From the I-can't-believe-nobody's-written-this-up dept.A griddler is a Japanese newspaper puzzle, slightly similar to a crossword. A grid of white squares is printed with lists of numbers at the end of each row and column thusly :
3,
6,
4, 3, 1,
5, 4, 7,
4 3 2
________...
2,2,3|__|__|__...
6,5,4|__|__|__...
3,2,6|__|__|__...
2,1,1,1,1|__|__|__...
| | |
: : :
' ' '
Each
element in a list represents a line of
contiguous black squares that should be coloured in on the grid. For instance if a line had the
legend 2,2,4 you would colour in 2 black squares at the start of the line, 4 at the very end, and 2 somewhere in the middle. By doing some
mental arithmetic, you can work out where the middle squares should go. There must be a gap of at least one white square between each set group of black squares. As you fill in more and more squares you are 'certain' about, you slowly build up a picture. Very tricky, very satisfying and very addictive. Can even be played by multiple players if it's printed big enough.
I don't know the original Japanese name for Griddlers (which I presume is a trade name). I have seen griddler videogames for the NeoGeo Pocket Color and the Game Boy.