Kakuro kraze

So it was about a year ago when my mother-in-law introduced the game of Sudoku to the whole family. I had seen the books all over and had no clue what it was all about and in fact she bought a book as a gift for her son. He wanted nothing to do with this game an set the book back down. I picked it up to see just what it was all about and my interest kicked in.

It's really a cool game that can be played everywhere. I started to learn more and after a few games was hooked. I even enjoyed the picture game versions as well. My wife started playing around Halloween time with a picture version from eBay and now she's wanted to play more and more and even moved on to some of the books.

A few books later and even a version that plays on her iPod, she's really enjoying the game. So I looked around during the holidays and thought about getting her a new book. That is when I came across this new game called Kakuro and decided to investigate it some more.

It's known as the bigger/harder brother to Sudoku. It uses a little math and is somewhat like a crossword puzzle. For example the box to the left with a 5 is a the sum for the two boxes across. You can have a 1+4 or a 2+3 combination. The key here is only one combination will work and you can't have multiple numbers in the same runs. That being said the 7 down would make use of the numbers you select.

I decided to mention this game to the family and it seems that most of them are satisfied with Sudoku and will stay away from this game for the time being. Something about it just keeps calling me to check it out and try some of the games. I think I'll keep playing Sudoku, but I have a feeling that Kakuro will get some of my time this year.