Shikaku facts for kids

Shikaku (四角に切れ, shikaku ni kire) is a cool logic puzzle from Japan. Its name means "Divide by Squares" or "Divide by Box." A company called Nikoli creates and publishes these puzzles. By 2011, Nikoli had even released two whole books filled with only Shikaku puzzles!

What is Shikaku?

Shikaku is a puzzle played on a grid, which looks like a checkerboard. Some of the squares on this grid have numbers inside them. Your goal is to split the entire grid into different rectangular or square shapes.

How to Play Shikaku Puzzles

This is how a Shikaku puzzle looks when you start.

Each rectangular or square piece you create must follow two main rules:

• Every piece must contain exactly one number.
• The number inside the piece tells you how big that piece needs to be. This size is called its "area." For example, if a square has the number 6, the rectangle you draw around it must cover exactly 6 squares on the grid.

This picture shows a completed Shikaku puzzle.

You will keep dividing the grid until every square is part of a rectangle or square, and all the numbers are correctly placed within their shapes! It's like a fun math and drawing challenge all in one.