First, Kakuro is a great puzzle game in its own right, much more fun than Sudoku in my opinion. I like it because it is a number and logic puzzle, whereas Sudoku is strictly a logic puzzle. Second, Conceptis has combined quality puzzles that are accurately graded for difficulty with a flawless user interface and a never ending supply of new puzzles to produce the best Kakuro app available. Conceptis began publishing great Kakuro books in 2006 and with this app has continued with the same quality and grading system digitally. Beware, once you develop some skill, Kakuro is very entertaining and you can easily get hooked and waste an incredible amount of time. Highly recommended. I did suggest a couple of improvements, one of which I have seen in another app. It would be helpful in solving if you could either enter color coded pencil marks, or if you had the option to place pencil marks in the order in which they are entered. So far, they don’t seem inclined to implement either of these suggestions.
First the nitpick: There is a learning curve to a point, especially if mental math is not your forte. Learning the “Kakuro block” combinations will help immensely if you’re a new player. Other than that, if you are a fan of these things, run, do not walk, to this app. Not only are the puzzles appropriately graded for difficulty, but you get a huge array of starter puzzles to help you figure out the difficulty that’s right for you. There is also a new bonus puzzle each week and new content, all reasonably priced, is added regularly. Being able to check your grid as many times as you want to is also very helpful. The quality of this is a close second to famed Japanese puzzle makers Nikoli for puzzles that are challenging but fair no matter what your skill level. There are many other Conceptis apps, so there is a good chance that you will find the kind of logic puzzle that suits your fancy. Recommended on all counts!
I truly enjoy this app. The only improvement I would like to see would be a help feature where I could learn some more advanced solving techniques. This would be a huge undertaking. The skills included in the app are the standard ones, but where there are many options for learning advanced sudoko techniques, I find very limited options for advanced Kakuro techniques. I can solve the hard level with time but sometimes get stuck on the hard plus level. I need new techniques before I try the truly challenging puzzles.
Let me preface this review by saying that Primo Kakuro was hands-down the best Kakuro app out there. Unfortunately, the developers have chosen not to upgrade their app to work with the new iPhone iOS. Perhaps they’ve decided to concentrate on their knitting apps (???!!!). They hadn’t added any more puzzle packs in a long time anyway, and I’ve been through them all. So I was forced to find a new app. After trying pretty much all of them I’ve settled on the Conceptis version as the best. After getting used to the interface, it works almost as well as Primo Kakuro. My only complaint is that it doesn’t allow you to use different colors for the pencilled-in numbers. Without this feature, the “Very Hard” puzzles are nearly impossible to complete without guessing, which kind of defeats the object of the game. Other than that, it’s an excellent substitute. And they seem to be adding more puzzle packs constantly, so hopefully we can enjoy it for a long time to come.
I reserve five stars for knock your socks off perfection. Thank you to the developer of this game for allowing the essence of this wonderful game to come through. Occasionally, during a “very hard” version I feel like I have to take a guess, so it’s still teaching me about possible combinations and how to think outside the box. I love the immediate feedback when I’ve completing a row or line incorrectly. Also, the ability to see possible combinations and reducing the options as I fill in part of the solution. However, sometimes when I tap on the clue it shows me the row when I tried to select the column or vice versa. I thought it just might be that my fingers are too wide and I’ve tapped incorrectly, but it’s happened even when I’ve carefully tapped with a pinky, and doesn’t happen when im selecting a box. First world problem which is resolved by tapping the cue a second time. Enjoy!
This has all the features I wish I had in my other Kakuro app. Features that I love include showing the possible number combinations and the ability to cross out ones that won’t work, removing penciled numbers when you add a correct one in that row/column, and being able to check if you have an incorrect number - not just a number that fits, but the one that belongs in that space. Unfortunately, there puzzles are extremely difficult and do not use a lot of the standard combinations I’m used to in other puzzle apps. I found myself struggling even on the Medium puzzles and had to resort to using the check button. Get better puzzles and this would be a 5!
