Here you can find the kendama brands that offer the highest quality, best materials, best budget options, and best overall products. There are many reliable kendama brands and this guide will help you see the top options.

If I had to choose 2 of the best kendama brands….

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Jump To:

What is a kendama?

How to choose the best kendama for you

Kendama care guide

Competitive Kendama – Kendama Tricks

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Here’s a look at some more good kendama deals:

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Some companies are making handcrafted kendamas that can be quite high quality. But as the process is time consuming, the supply is limited and the prices are high.

Here are some handcrafted kendama brands:

• Occult
• Quad
• Grain Theory
• Terra

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Now we’ll go over what exactly a Kendama is, provide you with as much info as possible on the topic, and eventually get into reviews of what the best Kendama is for beginners, intermediates, advanced players, and collectors.

What is a Kendama?

Kendama is a traditional wooden Japanese toy featuring a stick with two cups and a spike on the end. A ball is attached to the stick by a string, and the goal of the game is to perform tricks in different order of jumping and landing the ball on the various cups, and spike of the toy. Let’s define the parts of a Kendama:

1. Main body ken
2. Spike kensaki
3. Large cup ōzara
4. Base cup chūzara
5. Small cup kozara
6. Ball tama
7. Hole ana
8. String ito
9. Cup body saradō .
10. Small cup edge kozara no fuchi
11. Big cup for lunars ōzara no fuchi
12. Slip-stop or slip grip suberidome
13. Back end kenjiri
14. String attachment hole ito toritsuke ana .

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This ancient Japanese toy has been refined to have specific characteristics so most modern Kendamas you’ll find will all be of a standard size, around 7″ in height. Most Kendamas have the same ratios, cup sizes, spikes, but might vary in size slightly. You can see where the variations might start to come in. Also with different price points you see different material use, and different paints that can make the surfaces more grippy which can improve accuracy.

• Paint – paint can make tricks easier
• Premium companies have made their own slight tweeks to the toy to make the experience much better
• Material can make a big difference for feel, weight, and also durability

Kendamas are fairly robust toys with only a few places that wear can occur. The first place is the tip of the Kendama which can be worn down over several thousand spike tricks, and the string can also break over time. I recommend keeping replacement Kendama string around, if you’re left handed you need to swap the string to make it the right size for the orientation.

Now that you have a decent introduction to what Kendama is, the parts of the toy, and what makes a good Kendama we can get into some reviews of the best Kendamas. We’ll start with beginner Damas, then go to mid-level, and close the article off with reviews and displays of the premium Kendamas that are mainly collectors items. Let’s go!

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Best Kendama Reviews

Best Beginner Kendama

Beginner, novice, noob, or if you’re just looking for a cheap Kendama then this is the section for you. Here you’ll find a mix of both plastic and wooden Kendamas that are aimed at beginners mainly due to their price point. They also could be aimed at the younger crowd with some of the plastic models due to increased durability, while sacrificing the traditional feel of a wooden Kendama. If you are a beginner, there’s no reason you can’t purchase a mid-level Kendama or any Kendama you want really – this section mainly aims to keep the price point below $25 with some much below that so there’s not a big barrier for entry for new players.

Catchy Air Kendama (3/5)

Plastic doesn’t necessarily mean bad, it’s just a different feel and they certainly come in at a lower price point. This Catchy Air plastic Kendama hits a real sweet spot of performance and price at around 10 bucks for a basically indestructible dama. The cups have a rubber ring around the edge which is a treat for beginners and pros alike. Plastic Kendamas are not only great for beginners, but also great to keep on the go since they’re so light.

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Yomega Star Catch Kendama (3.5/5)

Yomega is a well known yo-yo company making their foray into making Kendama toys – and the Star Catch is a shooting star. This sucker is competitive with the Catchy Air for half the price! It’s blocky, stout, and a breath of fresh air into the traditional Kendama community with it’s stark color differences of black and vibrant colors, and punchy graphics. Experienced Kendama users will want to give this puppy a try and beginners will have a hard time passing up the price point.

• Best budget plastic Kendama for beginners
• Unique design that intermediate and advanced players may be interested in checking out

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Yomega Coyote Kendama (3/5)

The Coyote Kendama by Yomega is a really reasonably priced Kendama with crafted beechwood construction and a sweet looking Tama. Here’s my top pick for the best budget wooden Kendama for beginners – at just a third of the price of other wooden Damas’ in this article you can’t go wrong if you want to try the hobby and specifically want wood.

• Best budget wooden Kendama

Not Currently Available

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Catchy Street Wooden Kendama (3.5/5)

Here’s another great option for a wooden Kendama that’s easy to use for a beginner and at a great price point. It’s not quite as cheap as the omega Damas but the wooden handle (ken) is higher quality than the Yomega Coyote’s which I think is an important aspect for the feel of the game.

• Best wooden Kendama for beginners

Not currently available

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Best Mid-Level Kendamas

Here we’re getting into competition level Kendamas – performance doesn’t improve much past some of these bad boys. It’s hard to say that any Kendama on this list isn’t the best Kendama because they’re all viable competition toys.

