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Numbrix™ On Sudoku

Numbrix(tm) On Sudoku

On July 13, 2008, Marilyn Vos Savant, in her column Ask Marilyn, (which is syndicated through Parade Magazine) introduced a number puzzle which helps focus the mind. It’s called NumbrixTM.

According to Michael Keller, of Solitaire Laboratory, who commented in the newsgroup rec.puzzles on July 22, 2008:

This puzzle dates back at least to 1981, when Steve Wilson (who I think invented it) published some puzzles in Games Magazine (July/August 1981, page 38). Steve’s puzzles are much harder and more interesting than Marilyn’s pathetic examples.

The puzzle in its present incarnation seems easy to those with much numerical puzzle experience, but can be challenging to those people with number anxiety and/or with interrupt-driven lives.

Although Marilyn’s puzzles are on 7×7 and 8×8 grids, there’s no reason why a 9×9 grid can’t be fully used. I restrained myself from making it harder by eliminating selected edge numbers, but that could be done by you, when copying the initial puzzle.

Stay on the path and be enlightened (or at least delighted), once you finish the puzzle.

4 thoughts on “Numbrix™ On Sudoku

  1. John Norris wrote feedback:
    saw a game of numbrix today. don’t understand the rules. where can i find them?

    I responded:
    The Numbrix Grid contains some starting numbers. From these, it is your job to fill in the missing numbers, in sequential order, going horizontally and vertically only, so that you fill in the entire grid and create a continuing path from 1 to the total number of squares in the grid. Your path cannot go in a diagonal
    direction.

    For example, if you have a corner that looks like:

    15
    12
    11 10 9

    Then after the 12, must go 13 horizontally and 14 vertically, so it can connect back to 15. i.e.:

    15 14
    12 13
    11 10 9

    Here, we have a partial path going sequentially from 9 to 15.

    You continue this way until all the numbers are put in their cells and you can trace a continuous path from 1 to the total number of squares in the grid.

    I hope this helps. Please visit:
    <http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn/numbrix/>
    where they provide daily Numbrix puzzles.

    — arkay

  2. That should be:

    Please visit: http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn/numbrix/
    where they provide daily Numbrix puzzles.
    — arkay

  3. […] been a significant increase in traffic to this blog ever since I posted the Numbrix™ puzzle variant at the end of July. For that, I thank you all for […]

  4. The puzzle on this page does not have a unique solution. Thought you’d like to know.

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