What Is Samurai Sudoku? The 5-Sudokus-in-1 Variant
Samurai sudoku (also known as Gattai-5 or simply Samurai) is a sudoku variant where there are five overlapping grids that need to be solved. These five grids overlap to form an X shape as shown below.
In most versions of Samurai sudoku, each of the five regular sudoku grids can be solved independently of each other.
While it might look daunting, because each of the four corner 3×3 regions must agree with two different sudoku grids, the Samurai sudoku puzzles are actually easier to solve than regular sudokus. They’re just a lot more time intensive!
This is because you can use clues from two different sudoku grids to help solve which numbers go into these four corner regions in the central grid.
Of course, the complexity of the puzzle will depend on how many numbers are initially given and which sudoku techniques are required to complete the solution.
Some more challenging versions will make it so that the individual 9×9 grids cannot be solved independently. Meaning that you will have to consider both grids when solving the corner 3×3 regions.
Where to find Samurai sudoku puzzles
There are plenty of places online where you can play Samurai sudokus as well as plenty of books you can buy.
Some of the places online include:
Samurai Sudoku books
If you prefer to complete your puzzles using physical books that you can write on and take with you, then check out the books below:
- Samurai Sudoku: 1000 Puzzle Book, Overlapping into 200 Samurai Style Puzzles
- Samurai Sudoku Multi-Level Puzzle Book – Volume 1
- The Way of Samurai: 101 Samurai Sudoku Puzzles
Looking for more sudoku variants?
If you’re looking for something a bit more interesting, exciting or novel than regular sudokus, then there are a some other variants you might want to check out as well: