Free Jigoku Puzzles by Krazydad

Jigoku means hell in Japanese...

Jigoku puzzles are also a kind of sudoku puzzle (also called Comparison or Greater-Than Sudoku) in which the clues are provided in the form of jigs, or points between squares that resemble "greater-than" and "less-than" symbols. The jigs indicate if adjacent numbers are greater-than or less-than each other. This is the only information you have to go on, which makes these puzzles hellishly difficult.

I also publish three varieties of puzzles that use the same kind of clues, which you'll find on the Comparison Sudoku page. Those puzzles provide givens or "gimmes" in the grid. These "Jigoku" puzzles do not provide givens, and are quite a bit harder!

My jigoku puzzles are collected in 100 printable booklets covering four difficulty levels. Each booklet contains eight puzzles, instructions, hints and answers. If you like these puzzles, be sure to check out my other puzzles too!.

Select a difficulty level:

Challenging	These puzzles contain use comparison logic and simple process-of-elimination.
Tough	Tough puzzles do not include as many jigs as the Challenging puzzles do, so it is more difficult to get these ones started.
Super Tough	These puzzles require more advanced Sudoku logic such as X-Wing and Swordfish. Read more about advanced sudoku strategies.
Insane	These are the hardest Jigoku puzzles I can make. You will need some trial-and-error methods to solve these puzles, but there is sure to be only one valid solution.

HOW TO USE THE HINTS

My puzzles contain a page of hints in addition to a page of answers.

The hints are puzzles grids that contain numbers showing the order in which the squares were solved by my computer. Although this is not necessarily the order you would solve the puzzle, it's probably pretty close.

Follow the numbered squares in order 1,2,3,4,5... until you find a square you haven't solved yet. This square (or the one or two immediately after it) is a good candidate to solve next.

All puzzles ©2006 Jim Bumgardner. Feel free to reproduce the puzzles for personal, church, or school use. If you would like to publish these puzzles in a newspaper or book, or would like a larger or different selection of puzzles, contact me at dad@krazydad.com. Sudoku and Kakuro puzzles are also available.

Other fun stuff...