“The Best Puzzles Are Made by Happy Employees.” So Ad Age describes the credo of Nikoli, the Japanese puzzle company that invented the Sudoku craze and supplies 100% of the puzzles published in Japanese newspapers and magazines. And when they say “made,” they mean literally handmade—unlike the computer-generated puzzles found in other American Sudoku products.

And that’s one of the features that makes THE ORIGINAL SUDOKU BOOK 2— and THE ORIGINAL SUDOKU, published between seasons and already with 115,000 copies in print—unique. The books celebrate the compulsive joy of Sudoku with symmetry, smartness, and elegance. They invite you to match wits with the experts, to step into the 81-cell arena with a puzzle maker who has fiendishly anticipated your next step. Fun without frustration.

Other features? More all-new puzzles—over 300, arranged from “Easy” to “Very Hard.” The same chunky, easy-to-tote format, because once addicted you will be toting it around everywhere. An informative introduction that shows you how to approach and solve the puzzles. Plus an entirely new idea—an unprecedented tutorial on how to create your very own handmade Sudoku puzzles.

The obsession continues....

Printed in eye-catching full color, this is the Sudoku calendar that sets the standard with an engaging new puzzle—hand-designed by the masters at Nikoli, the Japanese publisher that launched the Sudoku craze—for every day. Each pits you against its creator and possesses a level of challenge, nuance, and elegance that computer-generated puzzles can't match. The calendar begins with the easiest puzzles each weekend, and offers progressively more difficult ones over the course of the week. For Sudoku lovers, it's a daily fix.
...

Over twenty years ago Nikoli, the Japanese puzzle and game company, started publishing a curious logic puzzle called Sudoku. The rest of the world recently joined the Sudoku craze by using computer programs to create puzzles, but Nikoli is the only company that still crafts their puzzles the old-fashioned way: by hand. As Ad Age wrote in a profile, the Nikoli credo is “The Best Puzzles Are Made by Happy Employees.” And for solvers, it really does make a difference—there’s an elegance and symmetry to the puzzles, plus a sense of interaction. The puzzle-maker knows just when to encourage, and when to withhold. Puzzles marked “Easy,” are easy because the puzzler leads you through. Those marked “Very Hard” are exactly that—they pit your mind against the mind of the master, who seems to share the joy of that moment when one hard-won number is captured, and the entire puzzle tumbles into place.

An obsessive’s collection, More Original Sudoku features over 300 puzzles, all in a chunky, easy-to-carry format (it even fits into a standard jeans-size back pocket). An introduction shows how to solve the puzzles at various levels of difficulty, and it includes a tutorial on how to create your own hand-made Sudoku.

Here’s wishing you Gokouun o inorimasu! (Good luck!)...

Over twenty-five years ago, Nikoli, a Japanese puzzle and game company, started publishing a curious logic puzzle called Sudoku. The result was magical and in recent years, Sudoku has spread from Japan to other countries. These newer puzzles, however, are often computer-generated and lack the simple beauty of handmade puzzles. Nikoli continues to nurture and develop Sudoku with handmade puzzles that contain the vital ingredient that make puzzles enjoyable—the sense of communication between solver and author. The best Sudoku make you concentrate, but aren’t stressful.

Arranged from "Easy" to "Very Hard," here are over 300 logic puzzles that celebrate the compulsive joy of Sudoku with symmetry, smartness, and elegance. Absorbing and engaging, every puzzle is designed by an author who anticipates your next step and obscures the path, while never leading you into frustration. Each puzzle carries the careful thought of a master who knows when to encourage and when to withhold, who shares the joy of that moment when one hard-won number is captured and the entire puzzle falls into place....