Free printable Shikaku with answers
Shikaku is a Japanese logic puzzle, also called Rectangles: cut the grid into rectangles so that every rectangle holds exactly one number and has exactly that many cells. One rule, and a surprising amount follows from it.
By size
Two things make a Shikaku harder: a bigger board, and a bigger cap on how large a rectangle may be. The grades move both together, so start small and work up.
Easy Shikaku
Free printable easy Shikaku with answers. A small board with small rectangles, so each number has few shapes it could be. Print with the answer. No sign-up.
Medium Shikaku
Free printable medium Shikaku with answers. A bigger board with bigger rectangles, so more of the cut is deduced. Print with the answer.
Hard Shikaku
Free printable hard Shikaku with answers. Rectangles up to eight cells on a 10 by 10 board. Print with the answer.
Extreme Shikaku
Free printable extreme Shikaku with answers. A large board with large rectangles, for solvers who want a long sitting. Print with the answer.
Evil Shikaku
Free printable evil Shikaku with answers. The biggest board with the biggest rectangles we print. Still exactly one cut.
By audience
The rule is really just times tables, which is why this one suits children and new solvers better than most logic puzzles.
Shikaku for kids
Free printable Shikaku for kids with answers. Small boards, small rectangles, and a rule that is really just times tables.
Shikaku for beginners
Free printable Shikaku for beginners with answers. Learn the rectangle rule on a small board, with the answer on page two.
Large print Shikaku
Free printable large print Shikaku with answers. A small board printed big, for easy reading. No sign-up.
One cut, every time
This is the guarantee that is hard to make and easy to skip, and the reason most free Shikaku are not worth printing. A board can look perfectly reasonable and still be cuttable two ways, which does not make it harder, it makes the printed answer wrong. Every puzzle here is checked by the same solver our Publisher Studio uses, so the numbers fix exactly one cut. The answer prints at the back.
How to solve a shikaku
Cut the grid into rectangles so that every rectangle holds exactly one number and has exactly that many cells. Every cell ends up in one rectangle, and no rectangle may hold two numbers.
The method
- 1Start with the numbers that have only one shape. A prime number is a single row or a single column and nothing else, so a 5 or a 7 is already half placed. A number as wide as the grid has nowhere to slide at all.
- 2Use the other numbers as walls. No rectangle may contain two numbers, so a shape that would swallow a neighbouring clue is out. On a crowded board that removes more options than the sizes do.
- 3Look for cells only one rectangle can reach. Corners and edges are the place to look: a cell in the corner can only be covered by rectangles that reach into it, and often there is just the one. That is the same move the solver makes, and it is usually the first real foothold.
- 4Count what is left. The numbers always add up to the number of cells, so once a region is sealed off the clues inside it must account for exactly its area. A region that comes up short or long means something earlier is wrong.
- The one rule
- Rectangles only, one number in each, area equal to that number, every cell used exactly once.
- What the answer page shows
- The finished cut is printed at the back.
- How the grades differ
- Harder grades are bigger boards that allow bigger rectangles, so each number has more shapes it could be and more places each shape could sit.
- Good for
- Solvers who like times tables and a tidy finished page.
Make one now
Pick a size, then print the puzzle and its answer. No sign-up, no watermark.