An extremely well programmed app that makes playing these puzzles easy and fun. First, no ads - you pay for the puzzles, instead of being “free” with a constant sales pitch. Second, the app provides as little or as much help as you need, plus it provides proper categories of difficulty to let you learn and progress into solving. Third, a suite of free puzzles to let you try before you buy. What’s not to like? I did not really enjoy solving Kakuro on paper, but this app made them one of my favorites.
Just found out about kakuro today, and it’s much more fun than sudoku! This game also doesn’t have any ads, which is amazing. Everything runs smoothly, and it’s everything you could ask for in an app. They also give you some quick instructions in the beginning on how to play There are free starter packs, free weekly puzzles, and you can purchase more packs too. Lots of variety. I’m absolutely hooked on this game
I love this game, but I'm saving the 5th star for a future update that adds (1) ability to add multiple numbers to a square by dragging finger/pencil around the number pad and (2) either single-square solution button or showing ALL errors immediately instead of only once a block has been completed. As it is, the only way to get the puzzle to solve a square for you is an extremely inefficient trial & error: guess - menu - check - undo if wrong - repeat.
I like what I see so far. I can’t tell if the limited number of puzzles will be a problem or if the weekly bonuses will be enough. I do some puzzles in sudoku books and I would like to be able to look up the combinations for a number of digits that add up to the total without actually finding a game with the right number so I can find the allowable combinations, but I understand why it’s not included here. Thanks for the game. It plays really well and the interface is great.
Challenging puzzles for the smart phone. You can find your level by trying puzzles with the descriptors as your guide. My level is medium plus and I’m disappointed that it is not higher. I started Kakuro before it got its exotic name. It was called Cross Sums then and I could only find it as an add on to some puzzle magazines. That was 20 years ago. Thanks for such challenging puzzles. I am successfully fighting the onset of either dementia or Alzheimer’s. Brain exercise to the max.
Very easy to use! It allows to to choose multiple numbers for an unknown box to revisit later. It also has a tab to show you all the number calculations available for that row. Just in case you are unsure, there is a tab to show you if you have any mistakes. It comes with a limited amount of free puzzles but they can be erased and revisited again. Purchasing puzzles is reasonable.
If you enjoy Kakuro (cross sums), this is an excellent app. If you are not familiar with this type of puzzle, there are a very generous number of free puzzles. 120, not including the weekly bonus puzzles. More than enough to decide if you enjoy them. If you already know you like Kakuro... the interface is intuitive and I haven't found any "bad" puzzles yet. The puzzle packs available for purchase are reasonably priced. And there isn't any annoying ad intrusion.
Interesting method of play, with undos and automatic pencil marks which update as you play (as an option) I’ve had no trouble loading our playing. No errors or freezes. Wonderful. Was hoping the colors in the preview were available, but I didn’t see a setting for them. Many games included, and it looks like many available to buy. Good deal!
Best version of the game. Only thing that could be better is adding features to help people who speed play make notes faster like sliding and hitting more than one note at a time instead of tapping each note individually. Also a double tapping of a note when it’s the only note in a square left. Like if there is just a penciled 7 I’d like to be able to double tap it and it auto turn into a pen note.
I love this app. There are so many options to use, but not too many to be confusing. I started out using the ‘fill in the blanks with all possibilities’ option. Now, I am trying the ‘enter the possibilities for a line by hand’ method. I had to switch to the “Easy” set of puzzles. I highly recommend this app. It will hone your ‘addition of small numbers’ ability.
I like that this one a lot. It's my second Kakuro app. The other one got too repetitive and had many errors. This one is clean so far tho I've only done about 10 puzzles. Easy on the eyes, too. You can zoom into the larger puzzles to work on one area without burning out your eyeballs. Update: I've done many more puzzles and they are all solvable. I wont go back to the old app. This one is the best.
I am a fan of conceptis’ puzzle books and am delighted to find this app. Puzzles are addictive and the levels appropriately match the difficulty of each puzzle. I wish there were a way to choose the difficulty level of the weekly bonus rather than having it cycle through different levels. I love how the pencil marks of linearly adjacent cells are updated when you confirm a number. Thanks for a fun and enjoyable app!
