Summary
We present an introduction to the Japanese pencil puzzle Nurikabe and to its basic solution strategies. Further, we establish formulas for the minimum and maximum number of islands in a Nurikabe puzzle made up of one-tile islands.
Acknowledgment
We thank the referee and Editor for insightful comments that substantially improved the content and clarity of this paper. Thanks also to Killian Meehan of KUIAS and Michio Yoshiwaki of RIKEN AIP, who assisted with translation of the Japanese documents regarding the first recorded appearance of Nurikabe.
Notes
1 Note that the online version of this article has color diagrams.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jacob A. Boswell
Jacob A. Boswell (MR Author ID: 1164508) earned a Ph.D. from Purdue University in 2015. He is an assistant professor of mathematics at Missouri Southern State University. His academic interests include mathematical problem solving and commutative algebra. Outside of mathematics, he enjoys video and board games, playing music, and playing pickleball.
Jacob N. Clark
Jacob N. Clark (ORCID: 0000-0002-6142-0602) earned his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2019. He is an assistant professor of Mathematics at Missouri Southern State University, alongside his coauthors. His academic interests include the mathematics of games and puzzles, (topological) data analysis, and machine learning. Beyond academic pursuits, he enjoys swimming, cooking, and the outdoors.
Chip Curtis
Charles “Chip” Curtis earned a Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1994. He is a professor of mathematics at Missouri Southern State University. He enjoys mathematical problem solving, hiking, and playing the piano.