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KROM Kendamas (4/5)

Coming in a bit under $30 is a really nice wooden Dama that you could use for a long time, even turning into a skilled Kendama player. It’s actually at a sweet spot where it’s a quality Dama and the price point is just past the beginner section so it’s kicking off our mid-level Kendamas.

All around solid wooden Kendamas
Cool crack designs

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Kaizen Silk Kendama (4/5)

Kaizen Kendamas are really great quality, all of their Damas are made with 100% beech wood and use silk paint on the tama in a variety of different colors, splits, and designs using silk paint which is extremely durable. Kaizen products have a traditional feel to them, and are great quality for the beginner and intermediate user – this was one of the first I purchased for myself and I still use it to this date.

• Quality Kendama for reasonable price

Not Currently Available

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Sweets Kendamas F3 Line (4.5/5)

The F3 line is Sweets Kendamas mid-level line that makes solid Damas very similarly to Kaizen. The plus side of these is they have a slightly rubbery coating of the Tama that can improve the accuracy of balance tricks. These are really great and a slight step up in quality from the Kaizen Silk in my opinion due to the broken in feel out of the box. The string is loose and ready to swing around, the handle feels soft and comfortable, and the ball is grippy. This Kendama is great for competition and comes in at a decent price.

• Best Kendama line to choose from

Not Currently Available

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Best Premium Kendamas

In this section I’ll go over some flashy premium Kendamas. To be honest, past the Sweets Kendama, Kaizen, and KROM Kendamas you’re really not going to see a large increase in performance of the product if any – however the Kendamas can get wayyy more flashy and expensive of course. Here I’ll showcase some of the most unique premium Kendamas out there.

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KROM Deluxe Line (4.5/5)

We checked out KROM’s standard Dama line, well here’s their Deluxe Kendamas. Here you’ll find Damas like the Smoked Mahagony displayed above. Coming in at around $50 each, these Kendamas feature unique paint designs, and exotic woods to round out the package.

• High quality Kendamas with unique designs and exotic woods

Specific model not available

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Billet Aluminum Kendama (4/5)

Presenting the newest material Kendama on the list, Billet’s aluminum Kendama is a head turner that’s for sure. This is full-sized, 100% high grade raw aluminum. This sucker is heavy, and fun to play with as it has a unique feel compared to any other Kendama you’ve played with. With a hefty price point this is probably one of the most expensive Kendamas out there, it would be sweet to add to your collection and keep on display – playing with it from time to time.

• Really unique metal Kendama
• Super heavy duty, super expensive

Not Currently Available

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Sweets Kendama Homegrown Line (4.5/5)

Closing off the premium Kendama section we have Sweets Kendamas Homegrown line – these are limited production run Damas with some of the craziest designs I’ve seen. These are the most expensive wooden Kendamas on the list and for good reason with the amount of detail put into them. This will perform just as well as all of Sweets Kendamas products and even comes with some extra gifts like extra string, beads, bandana, and collectible pin. Don’t miss out on these limited run collectible Kendamas with crazy designs!

• Uniquely designed, collectible
• Most expensive and unique wooden Kendamas in my opinion

Not Currently Available

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How to Pick the Best Kendama for You

With several options presented for three different categories of Kendamas we’re left with something like this:

• Beginner Kendamas – Price: $5-25, mix of wood and plastic products, good quality towards the top of the price range, great inexpensive products
• Mid-level Kendamas – Price $25-$60, high performance Kendamas used in competition, all wood products, great for any Kendama user
• Premium Kendamas – Price $50-???, same performance as mid-level Kendamas but using more expensive woods, paints, materials, and featuring collectible designs

I would purchase a beginner Kendama if budget is restricting you – you can get the real Kendama experience with any toy. If budget is not a problem whether you’re a beginner or pro I always recommend getting a mid-level Kendama as you can use it from beginner level all the way up to being a pro and posting vids on YouTube. Kendama USA’s Kaizen line, KROM, and Sweets Kendamas are all high-tier performance Kendamas that won’t let you down.

Premium Kendamas are mainly for show – there’s no added performance value. You’re essentially buying collectible items with cool designs and more expensive materials are used. These are great gifts for Kendama players, or perfect to top off your growing collection of Kendamas if you’re a collector like me :).

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How to care for your Kendama

Examining a Kendama there are 5 points of contact. The Tama (ball) comes in contact with the big cup, small cup, spike, and handle cup. The three cups will see very little wear, the Tama is shaped like the cups so there should be minimal wear, however the spike tip will be hitting inside the hollow of the ball which makes the main point of wear in a Kendama the spike tip. Companies have released their own special products to protect the tip with a coating but it’s essentially super glue. Plastic Kendamas don’t have this issue as the contact is not high impact enough to damage the tip.

The next thing to look at on a Dama is the string. Strings can break – most Kendamas come with replacement string but if not there are plenty of places you can purchase extra string from. Here’s a video on YouTube of how to re-string your Kendama. This video is also useful if you’re left handed – you’ll need to remove the string and reattach it in a different way to use the toy properly.

