Play Kakuro in your browser: number crosswords where each run of cells adds up to its clue with no repeated digit. Easy grids are 9×9, Hard grids 12×12, and every puzzle is checked to have exactly one solution. No app, no sign-up and nothing to dismiss before play; it works offline and plays fully from the keyboard.
Kakuro board is loading.
Select a white cell to see its runs.
Kakuro looks like arithmetic, but it is really about combinations. Most progress comes from knowing which sums can only be made one way and where two runs cross.
Some sums have a single set of digits. Learn these first; they are the openings of almost every grid.
Every white cell is in one across run and one down run. If the across run allows 1 or 2 and the down run allows 2, 4 or 6, the cell is 2. Write pencil marks for the short, tight runs, then intersect them. The hint calls this Crossing runs.
A large sum in few cells excludes small digits: 16 in two cells cannot use anything below 7. A small sum excludes large digits: 7 in three cells cannot use anything above 4. When a run is nearly full, the last cell is simple subtraction; the panel under the board shows how much is left.
Every puzzle has one solution, but not every one is solvable by simple sums alone. When you are stuck, pick a cell with two candidates and ask which one breaks a crossing run. The hint does the same and calls it Trial of candidates.
Easy grids are 9×9 including the clue row and column, so the playing area is 8×8, with runs of 2 to 5 cells and about 36 to 44 white cells. Hard grids are 12×12 with an 11×11 playing area, runs of 2 to 9 cells and about 70 to 82 white cells. Layouts are symmetric under a half turn, no run is shorter than 2 and there are no isolated 2×2 blocks of white cells.
After digits are filled in, a counting solver checks that exactly one solution fits the clues. If it finds a second, the cells that differ are refilled and checked again; a grid is published only when it is verified unique.
With Show conflicts on, a repeated digit or a run that goes over its sum is outlined in red as you type.
Kakuro began as cross sums, a number crossword that appeared in American puzzle magazines in the middle of the 20th century. The puzzle became popular in Japan, where it took the name kakuro, a shortening of the Japanese words for addition and cross. In the 2000s it spread through the British press alongside Sudoku and became a regular in newspapers and puzzle books.
Traditional kakuro puzzles are laid out by hand. The grids here are generated and then checked by a solver, which is how every one can be guaranteed a single solution.
The hub plays Easy. Hard grids are one click away on their own page.
The timer starts on your first entry and pauses when you switch tabs. Stats per level stay in this browser: played, won, win rate, best and average time. Undo and Redo cover the whole game. The first two hints on a puzzle are free; if ads are switched on later, more hints offer a short ad or a 30-second wait. Wins come with share text, and every puzzle has a code such as A7K3Q that replays it. Kakuro has no daily puzzle or printable sheets.
Kakuro cells stay at least 36 px on a phone, the 12×12 board scrolls or pinch-zooms inside its frame, and every digit can be typed from the keyboard. Tidy Puzzles runs entirely in your browser: there is no app to install, no account to create and no interstitial before you can play. After the first visit the game also works offline, because each puzzle is generated on your device from a seed. Every board can be played with the keyboard alone, on a phone or a desktop, and your stats and unfinished puzzles stay in this browser rather than on a server.
Fill the white cells with digits 1 to 9 so that every run adds up to the clue at its start, without repeating a digit in the same run.
It uses arithmetic as well as logic, so it feels different rather than harder. Easy Kakuro is a gentle start; Hard grids with long runs take patience and pencil marks.
Cross sums is the older English name for Kakuro, the name it had in American puzzle magazines before it became popular in Japan.
Look for sums with only one combination, such as 3 in two cells (1 and 2) or 24 in three cells (7, 8 and 9), and use them where they cross other runs.
Every puzzle here does. A solver checks each grid before you see it and rejects any with more than one solution.
Press N or tap Notes to switch to pencil marks. When you place a digit, it is removed from the pencil marks in both of that cell's runs.
Yes. Arrows move between white cells, 1 to 9 enter digits, Backspace clears, N toggles notes and H asks for a hint.
Last updated 2026-09-27. Written and maintained by the Tidy Puzzles team; puzzles are generated on your device. How it works.