Pac-Man Sudoku
(Published on 10. June 2023, 04:50 by mathpesto)
Rules:
Normal sudoku rules apply. The leftmost and rightmost cells of a row are considered orthogonally adjacent for the purposes of all rules below.
Cells joined by a white dot contain consecutive digits. Not all white dots are given.
Shade some cells in the grid and leave the rest unshaded such that all shaded cells are orthogonally connected and no 2x2 region is entirely shaded. A cell containing Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky, Inky, or Clyde (yellow, red, pink, blue, and orange)—or part of a white dot—must be shaded.
A cell containing a killer clue must remain unshaded. Digits may not repeat within an orthogonally connected area of unshaded cells, and they sum to the killer clue. (Note: Unshaded regions may not touch each other orthogonally and not all regions necessarily have a killer clue.)
Starting in R5C2, Pac-Man must travel orthogonally through the grid. His path may not touch itself orthogonally, although it may do so diagonally, and the path cannot intersect or overlap itself. Pac-Man must go directly through each white dot; his path is completed immediately after going through the final dot. Pac-Man’s path cannot be orthogonally adjacent to any of the ghosts (red, pink, blue, and orange) nor can the path enter unshaded cells.
Solve online:
Puzzle TV (immense gratitude to Chameleon for creating this version!)
Solution code: Row 3 (9 digits, left to right, no spaces)
Comments
on 18. June 2023, 01:10 by Christounet
Whta a funny puzzle ! Thanks :)
on 16. June 2023, 22:29 by killer_rectangle
Thank you for the rule clarification! I broke this puzzle several times due to misunderstanding the rules.
on 14. June 2023, 17:44 by geronimo92
Dont agree at all with you Chameleon, this is not so approachable, maybe only for you but not for most of the others including me sorry....
on 13. June 2023, 15:37 by mathpesto
Added link
on 11. June 2023, 21:41 by KyleBaran
Quite an interesting puzzle. Looking forward to giving it a proper solve later.
I had to reread the rules the see the bit about wrapping even though it was implied. Every during a quick start to play around with it, I had forgotten cages wrapped too... there should be some kind of community convention like dotted lines for the edges or something so its easier to remember
on 11. June 2023, 03:58 by GarageDoorOpener
Puzzle was extremely fun. Absolutely loved it!
on 11. June 2023, 03:22 by chameleon
Fun puzzle! :)
Also, extremely approachable. I've no idea why people rated it as a 4/5 for difficulty, it's clearly easier.
on 10. June 2023, 23:50 by elpadrinoIV
Awesome puzzle! Also have to retry 3 times because I thought all unshaded cell should go with a killer clue. After assuming that might not be the case, it was perfect.
on 10. June 2023, 21:27 by dennischen
This is really fun. Was confused for a bit, then I refreshed the page and saw the rules clarification.
on 10. June 2023, 19:45 by mathpesto
Added rules clarification and updated links
on 10. June 2023, 19:44 by bansalsaab
I made a mistake first 5 times of the solve assuming that all unshaded regions need to have a killer clue. May be that could be clarified in the rules. But once i thought of trying without the assumption, it flowed pretty nicely.
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Thanks! Added that clarification above. -Math Pesto
on 10. June 2023, 19:10 by Calvinball
Very cool idea, even better execution. Once my brain figured out how the loop was trying to work it was remarkably smooth.
Also the Nurikabe was super intuitive, if you're someone who hasn't done any Nurikabe don't be afraid of this gem!
on 10. June 2023, 06:09 by Nordy
Beautiful, fun, approachable, creative, nostalgic, and has a snake—sign me up