Guide to Kendama Tricks

When I got my first Kendama I honestly just started messing around with it, and even invented some of my own tricks – but a primer video like this definitely could have helped get me started in the hobby. Here’s what I think is the best introduction video for tricking out with your Dama:

Kendama Competition Guide

Kendama is a toy, but it’s a wide-spread skill toy that’s taking the world by storm. Here’s a recap of current competitions and you can see some of the highlights from real Kendama pro players. Rules for Kendama competitions may vary from competition to competition. Often a trick list must be completed in a certain amount of time with judges determining if the trick was properly done. Players may be required to use specific regulation Damas, and ties end with trick competitions and more.

Gloken Kendama World Cup

The Kendama World Cup held in Japan is the most well known and prestigious competition of them all. Previous winners:

• 2014 – Bonz
• 2015 – Wyatt Bray / USA / KendamaUSA
• 2016 – Bryson Lee / USA / Sweets Kendamas
• 2016 Freestyle (First Time) – Nick Gallagher / USA / Sweets Kendamas

Minnesota Kendama Open

Held in Minnesota by Sweets Kendamas, this is the biggest tournament in North America where players gather from around the globe to duke it out on their Damas. Here’s the recent winner’s list:

• 2013 – Max Norcross / USA / Sweets Kendamas
• 2015 – Lukas Funk / USA / Sweets Kendamas
• 2016 – Zack Gallagher / USA / Sweets Kendamas

Pro Kendama Videos

Here’s a video of the winner of the Gloken World Cup in 2014, and another pro video to follow:

Wrap Up

With a ton of Kendama information thrown at you in this article – hopefully you’re able to find the best Kendama for you. It really is a fun skill toy to play with, and sweet to mess around with your friends at home or out on the go. Check out some of our other articles for cool toy reviews and more.

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If you’re searching for Will Shortz puzzle books then you may already know who he is, or at least have an idea of his popularity (since you’re searching his name!). Will Shortz is an extremely popular master puzzler who is probably most well known for being the editor of New York Times crossword puzzle section since 1993.

Jump straight to full reviews

Crossword – Sudoku – Logic Puzzles – Kenken – Other

or

Without further ado here are some of the top options:

He also covers Sudoku and other puzzle books which I’ll cover in this guide. I’m a really big fan of Will’s and if you’re into his books I’m sure you are too. I want to get into the book guide and reviews first but I’m attributing a section of this article to covering Will Shortz.

Will has been the author or editor of over 1000 books so it would be very lengthy to include all of them in this post. I’ll do my best to list the best ones from each category below!

Top 5 Best Will Shortz Crossword Books

When purchasing any Will Shortz books you can expect high-quality puzzles in an accessible format – his crossword puzzle books are no exception.

New York Times Supersized Book of Sunday Puzzles (4/5)

This book is really great and it ticks all of my boxes when it comes to what makes a good puzzle book. It’s no disservice to say that the demographic of pen and paper puzzlers is aging – this increases the appeal of puzzle books with supersized fonts and puzzles largely. This crossword puzzle book features 500 puzzles (a great amount) straight from the New York Times crossword section that are ready for you to solve.

This is a great option to buy for yourself if you’re into crossword, or to purchase for the puzzler in your life. The puzzles in this book are of similar to the difficulty of those found in the NYT.

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New York Times Will Shortz’s Favorite Sunday Crossword Puzzles (4/5)

Sunday must be a pretty popular day to do crosswords on since we’ve had two books tiled after it so far! This is another great option when it comes to crossword books by Will Shortz – what’s so special about this book is the fact that Will hand selected 50 of his favorite NYT crosswords and has included them in this great collection. Unfortunately it’s not supersized or packed with 500 puzzles but it’s unique and allows you to connect with the author which is important to me.

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The New York Times Keep Calm and Crossword On: 200 Easy Puzzles (3.5/5)

Now on the list I need to take a step back and include an easier solution book, and I have just the one for you. In this 200 puzzle collection from the NYT will breaks it down a bit for the beginner or leisurely solver – great as a gift or to add to your collection for guest puzzlers! You don’t want to be the one gifting puzzles that are too tricky, it’s a sad sight.

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The New York Times Will Shortz’s Wittiest, Wackiest Crosswords (4/5)

Up next, you guessed it! Hard hitting witty, wacky, challenging, the impossible – 225 hand picked tricky puzzles from Will Shortz himself. I wrote about not gifting a puzzle that’s too hard, but it’s also possible to gift one too easy. I recommend this Will Shortz crossword book to the seasoned expert who needs a serious mental workout (on Sunday of course).

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The New York Times Monday Through Friday Easy to Tough Crossword Puzzles (4/5)

Closing off the 5 best crossword puzzle books by Will Shortz is 50 easy to tough puzzles from yep, you guessed it, the New York Times. If you’ve read any of my other articles you’ll know the best type of puzzle to give as a gift is a multi-difficulty option – like this one! With a range of difficulties there’s something for everyone so these are great for households with puzzlers of all skill, or as a gift to a puzzler with unknown skill. This would also be a great book to get for yourself if you’re getting into crosswords as you can stay with the same book as you improve.

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That wraps it up for the best Will Shortz crossword puzzle books, any continuation in the series listed here will also be excellent choices. You really can’t go wrong with a Will Shortz crossword book!

