Printable KenKen Style Math Puzzle (Free PDF)
A Latin square with arithmetic cages: every row and column holds each number once, and each outlined cage hits its printed target.
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This is the cage arithmetic puzzle often called KenKen or mathdoku. Fill the grid so every row and every column holds each number from 1 to the grid size exactly once, and so the numbers inside each heavy outline give the target printed in its corner: 7+ for a sum, 2- for a difference, 12x for a product, 3/ for a quotient. A 4x4 grid has about seven cages, a 5x5 around ten and a 6x6 around fifteen.
It is a better arithmetic drill than a worksheet of sums because the arithmetic and the logic pull on each other: a cage marked 12x in a 5x5 grid narrows to a handful of digit sets, and the row and column rule then decides which of them fits. The generator draws a random Latin square, carves it into connected cages of one to four squares, picks an operation for each, and then counts the solutions of the finished puzzle, keeping it only when exactly one survives.
A how-to-play note under the grid explains the signs for anyone meeting the puzzle for the first time, including the rule people trip over: a number may repeat inside a cage as long as it does not repeat in a row or a column. The cages are outlined in a heavy line and the target sits in the top left corner of each one, small enough to leave the square free for working. Page two prints the completed grid in red. The 4x4 suits a child who knows their times tables; the 6x6 will keep an adult busy.
