Hitori puzzle
Many logic puzzles arose in the 80s and 90s thanks to the Japanese publishing house Nikoli, which published on the pages of Puzzle Communication Nikoli magazine not only classic versions of games with a century-old history, but also completely new developments, including from readers -enthusiasts.
This is how such world-famous games as Sudoku, Shikaku and, of course, Hitori were born. The age of the latter is just over 30 years, but this does not prevent it from being one of the most famous Japanese puzzles: not only in its historical homeland, but throughout the world.
Game history
Hitori (ひとりにしてくれ) is a number/mathematical puzzle game that requires the player to be mindful, use logic, and use elimination. So, the final goal of the game is to remove all unnecessary numbers from the playing field, leaving only those that do not have repetitions in their rows and columns.
The rules of Hitori, although simple, are unique and not found in other, earlier puzzles. This game was first released in March 1990, thanks to the Japanese publishing house Nikoli.
As with other similar games, constructing Hitori's puzzles is much more difficult than solving them. Therefore, initially their choice was very limited: literally a few dozen variations. By 1999, the number of games had increased to several hundred, and the publishing house Nikoli released three pocket books dedicated to this game. Each of these books includes 99 unique Hitori puzzles of varying sizes and difficulties.
At the time of its first publication, the game had a more complete name: Hitori ni shite kure, which translates from Japanese as “Leave me alone.” The name was later shortened to Hitori, and registered by Nikoli as its own trademark.
If earlier these puzzles were composed manually, which took a lot of time and effort from developers, then with the development of electronic computing technology, this task was assigned to the computer. Already in 2006, Conceptis presented new (hitherto unpublished) computer variations of puzzles of varying degrees of complexity: from the ultra-easy 4x4 format to the very complex 18x18. The correct solution to the latter can only be achieved by real intellectuals, if you do not resort to fraud and the help of personal computers.
Following Conceptis, a Dutch magazine published its versions of “Hitori” in the same 2006, and a month later - a Finnish magazine belonging to the Sanoma media group. The sizes and complexity of published puzzles also varied greatly, from 4x4 to 14x14.
Further popularization of the game in the world occurred like an avalanche, and today it is published by publishers in 35 countries: in the USA, Germany, New Zealand, Russia, Norway, Peru. "Hitori" has gained popularity among players of all ages, and has become even more famous after being transferred to digital format.
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