Best Will Shortz Sudoku Books

If you like his crossword books, and weren’t aware of his masterful Sudoku book creations, you’ll love them too. Here are some of my favorite Sudoku books by Will – while there are numerous I’m going to narrow it down to 5 again so wish me luck!

The Little Black Book of Sudoku (3.5/5)

Starting off with a high-volume favorite we have The Little Black Book coming in with 400 quality Sudoku puzzles. This book is an easy-to-hard difficulty range which is perfect for buying for yourself, or as a gift. Improve your Sudoku and grow together with this excellent book option.

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Mind Melting Sudoku: 200 Hard Puzzles (3.5/5)

It was only a matter of time before I got into the killer difficulties, this 200 puzzle “Mind Melting” Sudoku book is only suitable for those grizzled vets looking for a serious mental cardio session. I’m talking stair master level 10 for the neurons! Only pick up this book if you’re experienced with Sudoku – that’s my recommendation.

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Wild Sudoku: 200 Medium Puzzles (3.5/5)

Alright let’s tone it down a bit with this medium difficulty Sudoku book – Wild Sudoku features 200 medium difficulty puzzles for the beginner to intermediate puzzler. I personally think that the easy Sudoku puzzles are too easy to start on so I recommend at least medium difficulty to start out on, however starting on a hard difficulty isn’t unheard of if you’re a puzzle wiz!

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The Little Orange Book of Harrowing Sudoku (4/5)

Sudoku that gives you nightmares! 335 “Frighteningly Fierce Puzzles” comes in this edition of super hard Sudoku’s. I figured I would close out my Shortz Sudoku list with two killer puzzle books and this is the first of two – get ready for the next one!

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Black Diamond Sudoku (4/5)

Have you ever been out skiing or snowboarding and said “Oh Sh** I definitely shouldn’t have taken that double black diamond trail!” – well this book is kind of like that, except with Sudoku. The final Sudoku book on this list of the best Will Shortz Sudoku books is the Black Diamond book featuring 200 brand new puzzles that are extreme, to the max! I recommend this book for the black belts of Sudoku, ready to take on a “Black Diamond” trail of 200 more difficult than ever Sudoku’s.

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Well that’s it for my top 5 best Sudoku puzzle books by Will Shortz, but guess what this massive guide to all books Will Shortz isn’t even over yet! If you weren’t aware, his grasp extends far beyond mere crosswords and Sudoku, Will is a master puzzler! In this next section let’s check out the best logic puzzle books by Will Shortz, and any other kind of puzzle books he’s mustered up over the years.

Best Will Shortz Logic Puzzle Books

There’s going to be a pretty wide range of puzzle book styles in this next section, and even the puzzles in each book may vary unless specified. This is my list of the top Will Shortz logic puzzle books, in no specific order! A logic puzzle is exactly what it sounds like, a puzzle that requires logic for you to solve. It could contain letters, numbers, a riddle, the alphabet, anything really!

The Puzzlemaster Presents: 200 Mind-Bending Challenges (4.5/5)

Starting off the list is one of my favorites, the Puzzle Master Shortz presents 200 challenges that range from easy to difficult. This book has a lot of different styles of puzzles from simple word puzzles, more complex logic puzzles and beyond. That’s what makes it so appealing, the diversity that allows practically anyone to pick it up and have a puzzle to solve, and the possibility for you to grow and expand your mind as you solve more and more puzzles from the book. This is the logic puzzle book I recommend to anyone interested in them – it’s a great jumping off point.

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Will Shortz’s Mind Games: 100 Alphabet Riddles (4/5)

If you want something a bit more consistent, try out this alphabet riddle book that tests your brain power to come up with a two word phrase to match his clues. This book is really fun to use in a group, say on a road trip or while camping as it can be turned into a little competition to see who can blurt out the answer first! These puzzles are light, enjoyable, and easy for anyone to get into. I recommend this book to give to a beginner, someone interested in puzzles, or for yourself to use on trips and gatherings.

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Will Shortz’s Puzzle Master Workout (3.5/5)

What’s this? A workout plan devised by the puzzle master himself? This short, or long? 22 puzzle book is a combined effort between Shortz and Huang where they deliver a complex puzzle book. The puzzles have some introduction, and also a gauge as to your expertise level depending on how long it takes you to complete. I would recommend this book for the SERIOUS puzzler who wants to up their game and see what the best are practicing on. These puzzles are also great to work together on and solve as a team if you know someone who likes puzzling as much as you.

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Best Will Shortz KenKen Books

What’s KenKen you might ask? KenKen is sort of like Sudoku, but it has a few different rules. Chances are if you like Sudoku you’ll love KenKen as I think it adds a slightly more fun mechanic than Sudoku as it can change from puzzle to puzzle with the cages – pick one up and you’ll see what I mean. Here are what I think are the best Will Shortz KenKen books, again in no specific order:

The Ultimate KenKen Omnibus (4/5)

If there’s an omnibus (massive collection) Will Shortz book for a certain category of book he writes, it’s almost always my top pick. Why? Because they pack the most content and are often multi-difficulty like this one – featuring 500 easy to hard puzzles for anyone and everyone to conquer while they improve their mental fortitude. If you want to get into KenKen, or you’re a KenKen vet, this is really a great option for anyone.

