Make A Sudoku Puzzle For Free

Whether you’re a novice puzzle solver, an experienced puzzle enthusiast seeking new thrills, a teacher looking to engage your students, or someone interested in the cognitive benefits of puzzle design and solution, Sudoku puzzles offer a lot to explore. This article will review how to generate Sudoku puzzles for free, including the use of numerous online tools available for improving your skills.

Understanding Sudoku

Before starting our discussion about puzzle making, it’s important for those not familiar with Sudoku to get an understanding of the basic principles and rules. A standard Sudoku puzzle consists of a 9×9 grid, divided into nine 3×3 subgrids (or blocks). Each row, column, and 3×3 block must contain the numbers 1 to 9, without repetition. The challenge lies in figuring out the placement of all numbers based on the initially provided clues.

Learn the Basics

If you are truly a beginner to Sudoku puzzles, I recommend you read my article Sudoku Puzzles Beginners. That article will familiarize you with common patterns, strategies and techniques used in solving these puzzles. The article also contains some recommended resources for the newcomers to Sudoku. If you are already very familiar with Sudoku puzzles, you may still find some interesting information in the beginner’s article, but feel free to continue your journey of generating your own puzzles.

Online Sudoku Puzzle Generators

Although it is possible to design your own Sudoku puzzle from a blank grid, this article focuses on the many available free online generators to automatically make the puzzles for you. It’s as easy as selecting the appropriate difficulty level for your current skill and letting the software tools do the magic. I will discuss some of the features, including pros and cons of various resources available.

Websites with Puzzle Generators

• Sudoku.com – This seems to be one of the most comprehensive Sudoku websites from my reviews. The online puzzle generator is very easy to use, just select the desired difficulty level and start solving. There are six puzzle difficulty levels ranging from easy to extreme. When you are finished you can select a new game to start again. The site has capabilities to provide hints and add notes as you work toward a solution. A dropdown menu also includes a daily dose of printable Sudoku puzzles of varying difficulty level. There is a solver that allows you to enter known numbers from any puzzle and have it generate the solution. The site also gives you the option to play Killer Sudoku, which is a math spin on the original and can provide some additional challenge for those seeking it.
• SudokuMood.com – This website has a nice user interface with the ability to solve multiple Sudoku puzzles online. There are 5 difficulty levels for you to choose from between easy to extreme. Tips and strategies are provided for all levels of play to help you progress in your journey to solving puzzles quicker and those with more difficulty. There is a hint button for each puzzle in case you get stuck or just to help with accelerating your improvement. The website also has a Sudoku solver that allows you to input a valid puzzle and it walks you through a step by step solving of the puzzle.
• Sudoku9x9.com – Another easy-to-use online Sudoku puzzle generator. This site has puzzles with multiple options, including having the site create a puzzle for you to solve. There are five puzzle difficulty levels ranging from kindergarten through graduate. It also has the option to input the initial numbers to design your own puzzle. A nice feature for the design aspect is that the software will let you know if the puzzle is valid or invalid based on the initial clue numbers that you input.
• WebSudoku.com – Web Sudoku allows players to adjust the difficulty level and change the grid to 12×12 for solving with letters instead of numbers. The platform offers daily challenges and a mobile app. They also have a deluxe version with additional features, such as the ability to play offline, larger grids, an extreme level and more.
• SudokuKingdom.com – The platform features puzzles of varying difficulty, including hard and very hard, guaranteed to put your skills to the test. The site also gives you access to the previous week’s puzzles and solutions for printing.
• Printablecreative.com – This website has a Sudoku puzzle generator that allows for the puzzle to be solved online or generated into a pdf for printing. You have the option to select from either a 4×4 or 9×9 grid and select from 5 different difficulty levels ranging from easy to very hard.
• Foxy-Sudoku.com – There are six daily Sudoku puzzles to choose from and solve online based on six different levels of difficulty, ranging from beginner to diabolical. Also, each of those six levels are available in archive for the past six days. The website offers some insights into some solving techniques and a puzzle solver function.
• Sudoku Generator Apps in Windows – There are several Sudoku apps that are downloadable within Microsoft. There are free versions with various difficulty levels, and most have in-app purchases available. One example gives the option to remove advertisements for $4.99/yr.

My favorite resources from the list of websites reviewed are Sudoku.com and SudokuMood.com. I really like the user interface, range of difficulties and puzzle solver functionality. Feel free to check them all out to find the one or more that best suits your needs. For additional information on Sudoku, you may want to check out one of the books listed below.

Books to Consider

Puzzlewright Guide to Solving Sudoku – This comprehensive guide to cracking the addictive puzzles contains strategies not well known or used by the average Sudoku puzzler and should find it invaluable as they seek to improve their skills. There are hundreds of Sudoku puzzles to practice on.

Will Shortz Presents Hard Sudoku Volume 1 – These 200 challenging Sudoku puzzles from Will Shortz will keep your mind sharp! It features big grids for easy viewing when solving the puzzles.  

Final Thoughts

With the wealth of free resources available online, anyone can find and solve puzzles at varying levels of difficulty. Whether you’re a novice seeking to understand the basics or an expert looking for new challenges, there is something there for everyone. And, whether you use online tools or classic pencil-and-paper techniques, the world of Sudoku is easily accessible and full of possibilities. Happy Sudoku Puzzling!

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