Conceptis just keeps getting better and better. Excellent puzzles across the board. I have downloaded and played many of their games and have been quite pleased with them all. I’ve never been disappointed. Keep on going Conceptis. You ALWAYS deliver a superior product. A Grateful Puzzle Addict
I enjoy the logic challenge of the game. I also appreciate being able to just buy a batch of puzzles when I’m ready, rather than a subscription or dealing with ads. The game works smoothly with lots of helpful features. Thanks for the hours of fun puzzling!
I love this game and the features are really cool. But why in the world it freezes my phone? I closed all the other apps because I thought my phone ran out of RAM because of too many active apps. But it didn’t help. It took like 5 minutes for the phone to unfreeze the first 2 times. And I barely managed to force restart it the third time as it didn’t unfreeze. I don’t want to risk my phone anymore so I deleted the app after it. And it’s a new phone so its performance is good and I haven’t had it happen with any other app. Such a disappointment(
I have a love-hate thing going on with this one. It's a solid game, but I spend 45 minutes penciling in the possible numbers only to realize I made a math error, and get annoyed and give up. Seems like a smart pencil option that fills in the obvious 2 digit possibilities would make this one more fun and less like a chore.
After the easy, medium and hard volumes it does cost aside from your daily puzzles. Not bad over all and the volumes that do cost are decently priced. The free volumes definitely kept me preoccupied for some time so definitely worth the download.
I have used another Kakuro app for years, but Conceptis Kakuro is now my only Kakuro app. The interface is so perfectly logical that you don't expend any mental effort thinking about it, and can instead focus only on solving. Have not run into any glitches yet. BTW, the Hard puzzles are quite hard indeed.
I love the ease of play, the way the number combinations are easily accessible, the backup function, and the playing options that I can turn on or off according to whether I like them or not.
In the 1970s, I whiled away many hours playing Cross Sums in the Dell Logic Puzzle magazines. Kakuro is a direct port of that game and I love it's simple interface. I do wish, however, that there was an option to have the program populate the squares with all possibilities.
I am finding several of the hardest boards with mistakes that read as “0” errors and make the puzzle not solvable. Update: Restarting the app fixes the bug. It is annoying, but nevertheless, I am changing review to 5-star.
I like that you can choose to auto fill for an easier version, or settle down for a tough puzzle if that’s what you’re in the mood for. Easy to learn, fun to play.
I’ve been very happy with this game. It helped save my sanity through some tough times, providing challenges to sharpen my concentration. Sometimes it claims that my entries are correct when they are not, which is the only drawback that I can see.
Extremely varied difficulties, convenient to use; very well designed. Great to have options & no ads for a nominal fee. Well worth it. Extremely relaxing activity for those of us who love simple math logic. Thanks!
I love this app, the only complaint I have is how long it has taken to push a fix for the issue when you can’t see what numbers have already been used in IOS 14.
Easy interface, puzzles are reasonably difficult. I would like to be able to use the pencil in different colors, so I can consider multiple configurations at once, but other than that, it’s great!
I want right to the hard levels. I started Kakuro as soon as Dell came out with the written ones and have been addicted ever since! I wish there were more out there!
I’ve always loved kakuro! This has a lot of free games - can’t ask for more than that. If you’re new to cross sums/kakuro, but you enjoy logic games, try the easy ones to help you find the patterns. Enjoy!
Fun for those who like to work with numbers. I’m an engineer. I can’t cook, do artwork, or play the piano but I do love to crunch numbers. I make no apologies, that’s just who I am. Save yourself it’s too late for me. :)
This has been the best alternative to Primo Kakuro yet — the only viable one I’ve been able to find. But the ability to use different colored pencils is huge, and doesn’t exist in this app. Otherwise, it is difficult to narrow down the possibilities for the large hard puzzles. If it had that capability, I would give it a 5.