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KenKen: 300 Easy to Hard Puzzles That Make You Smarter (3.5/5)

KenKen is a relatively new game on the block (read: in the New York Times) as Will only got it approved in 2009. Which is why my top two recommended KenKen books are difficulty range books. Since it’s new, fresh, exciting, and maybe a little more challenging than most puzzle games I’d say go for two difficulty range books for your first two KenKen copies.

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Diabolical KenKen (4/5)

Getting into the nitty gritty, the tough and challenging “gimme some more” KenKen we launch into the review of our difficult book in this category. Diabolical KenKen is not for the beginner and I recommend quite a bit of experience before diving into the challenging books. Pick this one up if you’re a vet or for the experienced puzzler if you’re buying a gift. Enjoy!

Note: Shortz writes/edits a ton of KenKen books so once you’ve nailed down the basics of a few difficulty range books, I would branch out to the specifically harder ones and go from there.

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Other Will Shortz “Non-books and Oddities”

I wanted to include this section before I cover some more details on Will Shortz because he has two more interesting products out there that I wanted to share:

Puzzlemaster Deck: 75 Brain Twisters

Available in a deck of cards is this collection of 75 brain twisters that are great for the vehicle, around the table, or on a camping trip. If anyone’s looking for a new family game to add to their collection I always recommend this deck of awesome-ness. Check it out!

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TriBond – The board game!

Man this guy Will, he really does it all – he even made a board game! In the similar situation that I recommended the brain twister deck, I would recommend his board game TriBond. Look at the three items and answer the question “What do they have in common?”. This is a really great group game but beware some of them are reallllly hard and might leave you scratching your head through the night.

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Now that we’ve gone through the categories of the best Will Shortz crossword puzzle books, Sudoku books, logic puzzle books, KenKen books, and even a few oddities it’s time to cover Will Shortz himself. Without him, this list and article wouldn’t be possible so let’s delve into what made this puzzle master so mysterious.

About Will Shortz

It seems like I could write forever about Will Shortz, but I know you don’t have all day so lets sum of this marvelous puzzle master as best as we can.

He was interested in pursuing a career in puzzles at a oung age
He is the only person to hold a degree in Enigmatology – a university program he designed himself
He’s been involved in editing for magazines, puzzles, and books since he graduated in 1974
He has been the New York Times crossword puzzle editor since 1993
He has been the puzzle master on NPR’s Weekend Edition since 1987
He founded the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in 1978
He founded the World Puzzle Championship in 1992 and is the director of the US Puzzle Team
Shortz is the author/editor of over 100 books and owns the largest known puzzle collection in the world (over 20,000)
He’s the historian of the National Puzzler’s League
The list goes on but I think you get the picture. I’m so happy to be writin this article in the hopes that his reat works will continue to reach more and more people. If you have the chance after reading this article to pick up a Will Shortz crossword puzzle book, Sudoku book, logic puzzle book, or Kenen puzzle – do it. Your mind will not regret it and neither will you.

Happy puzzling – I hope you enjoy these Will Shortz puzzle books as much as I have.

The answer to what the best crossword puzzle books are depends on a few factors. Lets take a quick glance at some of the top options first:

• Crossword experience (mainly vocabulary)
• Difficulty
• Amount of puzzles
• Font size (sometimes important for our aging puzzlers)

Ideally you want an appropriately difficult puzzle book that has the most amount of crossword puzzles possibles (max value!).

Now, buying a crossword puzzle book for yourself versus buying one as a gift are two completely different things. When recommending puzzle books to purchase I always suggest buying ones that have a range of difficulties so that you can accommodate any puzzler’s skill. This way there will always be a puzzle for them to solve, whether they start at the bottom rung or somewhere in the middle they can always work their way up.

Top Choices

With the intro out of the way I’m going to share with you what I think are the top 5 best crossword puzzle books out there right now – with options for the beginner, intermediate, advanced crossword puzzler.

NYT Ultimate Crossword Omnibus: 1001 Puzzles (4.5/5)

Edited by no other than Will Shortz (A very famous puzzle writer) we start off with this high-volume crossword book extracted from New York Times crossword puzzles written by Will Shortz of course. From probably one of those popular news papers in the world comes this mass of puzzles with a wide variety of difficulties. The high amount of puzzles, the writer Will Shortz, and the popularity of the source makes this my top pick for the best crossword puzzle book.

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Supersized Book of Sunday Crosswords (4/5)

Another Will Shortz New York Times crossword puzzle book is on this list for the same reasons as the last, alongside the fact that the puzzles are supersized. Sure we can go for the puzzle book that has as many puzzles crammed in as possible, but sometimes it’s just nice to work on a large puzzle – one per page. This is also an excellent option for anyone with any sort of vision impairments, you want them to have an easy time seeing what they’re doing when puzzling.

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Mega Crossword Puzzle Book #15 (4/5)

Simon & Schuster released the first EVER crossword puzzle book in 1924 – now released almost 90 years later is another 300 never before seen crossword puzzle book with crosswords constructed by expert puzzle constructor John Samson. This book isn’t anything special in any direction, you get 300 high-quality challenging puzzles for a good price – standard solid puzzle book.

