKen-brand products in any way. It makes no representation as to whether or not the puzzles on any site (other than kenken.com) that it links to are official KenKen puzzles.