Sudoku and Suguru are both grid-based logic puzzles you solve by pure deduction, so solvers naturally wonder how alike they really are. The short answer: Suguru 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: Small, irregular cages
- Closeness to Sudoku: Moderate
- Also called: Tectonic, Number Blocks
What is Suguru?
A grid divided into cages of different sizes; each cage of n cells holds 1–n, and no two identical numbers may touch — even diagonally. Here are the rules in full:
- The grid is split into cages of 1 to 5 cells; a cage of size n contains the numbers 1–n once each.
- No two equal numbers may touch — not horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
- That adjacency rule, not rows or columns, does most of the work.
See a Suguru grid
Suguru divides the grid into cages of different sizes; a cage of n cells holds 1 to n. On top of that, no two equal numbers may touch — not even diagonally. Below, a five-cell cage holds 1 to 5, with the two nearest cages shown alongside.
A five-cell cage (purple) holds 1–5; equal numbers never touch, even diagonally.
Each cage is a little "region must contain its numbers once" — the region idea at Sudoku's heart — and the no-touch rule is the same king's-move constraint as Miracle Sudoku. What is missing is any row or column rule: only cages and adjacency drive it.
What Suguru shares with Sudoku
- Each cage is a little "region must contain its numbers once" — the region idea at Sudoku's heart.
- The touch-nothing rule is the same king-move constraint used in Miracle Sudoku.
- It is solved by naked singles and adjacency elimination, no guessing.
How Suguru differs from Sudoku
- There is no row or column rule at all — only cages and adjacency.
- Cages vary in size, so the number range changes cage to cage.
- Diagonal adjacency matters, which plain Sudoku ignores.
Do Sudoku skills transfer?
Suguru drills naked singles and the diagonal-adjacency elimination that also cracks Miracle Sudoku. Drop the row/column habit and lean on "what can't touch this cell" and it falls quickly.
Brush up on the technique that carries over: Naked Single.
The verdict
Suguru keeps Sudoku's region idea and its Miracle-style no-touch rule, but throws out rows and columns entirely.
Prefer to stay with Sudoku?
If Suguru appeals, these Sudoku variants scratch the same itch and you can read up on each here: