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Daily Kakuro

2026-10-25 · medium · 8x8

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Select a cell — or tap a clue square — to see its digit combinations.

Press P to switch notes, or hold Shift while typing a digit.

Daily

Online Kakuro

Play Kakuro free online. A new daily Kakuro, unlimited cross sums puzzles in five sizes, pencil marks, and a live combination helper. No signup needed.

PlayHow to play

How to Play

  1. 1.

    Fill every white cell with a digit from 1 to 9.

  2. 2.

    Each horizontal run must add up to the clue above the diagonal slash to its left; each vertical run must add up to the clue below the slash above it.

  3. 3.

    No digit may repeat within a single run — repeats in different runs of the same row or column are fine.

  4. 4.

    The board is solved when every run adds up to its clue with no repeats. Every puzzle has exactly one solution, reachable by logic alone.

Play Kakuro Online — the Cross Sums Puzzle

Kakuro is a crossword built from arithmetic instead of words. The grid mixes white cells with black clue cells, and each clue cell carries a small diagonal slash: the number above the slash is the sum of the horizontal run of white cells to its right, and the number below it is the sum of the vertical run beneath it. Your job is to fill every white cell with a digit from 1 to 9 so each run adds up to its clue — with the crucial catch that no digit may repeat within a single run. The puzzle first appeared in Dell magazines in 1966 as Cross Sums, was adopted and renamed in Japan in the 1980s, and returned worldwide as Kakuro during the sudoku boom.

Every board here is playable free in the browser, on phone or desktop, with no account. There is one shared daily Kakuro — an 8 × 8 medium board, the same for every player, with a streak counter and a permanent archive of past dates — plus an unlimited library across five sizes, from 4 × 4 starters to 9 × 11 grids, each one machine-verified to have exactly one solution reachable by pure logic. Difficulty labels are earned, not guessed: a technique-replay grader solves every puzzle and records whether it needed only entry-level moves, medium bounding logic, or hard pair techniques.

What makes solving Kakuro click is combination knowledge: a clue of 16 across three cells can only be certain digit sets, and some clues — the famous "magic blocks" like 4-in-two or 24-in-three — have exactly one. This site builds that knowledge into the game: tap any clue and a live helper shows every combination that still fits the digits you have placed, with the remaining sum worked out for you. When you want the theory behind it, the full combination tables and strategy notes live on their own reference page, printable for solving on paper.

Features

  • A new Kakuro every day

    One fresh 8 × 8 board daily — the same puzzle for everyone, with streaks and a permanent archive.

  • Live combination helper

    Tap any clue to see every digit combination that still fits — filtered as you place digits.

  • Five board sizes

    From quick 4 × 4 warm-ups to full-session 9 × 11 grids, graded easy to hard.

  • Verified unique solutions

    Every board is machine-proven to have exactly one solution — logic always gets you there.

Kakuro FAQ

Kakuro is a number crossword: fill the white cells with digits 1–9 so every horizontal and vertical run adds up to its clue, with no digit repeated inside a run. It debuted in Dell magazines in 1966 as Cross Sums, was renamed in Japan in the 1980s, and is now a puzzle-page staple worldwide alongside sudoku.

Each black clue cell shows a sum above or below its diagonal slash — the target for the run of white cells to its right or below it. Tap a cell and enter a digit from 1 to 9; a run must hit its sum exactly and can never repeat a digit. Start with clues that allow only one combination, then cross-check every cell against both of its clues.

Yes — every puzzle on the site is free to play with no account, no download, and no puzzle limit. That covers the shared daily board, the full archive of past dailies, and the whole library of easy to hard puzzles across all five grid sizes.

A new daily board is published every day at midnight US Eastern time. It is the same 8 × 8 medium puzzle for every player, which makes shared times comparable, and every past daily stays playable forever at its own archive URL.

A combination is a set of distinct digits that can fill a run — 16 across three cells might be 1+6+9, 2+5+9, and so on. Magic blocks are clues with exactly one possible set, like 4-in-two (1+3) or 30-in-four (6+7+8+9); they are the natural starting points of every solve. Tap any clue in the player for a live list, or study the full tables on the combinations page.

Not here. Every published board is verified by a solving program to have exactly one solution, and its difficulty label records which logical techniques the solve actually needs. If you feel stuck, there is always a deduction available — the combination helper usually points at it.

Yes. The board, keypad, and pencil marks are built for touch and work in any modern mobile browser — no app install. Progress saves automatically on your device, so an interrupted board resumes where you left off.

Start with 4 × 4 easy boards: the runs are short, most clues are near-forced, and a solve takes a few minutes. Move up to 6 × 6 once cross-checking feels natural, then to the 8 × 8 daily. The 9 × 9 and 9 × 11 grids add long runs and pair techniques for experienced solvers.