griddler

From the I-can't-believe-nobody's-written-this-up dept.

A griddler is a Japanese newspaper puzzle, slightly similar to a crossword. A grid of white squares is printed with lists of numbers at the end of each row and column thusly :

           3,
           6,
           4, 3, 1, 
           5, 4, 7,
           4  3  2
           ________...
     2,2,3|__|__|__...
     6,5,4|__|__|__...
     3,2,6|__|__|__...
 2,1,1,1,1|__|__|__...
          |  |  |
          :  :  :
          '  '  '

Each element in a list represents a line of contiguous black squares that should be coloured in on the grid. For instance if a line had the legend 2,2,4 you would colour in 2 black squares at the start of the line, 4 at the very end, and 2 somewhere in the middle. By doing some mental arithmetic, you can work out where the middle squares should go. There must be a gap of at least one white square between each set group of black squares. As you fill in more and more squares you are 'certain' about, you slowly build up a picture. Very tricky, very satisfying and very addictive. Can even be played by multiple players if it's printed big enough.

I don't know the original Japanese name for Griddlers (which I presume is a trade name). I have seen griddler videogames for the NeoGeo Pocket Color and the Game Boy.