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Will Shortz Favorite Sunday Crossword Puzzles (4.5/5)

WOW another Will Shortz book, he must be a pretty popular puzzler – I should write an entire article just for him! This puzzle book is sort of a middle ground between the previously two reviewed Will Shortz books. A collection of popular crosswords in a slightly larger format than normal. Not quite 1001 puzzles, not quite as large as the supersize book, but it offers a bit of both worlds in this great puzzle book option.

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USA Today Jumbo Puzzle Book #2 (3.5/5)

From another renowned news outlet we have this 400 crossword puzzle jumbo sized book that’s another great option to get yourself, or get the puzzler in your life as a gift. These puzzles are similar quality/difficulty to those found in the New York Times and it’s supersized as well – another all around great option for a crossword puzzle book.

 Check it out on Amazon here #ad

Hopefully this selection of some of the best crossword puzzle books out there helps you narrow in on a good book for yourself or as a gift for the puzzler in your life. Most of these books have several editions so if you complete them all just look for the #2, #3, #4 etc. in that specific series. Will Shortz has also released a ton of crossword puzzles books so anything by him is a great choice.

History of Crosswords

Crosswords appeared historically dating back to the 1700’s being ran in various news outlets, as they still are today. Eugene T. Maleska is often credited with the first crossword phrase in the New York Times in 1862.

A crossword style puzzle appeared in an Italian magazine in 1890 designed by Giuseppe Airoldi and was titled in Italian “To pass the time”.

In 1913 an English journalist published a crossword that has most of the features found in today’s popular puzzles. The author was Arthur Wynne and he’s often called the inventor of the crossword due to the critical features he implemented.

As you can see the puzzle books have a varying history and appeared in many geographies before becoming mainstream.

Crossword puzzles serve to pass time, enhance vocabulary, stimulate the mind, and most importantly to derive enjoyment from.

The aim of creating this review of the best crossword puzzle books was to find the top books for my readers, and also inform you all a bit of the history of these amazingly fun puzzles that are enjoyed by millions across the world.

Puzzle on!

This review of the best logic puzzle books will look at beginner to advanced difficulty levels, for children to adults, and at all price ranges and sizes. Includes logic grid puzzle variants and more.

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How to choose a good logic puzzle book

Full Reviews – Top 8 Best Logic Puzzle Books

Alright I hope you’re ready for my breakdown of the 8 best logic puzzle books out there right now. Some are new, some are old, and they cover a whole whack of different topics.

Monster Book of Ken Ken by Will Shortz

The puzzles in this book use mathematical operations to solve Sudoku-style puzzles. This style of logic puzzle will appeal to the mathematics and they’re very fun to solve overall. If you like Sudoku, or basically a crossword puzzle with a math component you’ll like this book. If you’re not into math then don’t choose this option. The downside to this book is that all of the puzzles are the same math-logic style.

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Puzzle Baron’s Logic Puzzles

The coolest thing about this book is that it includes statics on average solve time, record solve time, and other cool info for every single puzzle. Puzzle Baron’s book comes with 200 grid-based logic puzzles that are sure to keep you entertained as you try to compete with the listed stats. Record your own stats as well and compete against your friends and family to see who’s the master solver!

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Challenging Logic Puzzles

I really like this book as an overall great logic puzzle book option because of the variety of puzzles within it. It’s not often you find a logic puzzle book with a variety of puzzles that are all at the perfect difficulty level. This book also has a some-what sequential progression as the puzzles get more and more difficult as you work through it. Another great aspect is that all of the puzzles have their solutions inside of the book. This is a great all-around logic puzzle book option, great for all skill levels within the family, and you can try more challenging puzzles as you improve – awesome!

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Of Course! The Greatest Collection of Riddles & Brain Teasers

Riddles, brain teasers, and puzzles all in one – another great variety option when it comes to the best logic puzzle books out there. For someone’s first puzzle book, or when buying a gift for someone else I always recommend going with a variety book that has different difficulties and puzzle types to keep things fresh and account for puzzlers of all skills. One of the main reasons we enjoy solving puzzles and problems as humans if because of the rewarding “Ah ha” moment that comes with the solution. This puzzle book has a really wide-range of puzzles ranging from math, reasoning riddles, logic riddles, and all types of problem solving. Cross bridges, and escape prison cells in this wildly enjoyable book – a must have!

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My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles

Getting into more difficult books here, this is definitely not one I would recommend to a beginner. The author Martin Gardner has written math problems for many years of his life fine tuning his problem diversity and receiving feedback on alternate solutions. This book may not be packed with puzzles but these are 70 fine tuned puzzles that will give even the most experienced puzzlers a challenge. Pick up this book if you’re experienced and want to tune your skills.

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The Moscow Puzzles: 359 Mathematical Recreations

This is an extremely popular Russian puzzle book that constitutes of a variety of puzzles styles. The book is so popular that it’s been translated to several languages and has over 8 editions. This book has been around since 1956 so it’s had plenty of time to disappoint and it just hasn’t yet. Martin Gardner, author of the previous book on this list has also edited and clarified this English version for better readability and solvability. With 359 puzzles and over 400 diagrams this simple puzzle book can keep you entertained for as long as it takes you to finish it. I would recommend this book to the math puzzler looking for a challenging book that will take some time to complete.

