Suguru
Fill every bordered cage 1..N so no equal numbers ever touch.
How to play Suguru
The grid is divided into irregular cages outlined in bold. Fill a cage of N cells with the numbers 1 to N, each used once, so a five-cell cage holds 1-5, a three-cell cage holds 1-3. The catch: two identical numbers may never touch, not even diagonally, so no number can sit beside a copy of itself in any of its eight neighbouring cells. Click a cell and type a digit or tap the number pad; Clear empties it. Stuck? Switch on Notes to pencil in candidates, use Undo to step back, or spend a Hint. Every puzzle has exactly one solution, reachable by logic alone, no guessing needed.
The rule everyone forgets
Suguru has only two rules, and everyone forgets half of one. Each bold-outlined cage of N cells takes the numbers 1 to N, every value once: a three-cell cage holds 1, 2 and 3; a five-cell cage holds 1 through 5. Gentle so far. The second rule is that identical numbers may never touch, and touching includes the diagonals. Every number you place forbids that same number from all eight cells around it, and the ban crosses cage borders: the bold lines stop repeats inside a cage, not contact between cages. New players hold the up-down-left-right part in their heads and drop the corners, then wonder why the grid contradicts itself five moves later. Until checking diagonals is automatic, check them out loud.
Chase the big numbers first
That eight-cell exclusion is a heavier local restriction than anything in Sudoku, and it is your main tool, because big numbers feel it hardest. A 5 can only live in a cage of five cells or more, so there are few of them on the board and their options collapse quickly. The given numbers are the same lever handed to you at the start, so open every puzzle by walking each given and mentally crossing its value out of the eight cells around it. Then find the largest cage and ask where its top value can go. Once the diagonal rule knocks out every cell touching an existing high number, that value usually has one legal home. Place it, then treat it as a little exclusion zone: eight cells just lost a candidate, and somewhere among them another cage is now down to one option for its own top number. When two big cages share a border, their top values squeeze each other too, since equal numbers cannot meet across the line. And when a cage has a single empty cell left, the missing value drops in and spawns fresh exclusions of its own. That chain, big number to exclusion to forced cell, is the basic engine of every solve.
Little cages are levers
Do not ignore the small cages while hunting big ones. A two-cell cage holds exactly 1 and 2, nothing else. If either of its cells touches a 2 in a neighbouring cage, even corner to corner, that cell must be the 1, and the other cell is the 2. One outside number just solved the whole domino. A one-cell cage, where a puzzle has one, is better still: a free 1, placed before you have thought at all. Solved small cages then push on their own neighbours in turn.
There is a subtler trick worth knowing, the shared-neighbour rule. Look at where a particular value can go inside a cage. If every one of those candidate cells touches some outside cell, then that outside cell cannot hold the value, even though you do not yet know which candidate is right. You have made a deduction out of uncertainty. Puzzles rated hard usually hinge on exactly one of these.
Also known as Tectonic
This puzzle was devised by Naoki Inaba, a Japanese designer with hundreds of original puzzle types to his name, and it travels widely: Dutch and other European papers print it as Tectonic, and you will also see it called Kemaru. The rules are identical everywhere. Inaba's designs are a staple of Japanese puzzle magazines, but this small, sharp one is his most travelled. What makes it moreish is the friction between such small numbers: a five-cell cage feels roomy until you notice every digit elbowing its neighbours out of eight cells at once. Grids stay small next to Sudoku, but the logic is denser per cell, and a hard one can stall an experienced solver on a board barely bigger than a saucer.
Habits for a clean solve
- Say the diagonal check to yourself until it is automatic. It is the source of nearly every broken grid.
- Start at the biggest cage's biggest number, and after each placement scan its eight neighbours for consequences.
- Check every domino cage against the numbers touching it before moving on. They solve cheaply.
- Never write a number you cannot prove. A single guess quietly poisons everything downstream of it.
- To fix a slip, select the cell and press 0 or Backspace to clear it.
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Suguru: frequently asked questions
What numbers go in each region?
A region of N cells is filled with 1 to N, each exactly once. A five-cell region uses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5; a three-cell region uses 1, 2 and 3.
How close can two equal numbers be?
Never adjacent. Identical numbers must not touch horizontally, vertically, or diagonally: all eight surrounding cells of a number must be different.
Is Suguru the same as Tectonic?
Yes. Suguru is also published as Tectonic; the rules are identical: fill each cage with 1..N and keep equal numbers from touching.
How is Suguru different from Sudoku?
There are no row or column rules. Instead each bordered cage of N cells is filled with 1 to N, and identical numbers may never touch, including on the diagonal. That eight-neighbour rule is far stricter locally than Sudoku.
What counts as touching?
All eight surrounding cells: up, down, left, right, and every diagonal. A number cannot sit next to a copy of itself in any of those neighbours, even when the two cells belong to different cages.
Which cells should I fill first?
Hunt the highest number in each cage, and start with the biggest cages. Large values have the fewest legal homes once the no-touch rule is applied, so they commit early and open up the board.
Can a number repeat inside a cage?
No. A cage of N cells uses each of the numbers 1 through N exactly once, so within one cage every value is unique.
Why is it also called Tectonic?
Tectonic is simply the name European newspapers gave the same puzzle, which was devised by the Japanese designer Naoki Inaba. The rules are identical, so a Tectonic solver and a Suguru solver are doing exactly the same thing.
Do I need pencil marks like in Sudoku?
Mostly no. The grids are small and the no-touch rule does so much work that scanning beats note-taking. If a hard puzzle stalls, marking two or three candidates in one stubborn cage is plenty; a board covered in tiny numbers usually means a missed diagonal somewhere.
Is Suguru free to play?
Yes. Suguru is completely free on Inkplay, with no download, no sign-up, and no in-game purchases. Open the page and play instantly on desktop or mobile.
Can I play Suguru unblocked?
Yes. Suguru runs entirely in your browser with no download, install, or plugins, so it loads instantly and keeps working even on school or work networks where bigger game sites get blocked.
More games to play
In the mood for more? Try 2048, Memory Match, Lights Out, Minesweeper, or browse all puzzle games and the full games list on Inkplay. Suguru also appears in Logic Puzzles.