Will Sudoku

• by
• Bassey G. Bassey

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

I have always had a strong desire to create a different kind of Sudoku puzzle that will serve as the Sudoku of the future, to show that several other forms of Sudoku puzzles exist and are yet to be discovered. The inspiration came when I got bored solving typical 9x9 classic Sudoku. At that point I could complete a very hard Sudoku puzzle in record time so I wanted something more challenging and yet still very exciting.

I started by creating different types of grids and trying to fit numbers into them. Wherever I saw patterns on the wall or on tiles, I tried to make a Sudoku out of it, but it never worked. I failed severely but kept on trying for days and months. Then I discovered this particular grid. The patterns were so impressive and something kept telling me that I could make a Sudoku out of it. I started by filling a box, then a line on the top column and magically I saw the entire thing just fit in. I was in tears. I couldn’t contain the joy of seeing that a brand new Sudoku had just been born out my determination and strong desire to create one.

Named after Will Shortz

Over time I created several other exciting variants from my invention, discovered that this puzzle is very versatile, and decided to post samples of my work to Will Shortz, the founder and current president of the World Puzzle Federation. Will was very supportive of my work and invited me to attend the WPF championship which at that time was about to be held in Beijing, China. When I found that no puzzle has ever been named after Will Shortz despite his huge achievements in the area of puzzling, I decided to blaze the trail and name my puzzle in his honor.

Below is a sample of a solved Will Sudoku. The grid is made up of 16 square boxes where each box contains 8 triangular cells. Hence, the entire grid contains a total of 128 cells. In addition, it has 16 vertical and 16 horizontal lines, each of which also contains 8 triangular cells.

Horizontal lines are indicated by the similar triangular cells in the corresponding boxes in a row. Horizontal line 1 contains 45238761, horizontal line 2 contains 23816457, horizontal line 3 contains 61745382 and horizontal line 4 contains 87652143, as shown below:

Vertical lines are indicated by the similar triangular cells in the corresponding boxes in a column. Vertical line 1 contains 58417326, vertical line 2 contains 64758231, vertical line 3 contains 13286475 and vertical line 4 contains 72635148, as shown below:

The objective of Will Sudoku is similar to that of a typical classical Sudoku: Ensure you fill-in the grid in such a way that the numbers 1-8 appear only once in each of the rows and columns as well as the boxes. Below are 3 examples of Will Sudoku puzzles. Complete the puzzle by filling in the blank spaces so that the objective stated above is met. Solutions are provided as links underneath each sample.

Example 1

[Example 1 solution]

Example 2

[Example 2 solution]

Example 3

[Example 3 solution]

Will Sudoku has five basic variant forms which are illustrated below. The variations mainly affect the shape of the boxes but the objective of the puzzle basically remains the same.

Will Sudoku with Triangular Boxes

Will Sudoku with Vertical Rectangular Boxes

Will Sudoku with Horizontal Rectangular Boxes

Will Jigsaw Sudoku

This variant has boxes shaped as shown below:

Will Samurai Sudoku

About the Author

Bassey G. Bassey (30) is a Design Engineer working in a construction firm in Portharcourt, Nigeria. First ever African member of the World Puzzle Federation, Bassey have been solving puzzles and playing chess since he was 12. He is currently developing a new form of Sudoku game called Blindfold Sudoku and also working on his first puzzle book titled Magic Codes. In addition to puzzling Bassey also enjoys soccer, swimming and badminton. You may contact him through Basscom4life@gmail.com.

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