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Japanese Number Puzzles
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Running Press (2006-09-14)
ISBN: 1560259418
EAN: 9781560259411
Dewey Decimal #: 793
Paperback: 352 pages
Edition: 1
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In Japan, where the written language is highly complex and context-dependent, number puzzles are the people's puzzle of choice. Many of the puzzles in this book are unheard of in the U.S., but are established, proven classics in Japan. This challenging collection contains more than 350 logic, sequence and mathematical puzzles, including well-known favorites (Sudoku, Kakuro), many new puzzle types (Battleships, Number Position, Nonogram), or variations on known themes (Killer Sudoku, Latin Squares). Japanese Number Puzzles is packed with all kinds of brain-bogglers — over 350 of them in fact, and you're guaranteed top-quality challenging problems on every page. From Sudoku and Kakuro to Battleships and Arithmetic Squares, each puzzle requires logical thinking and, in some cases, a certain amount of mathematical knowledge. What's more, anyone having problems solving the puzzles needn't resort to banging their head against a brick wall. Full explanations of how to solve each puzzle type is given, as are the all-important answers.
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Customer Reviews
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Defective and deadly dull
Rating  (1)
Date: 2007-09-26
4 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
First: starting just after page 128 - at least in my copy - large chunks of the book are out of sequence, and pages 129-160 aren't there at all.
Second: the content is hugely disappointing. If I'd bought it on Amazon, I'd have read the excellent buyer review here, and realized that this was not the book I was looking for - but I didn't. I went by the blurb, expecting to sample some of the fun, innovative Japanese number puzzles that are buried under tons of sudoku puzzles everywhere I turn.
Five varieties of sudoku was NOT what I had in mind. Kakuro, too, and minesweeper - Minesweeper! Yes, and very simple "paint by numbers" puzzles, and the kind of arithmetic squares puzzle you'll find in every Dell or Penny Press puzzle magazine in the world.
It gets my lowest possible rating. It's a waste of paper. Buyer beware!
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Excellent Variety of Challenging Logic Puzzles
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-06-11
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
I recently received this puzzle book as a gift from my daughter, who knows my love of Sudoku and other types of logic puzzles. Since it contains 360 puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty, it will take me a while to complete them all. Nevertheless, I feel confident enough of the quality to give it a five star rating based on my experiences to date in solving the puzzles.
The book contains 15 types of puzzles (24 of each), several of which are Sudoku variants but many are unique logic puzzle types that I have not encountered previously. They are 1) Sudoku, 2) Shape Sudoku, 3) Killer Sudoku, 4) Greater Than Sudoku (very clever, your only clue is whether the number on each side of the square is greater than or less than the square which you are trying to complete), 5) Samurai Sudoku (five interlocking Sudoku puzzles which cannot be solved independently of each other, one of my favorite types), 6) Kakuro, 7) Zig-Zag, 8) Number Position (I'm already hooked on these), 9) Nonogram, 10) Minesweeper, 11) Latin Squares, 12) Number Link, 13) Arithmetic Squares, 14) Piecework, and 15) Towers. A few of the games with which I am familiar (such as Nonograms) also have alternative names in other publications. The great majority of the puzzles are number puzzles, but for the most part only in the sense that they involve the use of numbers as part of the logical process of analysis involved in their solution. Some such as Kakuro and Arithmetic Squares do involve basic arithmetical skills, but none involve higher math in any sense. Rather what unites all these puzzles is the need for the systematic application of logic to find their solutions. Many of those with which I was not familiar are both a lot of fun quite clever and often fairly difficult - I include in this category Number Position, Piecework and Towers. But of course, the attraction of such games is by nature intrinsically very personal, and I am sure every fan will have a different list of favorites - but one of the things that makes the book so enjoyable is the myriad of puzzle types. Thus, whatever a puzzler's mood, desire to be challenged and time available (short subway ride vs. long plane flight or airport delay), there will be a suitable puzzle here.
My only two disappointments were that in a few cases the explanations, hints, and examples of solutions (given at the beginning of the section for each type of puzzle) seemed a little convoluted; in a least one instance for a puzzle type with which I was unfamiliar the example used as an illustration contained an error (luckily obvious). Also, for at least one puzzle used as an example, there was not a unique solution, so I spent some unnecessary time analyzing why I did not agree with the indicated solution until I realized multiple solutions were possible. If I discover this flaw occurs with enough frequency to become annoying as I complete more puzzles, I will delete my five star rating - but at this point as a great fan of logic puzzles I am very impressed and quite delighted with the variety and quality of these puzzles despite these two minor complaints.
In summary, this book is highly recommended for fans of logic puzzles looking for a large collection of new challenges, including some types which are unique to this book. However, I would recommend that unless you are an exceptional puzzle solver (the kind who takes pleasure in completing the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle in ink), that it will save you a lot of aggravation if you copy this puzzlers on any copier and also blow up their size somewhat if you can. I have found that this technique saves me from a lot of frustration and aggravation when solving the difficult puzzles, since it means that the original one remains blank in my book and if I make a error I can just go back and start over. This is especially true for the difficult puzzles of certain types (e.g. nonograms), where your mistakes can not be evident until you are almost done and correcting them is very difficult if most of the squares are already completed. In addition, this way multiple family members can each attempt their favorite puzzle types independently.
Tucker Andersen
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Retail Price: $12.95
Amazon.com's Price:$1.59
That's 88% Off!
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