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Total Brain Workout

The Total Brain Workout written by Ph. D. author Marcel Danesi is a fun and exciting puzzle book that features logic reasoning, memory, and perception style puzzles. The unique part is that each puzzle presents information on the part of your brain that is being exercised during each puzzle. The idea behind this book is that with proper exercise of the brain you can improve mental function in several areas of your life. This book is constructed with the improvement of the human brain in mind so enjoy a targeted puzzle book that really wants to help you improve. Work through these 450 puzzles and reap the benefits!

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Puzzles & Trivia Challenges Specifically Designed to Keep Your Brain Young

Another amazing 399 puzzles that are aimed at maintaining or even improving the mind is up next on the list. Science shows that middle-aged or older individuals who solve puzzles or brainteasers like the ones found in books on this list have a huge mental advantage of those who do not. Keeping your mind active may ward off mental illness, improve your quality of life, and allow you to think through problems and make optimal choices. All of the puzzles in this book are designed by a neuroscientist with the goal of stimulating neurons which restore and can even strengthen the brain. The puzzles are fun and exciting riddles, brainteasers, problems, and require different levels of decoding to solve each one. This book is a great one as a gift r for someone’s first puzzle book to develop their skills and wake up the brain again.

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Brain Games #1: Lower Your Brain Age in Minutes a Day

This combination book of logic, math, sequencing, visual logic, language, cryptograms, crosswords, anagrams, and more puzzles really pushes variety to the max. Most of the other puzzles on this list aren’t very interactive in terms of putting pencil to the paper but this one has plenty of them. Solve anagrams, visual logic puzzles, crosswords, and more traditional logic puzzles within the 5 difficulty sections designed to work your brain. The author-Ph. D. duo that put together this book are both well known within the neuroscience community for developing programs to develop and exercise the mind. I recommend this puzzle for anyone who wants a huge range of puzzles to keep their mind busy – keep this one in the bathroom!

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How to pick the best logic puzzle book for you

What makes a good logic puzzle book?

In my opinion, the following makes a good logic puzzle book:

• Difficulty – The difficulty has to be close to perfect for the solver. If it’s too easy it will go by quickly, and if it’s impossible for the person to solve then they won’t derive any enjoyment at all. I find books with a range of difficulty levels the best because you can try harder or easier puzzles based on your experience.
• Topic – There are a few different types of logic puzzles that we’ll cover in this post. If you enjoy mathematics and math logic puzzles then there are books of that style. There are word-logic puzzles, and all other sorts of types. If you don’t know which types you like or don’t like just yet – you’ll have to pick up a puzzle book and find out your preferences.
• Variety – As mentioned in the above point there could be a topic, or there could be a variety of different types of puzzles. These are great to keep you guessing, develop different parts of your brain, or to give as gifts because the receiver will have different types and difficulties to go after.
• Length – In general, the longer the better. If you have 1000 puzzles to solve the book may be more appealing than a 300 puzzle one. We want challenging puzzles but we also want value for our dollar so this certainly must be considered when choosing the best logic puzzle book for you.
• Gift or for you? – If it’s as a gift, I always recommend getting multi-difficulty books so that there’s a range of puzzles for the gift receiver to solve. It’s easy to give a gift that’s too simple or too hard. When buying for yourself you’ll know what difficulty you can handle, or you can at least try a sample puzzle and read reviews (like this one!) before committing to any certain book.

The best logic puzzle books out there are the ones that keep us wanting more puzzles, more challenges, and more enjoyment after solving each problem. Based on puzzle experience – there is a puzzle book for everyone.

As I said earlier, the best logic puzzle books will vary from person to person. Books are great to keep in the car, around the house, on the coffee table, or give as gifts. For other alternatives to paper logic puzzles you could also check out apps and websites that regularly post logic puzzles of all sorts. This not only gives you access to unlimited puzzles every day, but they’re often free or very cheap and you don’t worry about using any paper or losing your books. Here are a few of my favorite sources:

• Mathisfun.com – Math and logic puzzles
• Logic-puzzles.org – Assortment of puzzles

Well, it was fun to write this article but I’ll have to let you go for now. The listed books are some of my favorite logic, and books in general out there right now so you can’t go wrong picking up one of these for yourself or giving one as a gift. Use this list of the best logic puzzle books out there to develop your mind and the minds of your loved ones.

Puzzle on!

Depending on your skill level and experience, the best Sudoku books will be different for each puzzler. The perfect puzzle will be challenging but not too hard, and still take you a decent amount of time to get enjoyment out of it. That’s what I think at least. In this Sudoku book review post I’ll cover some really great options for puzzlers ranging from beginner to advanced, and also give you some tips and resources for solving your Sudoku’s.

