Making it count
(Published on 27. July 2026, 12:41 by AllesUgo)
Rules
Normal Sudoku rules apply.
Draw a single, non-intersecting, one-cell-wide oriented loop that travels orthogonally through cell centers and never touches itself (not even diagonally).
Cells containing a small arrow must lie on the loop, and the loop must travel through them in the direction of the arrow. The loop moves straight through the cell with the arrow.
The digit in a cell with a small arrow indicates the distance the loop travels in that arrow's direction before making its next turn.
Any digit that lies on the loop must appear on the loop a number of times equal to its own value.
Digits along a big arrow sum to the value in the attached bulb.
Solution code: Cells in row 8 that are not on the loop
Comments
on 17. August 2026, 22:14 by PatternSpren
This is such a fantastic puzzle!
There was no super hard logic to figure out but the puzzle in itself was hard work. I have rated it 4* but the initial bit makes it approachable for someone like me who has just gotten into variants.
Beautiful puzzle mate :) Thanks
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AllesUgo
Thank you for solving and leaving a comment :)
on 2. August 2026, 09:24 by SennyK
Great puzzle! :-)
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AllesUgo
Thank you :D
on 29. July 2026, 19:34 by Franjo
Thank you very much for creating and sharing this wonderful loop-puzzle. Delicious!
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AllesUgo
Thanks for solving and leaving a comment!
on 29. July 2026, 15:55 by Arheus
Wow, just wow. How do you come up with this stuff? Amazing that this has a unique solution.
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AllesUgo
Thanks for solving!
I set it because of taking part in a setting competition. This turns prompt was to set a puzzle that only contains arrows as clues (I ended up submitting another puzzle though). The idea with the oriented loop came early, afterwards I experimented with many different rules the loop could satisfy. Most of them broke quickly, but the counting rule lead to some logic that I liked.
on 29. July 2026, 12:38 by highonlife
Really nice puzzle. But the wording of the rules needs some work. It is still confusing. Maybe if you plan on using this ruleset, include an example?
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AllesUgo
Thank you for your feedback! I'll see if I can come up with a better wording. If I do, I'll update it. If I publish puzzles with rules like this in the future, I'll consider including an example.
on 28. July 2026, 19:15 by polcat
An absolute masterpiece! Thank you so much. I thought probably 4*.
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AllesUgo
Wow, thanks for your nice words! :)
on 28. July 2026, 04:46 by econtrout
between 3 and 4 stars for me. Great logic to the opening and then stayed solid. I was also a bit confused with the rule set at first. Key thing is the number on the arrow is the number of loop squares in that direction, not counting the arrow square. But a great puzzle!
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AllesUgo
Thanks for solving and leaving a comment! I can see how the distance rule can be confusing. I've seen similar rules worded like that, that's why I wrote it that way.
on 28. July 2026, 01:21 by pmays123
Very fun and challenging puzzle. Thank you!
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AllesUgo
Thanks for your testing feedback!
on 27. July 2026, 17:51 by Snookerfan
Very nice! Reading the comment about the straight through rule would have saved me some time, because somehow I assumed that the path would go straight through for 2 cells (from the arrow to the next cell) instead of 3, I don't know why, my mistake. Thanks!
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AllesUgo
Thanks for solving! Maybe you read the old version of the description? Apparently it was confusing.
on 27. July 2026, 15:56 by philolologue
Thanks a bunch! Got it in 45 minutes flat, so much fun! I'd rate it 2.5 to 3 stars for difficulty.
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AllesUgo
Thanks for solving! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I was also leaning towards 3 stars, but the two testers estimated 4 stars.
on 27. July 2026, 15:07 by AllesUgo
Updated rules to make them more clear
on 27. July 2026, 15:00 by philolologue
There is a line in the directions I'm not sure what is meant - when it says "the loop must travel through small arrow cells in the direction of the arrow", does this mean in a straight line through that cell, or the small arrow can be a corner where the loop turns, as long as the loop exits the cell in the direction of the arrow? Or is it intentionally left ambiguous?
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The line passes straight through the cells with the small arrows. I'll update the rules to make that clear. Thanks for asking :)
