CranKuro

Crank the book. Cross off the sets. Place your digits.

CranKuro is Kakuro for Playdate. Every run of white cells adds up to its clue, and a digit appears only once per run. That is the whole rulebook. The hard part is knowing which digit sets can make a sum, and that is what the crank is for: press B and the combination book opens, a stack of index cards listing every digit set that still fits the run under your cursor. Crank to flip through the cards, press A to stamp one into your pencil notes. As digits land on the board, the cards cross them off for you.

Never played Kakuro? The game teaches you. Nine short lessons go from the basic rules to the eight solving techniques, in order, each on a board built to need that technique. Practice drills track how well you know each one, and the hint system explains what to look at before it ever gives you an answer.

Features

• The combination book: every legal digit set for a run, on flip cards driven by the crank. Paper Kakuro players carry this as a printed table; here it lives in your wrist.
• Learn as you play: nine lessons, per-technique practice drills, and mastery tracking that only advances when you solve without hints.
• Hints that teach: four escalating steps, from a nudge about where to look, to the rule in play, to the answer only if you ask that far.
• 500 puzzles across 7x7 and 9x9 boards in three difficulty bands.
• Fair by construction: every puzzle is machine-checked to have exactly one solution, reachable with the taught techniques alone, so you never have to guess.
• A 1-bit newsprint look: black clue cells, struck-through sums as runs complete, and a print-roller sweep when the page is done.

Controls

• D-pad: Move the cursor
• Crank: Enter digits, or flip the combination book's cards
• B button: Open the book on the across run, again for the down run, again to close
• A button: Stamp the shown combination as notes / clear a cell
• System menu: Hint, restart, puzzle list

Credits

Kakuro grew out of "Cross Sums," a Dell puzzle magazine staple since the 1960s, and took its modern name from Nikoli's Japanese version. Every board in CranKuro was generated and proof-checked before it shipped. All code, puzzles, and artwork are original.

How to Install on Playdate

1. Download the .pdx.zip file from this page
2. Go to play.date/account/sideload in your browser
3. Sign in with your Playdate account
4. Upload the .pdx.zip file
5. The game will appear on your Playdate!

Requires a Playdate console to play.