I’ve played a lot of puzzle games on my phone and elsewhere and this is by far the best app developer I’ve experienced. Simple, responsive interface, not cluttered by tons of ads, it just works. A+
That’s right, I spend an hour or so every night playing this game. Thanks to Conceptis for developing this app with intuitive design. And extra thanks for helping solve my app startup issues caused by the backup function.
I work on these puzzles every day at work, on my lunch break: Easy puzzles for rough days and hard puzzles for easy days. Keeping my brain active as I get older.
Keeps you thinking. You can play without the help of having the combinations given to you and check for errors for free. Love this puzzle. You can even make a section bigger!
The game lets you rule out options, like saying I know “134” doesn’t work, but “125” does. Undo doesn’t track such changes, I wish it did. Otherwise, I’m enjoying this app.
Lots of free play available. Allows for pencil notes and the ability to check your work. I plan to buy some of the in app purchases just to support the game. Well done!!
What a super version of Kakuro! It’s very smooth. On an iPad I don’t have to toggle between “pencil” or regular marks. They are both available on the screen. I love that. I highly recommend this game!
Concept is has the best version of Kakuro out there. It’s been in newspapers for years. Varying levels of difficulty, easy to use tools, good graphics, help if you need it (but try to figure it out yourself).
This app is a very clean, easy to use way to play Kakuro. The notes feature, and hints are helpful, and the ability to zoom is nice for larger puzzles.
Love to play this. Good interface and no ads! Only problem so far is that some puzzles seem to have multiple solutions (though the game only accepts one of the alternatives). If the fix this I’ll give five stars.
One of my favorite puzzle games! Engaging, challenging fun with a button that lets you check for mistakes if you want to and no in-the-way ads! A spectacular way to pass the time and hone the mind!
Fill empty squares so each block sums up to the number on its left or on its top. Each puzzle consists of a blank grid with sum-clues in various places. The object is to fill all empty squares using numbers 1 to 9 so the sum of each horizontal block equals the clue on its left, and the sum of each vertical block equals the clue on its top. In addition, no number may be used in the same block more than once. Kakuro are addictive logic puzzles best described as number-crosswords. Using pure logic and simple add/subtract calculations, these fascinating puzzles offer endless fun and intellectual entertainment to puzzle fans of all skills and ages. The game includes zoom for easier solving of large puzzles, as well as helpful features such as showing possible sum combinations in a block, showing the sum remainder of a block, and using pencilmarks to make temporary placement of numbers in the grid. To help see the puzzle progress, graphic previews in the puzzle list show the progress of all puzzles in a volume as they are being solved. A Gallery view option provides these previews in a larger format. For more fun, Conceptis Kakuro includes a Weekly Bonus section providing an extra free puzzle each week. PUZZLE FEATURES • 200 free Kakuro puzzle samples • Extra bonus puzzle published free each week • Multiple difficulty levels from very easy to extremely hard • Grid sizes up to 22x22 • Also includes 5-grid Samurai Kakuro • Puzzle library continuously updates with new content • Manually selected, top quality puzzles • Unique solution for each puzzle • Hours of intellectual challenge and fun • Sharpens logic and improves cognitive skills GAMING FEATURES • Unlimited check puzzle • Show errors during gameplay • Unlimited Undo and Redo • Pencilmarks feature for solving hard puzzles • Autofill pencilmarks mode • Show Sum Combinations feature • Show Sum Remainder feature • Concurrently playing and saving multiple puzzles • Puzzle filtering, sorting and archiving options • Graphic previews showing puzzles progress as they are being solved • Enlarge, reduce, move puzzle for easy viewing • Portrait and landscape screen support (iPad only) • Track puzzle solving times • Backup & restore puzzle progress to iCloud ABOUT Kakuro have also become popular under other names such as Kakkuro, Cross Sums and Tashizan Cross. Similar to Sudoku, Hashi and Slitherlink, the puzzles are solved using logic alone. All puzzles in this app are produced by Conceptis Ltd. - the leading supplier of logic puzzles to printed and electronic gaming media all over the world. On average, more than 20 million Conceptis puzzles are solved each day in newspapers, magazines, books and online as well as on smartphones and tablets across the world.
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