Arukone
Arukone ( Japanese ア ル コ ネ ) or Nanbarinku ( Japanese ナ ン バ ー リ ン ク ) is a Japanese logic puzzle that was first published by the Japanese magazine Nikoli .
Arukone is also known by other names, including: Number link Connection Alphabet, ABC Connection and letters covenant .
regulate
Arukone is played on a rectangular grid of any size. Letters are given on some fields . The aim of the game is to connect all fields with letters so that the following rules apply:
- All fields with the same letters must be connected to one another by a single, continuous line.
- Only one line begins or ends at each field with a letter.
- The individual sections of a line run either horizontally or vertically.
- Each field may only contain part of a single line and, in particular, lines must not cross each other.
It is also common to specify letters in alphabetical order. Sometimes numbers are used instead of letters. The rules then read accordingly.
Usually the solution is clearly defined by the given letters or numbers.
variants
Sometimes the rule is added to the above rules that each field must contain exactly one part of a polyline, i.e. that no field may remain free in a solution.
Solution strategies
To solve an arukone one usually tries to connect individual letters one after the other, which then result in the desired solution.
So sometimes (as in the example on the left) there is only exactly one way to connect two letters, which then has to run that way. Other lines between two identical letters can be excluded by the fact that there is no longer any line for another pair of letters.
Logical considerations can be used to specify a large number of further solution strategies that ultimately lead to the solution sought.
