Puzzles Like Sudoku: 7 Number Games to Try Next

Sudoku is brilliant, but once you've solved a few thousand of them, the magic can start to fade — you've seen the patterns, the techniques are automatic, and you find yourself craving something that bites back a little. The good news: Sudoku is just one member of a huge family of number and logic puzzles, and several of them are perfect next steps. These are seven puzzles like Sudoku, what makes each one different, and which to try first depending on what you love about Sudoku in the first place. Spoiler: number one is the one most Sudoku fans wish they'd discovered sooner — and you can play it right now.

1. Kakuro (Cross Sums) — the math-lover's Sudoku

If Sudoku had a slightly more demanding older sibling, it would be Kakuro. The grid looks like a crossword, but you fill runs of cells with the digits 1 to 9 so that each run adds up to a target sum, never repeating a digit within a run. It keeps everything you love about Sudoku's elimination logic and adds a layer of mental arithmetic on top.

Try it if: you want the most natural step up from Sudoku. The skills transfer directly, and the new "which digits add up to this?" dimension feels fresh without being unfair. Our Kakuro vs Sudoku guide covers exactly how the two compare.

2. Killer Sudoku — Sudoku with a sum twist

Killer Sudoku is the easiest jump of all, because it's literally Sudoku with one extra rule. You still fill a 9×9 grid so each row, column, and box holds 1–9, but the grid is also divided into dotted "cages," and the digits in each cage must add up to a printed total without repeating. It's Sudoku plus a dash of Kakuro-style arithmetic.

Try it if: you want to stay in familiar Sudoku territory but add a gentle math challenge. See our Kakuro vs Killer Sudoku comparison if you're torn between the two.

3. KenKen (Calcudoku) — arithmetic in every cage

KenKen takes the cage idea further. On a smaller grid (often 4×4 up to 9×9), each row and column must contain the numbers 1 to n once, and every cage carries a target and an operation — add, subtract, multiply, or divide. A cage marked "12×" needs digits that multiply to 12. Invented by a Japanese maths teacher, it was designed to make arithmetic genuinely fun.

Try it if: you like the math in Kakuro but want multiplication and division in the mix, not just addition.

4. Futoshiki — logic by greater-than and less-than

Futoshiki strips the math back out and replaces it with comparison. On a small grid you place 1 to n once per row and column, but some neighbouring cells carry "greater than" or "less than" signs that must be obeyed. It's pure deduction, driven by those inequality arrows.

Try it if: you love Sudoku's elimination logic but want a smaller, sharper puzzle with a clever new constraint instead of arithmetic.

5. Hitori — solve by what you remove

Hitori flips Sudoku on its head. Instead of filling cells, you shade them out. The goal is to black out cells so that no number repeats in any row or column among the cells left showing — while keeping the shaded cells from touching and the unshaded cells all connected. It's elimination logic in reverse, and it scratches a very different itch.

Try it if: you enjoy the deductive core of Sudoku but want a puzzle about subtraction rather than placement — no arithmetic, all logic.

6. Binairo (Takuzu) — Sudoku with only two digits

Binairo proves you don't need nine digits to make a hard puzzle. You fill the grid with just 0s and 1s under three rules: no more than two of the same digit in a row, an equal count of each per line, and no two rows (or columns) identical. It feels deceptively simple and gets surprisingly twisty.

Try it if: you want something that looks nothing like Sudoku but rewards the exact same pattern-spotting instinct.

7. Suguru (Tectonic) — small cages, simple rule

Suguru divides the grid into little blocks of different sizes. A block of five cells gets the digits 1–5, a block of three gets 1–3, and so on — and crucially, the same digit can never touch itself, not even diagonally. The rules fit in one sentence, but the solving runs deep.

Try it if: you want a gentle, approachable puzzle to relax with that still delivers that satisfying click of forced logic.

Which one should you start with?

If you want the single best next puzzle after Sudoku, start with Kakuro — it's the closest in spirit, the skills carry over cleanly, and the added arithmetic gives you a genuinely new mountain to climb. From there, Killer Sudoku and KenKen deepen the math, while Futoshiki, Hitori, Binairo, and Suguru each twist the logic in a different direction.

The beauty of the Sudoku family is that there's no wrong order — every one of these sharpens a slightly different mental muscle. Pick whichever description made you most curious and dive in. And if it's Kakuro, you're in luck: play a Kakuro puzzle now, or learn the rules in two minutes first.