Sudoku and Mathrax are both grid-based logic puzzles you solve by pure deduction, so solvers naturally wonder how alike they really are. The short answer: Mathrax is moderate to Sudoku. Below we lay out what the two share, where they part ways, and whether the skills you have built on Sudoku will carry over.
- Grid: n×n Latin
- Closeness to Sudoku: Moderate
What is Mathrax?
A Latin-square grid with arithmetic clues at the inner intersections that must hold for both diagonal pairs of the surrounding four cells. Here are the rules in full:
- Fill an n×n grid so each row and column holds 1-n exactly once.
- A circle at an intersection gives an operation and result that must hold for each diagonal pair of the four cells around it.
- Some circles instead simply mark that all four cells are odd or all even.
See a Mathrax grid
Mathrax is a Latin square with arithmetic clues at the inner intersections; each clue applies to both diagonal pairs of the four cells around it. Below, a solved 3×3 with a "5+" circle at the centre (2+3 = 5 and 4+1... shown for the top-left junction 1+4 and 2+3).
A "5" intersection: each diagonal pair (1+4 and 2+3) sums to 5.
The Latin-square rule is Sudoku's core, and the arithmetic clues echo the cage sums of Killer and XV. Working out which digit pairs satisfy each circle is the same combination reasoning a Killer cage needs, laid over a boxless grid.
What Mathrax shares with Sudoku
- The Latin-square rule - each digit once per row and column - is Sudoku's core.
- The arithmetic clues echo the cage sums of Killer and XV.
- It is a single-solution logic puzzle solved without guessing.
How Mathrax differs from Sudoku
- Clues sit at intersections and bind diagonal pairs, unlike Sudoku's cell values.
- There are no boxes, and grids are usually small.
Do Sudoku skills transfer?
Working out which digit pairs satisfy each circle is the same combination reasoning Killer needs, laid over a Latin square.
Brush up on the technique that carries over: Killer Sudoku Combinations.
The verdict
Mathrax is a Latin square steered by diagonal arithmetic clues - Killer-flavoured logic on a boxless grid.
Prefer to stay with Sudoku?
If Mathrax appeals, these Sudoku variants scratch the same itch and you can read up on each here:
Where to play it
If it was Sudoku you came for, the level is the choice that matters more than the variant - Mathrax and Sudoku part ways on the rules, but a Sudoku grid can be a two-minute warm-up or an hour of work depending on nothing but how much of it you are given.
Difficulty and type are two separate dials here: the type sets the extra rule, the level sets how much of the grid you start with. Easy Sudoku leaves 36 of the 81 cells filled, so there is always an obvious next move somewhere; Evil Sudoku leaves 23, with no easy moves at all. Take it at the gentler end while the pattern is still new, and move up once it stops being a fight.