What to look for in Sudoku books

So what makes a “good” Sudoku book? Let’s go over some characteristics:

• Difficulty – As mentioned briefly above, the best Sudoku books will challenge you and take you a good amount of time but not be overly difficult or too easy. There’s no other way to gauge the difficulty and your experience other than trying out a few puzzles to see where you stand.
• Length – In my opinion, the longer and more puzzles the book contains the better. Bonus points for if it has different difficulty puzzles in the same book so you get some variety and can change up how hard the puzzle you solve is. Also multi-difficulty books are great for books that are in shared households so that everyone has a Sudoku difficulty they can complete.
• Size – Typically as we get older, our vision decays and some may already have vision issues. Some Sudoku puzzles are smaller than others and not very friendly to those with vision problems. If this is an issue for you or whoever you’re buying a Sudoku puzzle for, be kind and buy them a larger book or one that isn’t super-small.
• Price – In a world so dominated by the dollar, how can we forget about price? We always want the best bang for our buck so the more puzzle per dollar the better.
• Materials & Sustainability – Finally we look at the materials the book is made up of, and how those materials were sourced. If you’re concerned with environmental sustainability then you could opt for book options that are conscious of those issues.

Best Sudoku Books Reviews

Sudoku Puzzle Book Volume 1 (3.5/5)

This is one of the standard Sudoku puzzle books that I recommend to anyone with a bit of experience looking to get into solving Sudoku regularly. It has 50 of each difficulty including beginner, novice, moderate, and advanced. My only complaint with this book is that it’s a little bit small and tight for writing anything additional around the puzzle, and reading the puzzles reflects that. Overall a great Sudoku book with 200 puzzles that are fairly difficult for a few bucks.

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Huge Book of Hard Sudoku (4/5)

Next up I have a slightly more difficult 300 puzzle book for you to check out. This is very similar in puzzle amount, and price to the Volume 1 above but the puzzles are a fair bit more difficult. If you feel you’re getting past the more tame puzzles commonly found in the news or simple books, then this would be a great option for you. All of the 300 puzzles in this book are rated “hard” and I found most of them quite enjoying as a novice-intermediate Sudoku solver. I would not recommend this for a fresh beginner.

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Must Have 2016 Sudoku Puzzle Book (3/5)

This option is included on the list for it’s daily challenge appeal. With 366 puzzles it gives you a challenging Sudoku for each day of the year. Will you stay on track of fall behind? This type of book is great for engaging your brain every single day and a great gift. Of course in the end it’s still a book of puzzles so if you don’t do it on the specific day it’s not a great deal. I like this book because of the 5 ranges of difficulty, easy/moderate/nasty/cruel/deadly and it’s larger size. The puzzles are very comfortable on your eyes, and there’s plenty of room for notes and side-work. I would recommend this book for those with experience solving Sudoku’s, or as a gift for the puzzler in your family or friend group.

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The Largest Sudoku Book in the History of the Universe (4/5)

This book makes the list for pure value. With 5 difficulties ranging from beginner to expert, this 2000 puzzle book gives you insane value with more puzzles per dollar than any other book I’ve found. The difficulties are spread out evenly and a beginner, intermediate, or expert can pick this book up and have fun. I recommend this book for a family of Sudoku solvers, or as a long-lasting gift for a beginner. With plenty of puzzles ready to solve in each category you’ll be Sudoku-ing forever! The font used is a nice size, and this book has a lot of room for solving which is great.

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Beyond Black Belt Sudoku (5/5)

So you think you’re good at puzzles and Sudoku? Try this book and talk to me again. A lot of Sudoku books, including some on this list claim to be difficult but end up not being that hard in the end. The Beyond Black Belt Sudoku book delivers on this front, fantastically. I whole-heartedly agree that this is one of the most challenging Sudoku books ever printed and it definitely will not disappoint. The sizing is not great on this book but sacrifices must be made for top-tier difficulty puzzles, right?

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Large Print Sudoku (3.5/5)

With a lot of complaints on the size of Sudoku books, numbers, and extra solution-space I’ve included this large print Sudoku book in my list. We also have to accept that as we age, eye-sight diminishes and so does our focus – this makes an excellent option for the older Sudoku-ist or anyone with vision problems. On each 8×10 page in this full-ring book there is just ONE Sudoku puzzle – amazing!!! The difficulty range of these puzzles would be great for someone with a bit of Sudoku experience, but they aren’t too hard to pick up and learn on the go as a beginner.

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Sudoku Variants (3.5/5)

This is my one fun inclusion on the list, Sudoku variants! So you’ve been doing the same format Sudoku puzzle and you’re looking for a fun new game that uses the similar principles. This book of Sudoku variants has different grid variations, funky shapes, and difficulties for every puzzler. Pick up this book for a fresh style of puzzle that will keep you guessing at every turn of the page. This book is an excellent gift for the un-expecting puzzler in your life who you know loves Sudoku or other paper puzzles.

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Sudoku Resources

If you’re into Sudoku or know anyone who is, there certainly isn’t a shortage of Sudoku and number-based puzzle resources out there. Here are some of my favorites:

Sudoku Wiki
Resources for Sudoku designers – Great for anyone interested in designing their own puzzles or gaining game-design insights
Daily online Sudoku – A really great option for solving a Sudoku each day online and having access to reviews, solutions, the whole shebang. You can even design and submit your own puzzles and share them with friends – awesome.
Any who, Sudoku is a really great game and I hope that my reviews of the best Sudoku books will help you pick the right book for you or as a gift for a loved one if that’s your intent. Happy puzzling :)!