This first video covers the rules and some basic strategies to solve an easy KenKen® puzzle. Solving this 4×4 puzzle is relatively easy once you understand the fundamental thought process in approaching such a puzzle. There are various ways I could have completed this and probably a more efficient way in solving this puzzle. It doesn’t really matter because the important thing is that the real fun is the mental journey you take in solving it. Feel free to leave a note if you need clarification on any of the steps I took.

I’ve been an avid Sudoku® player for many months and had just picked up my first KenKen® puzzle last week. Since then, I have been having fun exercising my brain with KenKen® puzzles. Why do I like Kenken® puzzles? There are only a few reasons, but they are enough to keep me addicted. It’s the simplicity of the instructions which takes a few seconds to learn but the logic in which to complete them can be quite deep.

There are many ways to solve a KenKen® puzzle, and there is not one right way to solve them. It’s entirely up to the solver of the puzzle and the style which is preferred. Unlike word puzzles, if you apply the rules and can do simple math, you can solve each and every puzzle no matter how difficult it is. The really fun ones are ones you can not solve which you stashed away, return, then solve them and learn something about yourself in the process.

Over the course of the next weeks, I will video record the puzzles I attempt to solve and explain the logic and methods which are used.  I imagine not all puzzles will be solved but I do hope even for those which were not solved, you learn good lessons from them. Most importantly, I hope you will try one yourself and see why KenKen puzzles has been percolating.