RAT RUN: 51 Years Later
(Published on 31. December 2025, 21:00 by marty_sears)
- Fill the grid with the digits 0-3 so that each digit appears TWICE in every row, column, and marked 4x2 box.
- Reconstruct the maze by drawing thick walls along certain cell edges. The wall around the maze perimeter has been drawn already.
- CIRCLES: The digit in a circle indicates how many of that cell's 4 edges contain a wall.
- The finished maze must have a valid route from the red R (rat) to the blue C (cupcake), without passing through any walls or visiting any cells more than once. No diagonal moves are possible in this maze, due to the brown wall spots on the corners of cells.
- ONE-WAY DOORS: An edge containing a purple arrow does not contain a wall, and sits between two different digits, with the arrow pointing towards the smaller digit. An arrow can only be passed through in the direction it's pointing.
- TEST CONSTRAINT: Adjacent digits along the path must sum to at least 3.
Solution code: Digits on the path in column 2, reading downwards
Comments
today, 02:14 by vfig
what a lovely surprise! thank you
today, 00:25 by virus_dave
I am so so happy to see this puzzle series return. Excellent fun to solve this, thank you once more Marty!
yesterday, 21:37 by Exigus
The puzzle is fantastic and so is the storyline. Thanks!
yesterday, 20:43 by juggler
Very nice twist on the Rat Run setup.
yesterday, 17:23 by CyreneDuVent
I finished Rat Run this morning, so seeing this was posted yesterday was quite serendipitous! It was the first one I'd done with the two in any block or line rule, so that took a bit to get used to, but it was a very nice puzzle once that sunk in! Very much so lookng forward to the start of phase 3. I think my retroactive new years resolution might need to be not getting too lost in sudokus :)
yesterday, 17:23 by mscha
Yay, new Rat Run!
Tricky start (or prologue?) for phase 3, mostly because I kept treating cells without a circle as if they did have one...
yesterday, 16:08 by KelleyCook
So excited for the continued adventures
yesterday, 15:48 by vitaminz
I don’t understand how you set this. The grid is in a certain way so sparsely clued (thinking of lack of circles as the real clue).
So many times I thought there was never going to be a way to determine if there was a wall
yesterday, 15:19 by firespire
Couldn't do the last Marty Sears 2 star puzzle but could do this 3 star one.
Already broken my new years resolution to stick to 1 star puzzles because there might be some brain power step that I can't get my head around.
I was able to use full grid marking, didn't have to juggle any information in my head. All the time I was dreading a look-ahead chain was coming but unless I got "lucky" the path seemed to be straightforward to identify. I just plodded along one step at at time. It was time consuming for me but I'm surprised better solvers didn't race through seeing the logic quicker than me.
After I read and understood the rules, I didn't find it tiring when the sums and counting is only up to three. You can't have computer assisted pencil-mark checking but I didn't have issues with the number discounting. Weaker solvers like myself can always take a break and use the answer check where required.
I assume the 3 star is more about time taken. Great Puzzle.
yesterday, 13:59 by stickx
<3
yesterday, 12:29 by davidemsa
A Rat Run where we build the maze? I love it! And the concept of a puzzle set in the modern day as teaser for phase 3 is cool.
yesterday, 09:51 by Christounet
Walls ? Where we're going, we don't need walls...
And we're back to the future maze!
Awesome teaser. Thanks :)
yesterday, 05:46 by Lyouke
For a new year’s break, Marty has left us to set the puzzle for him.
yesterday, 04:04 by little_turd
Now we have to BUILD the maze for you? I think we are becoming the rat as the series progresses :) jk Amazing puzzle as always!
yesterday, 00:56 by rkond
Amazing puzzle! Cannot wait for the rest of the series!
yesterday, 00:47 by Norkas
That was a very nice surprise and let me spent some of the time while the people outside wouldn't let me sleep. Very excited for the rest of phase 3. Enjoyed the ruleset a lot.
yesterday, 00:40 by zeniko
Thanks for this excellent puzzle and the entire series. And a happy new year!
on 31. December 2025, 22:33 by wuc
Brilliant news! Refreshing puzzle. Awesome setting. Looking forwaaaard.
on 31. December 2025, 21:32 by ChinStrap
The only sudoku with teasers. This was lovely and should be getting everyone excited for season 3 (as a tester I promise you'll love it).
