Satogaeri

Satogaeri is a Nikoli puzzle in which the aim of the game is to move circles on a grid in such a way that each section has only 1 circle. It can be played on any sized grid, but the bigger the grid the bigger the challenge becomes. Part of the difficulty does lie with the circles and the hints they give however.

The rules are as follows:
- Move circles vertically and horizontally so each section (called a country) has only one circle.
- The numbers in some of the circles indicate how many cells that circle has to pass through to be in the correct position.
- Circles aren't allowed to cross paths or go over each other.

Standard version

Solving a Satogaeri puzzle can be tricky depending on the amount of clues you've been given. The higher the number on a circle the easier it usually is to move it to its correct spot, as there will be few paths it can take that won't break the rules.
Should high numbered circles not be available it becomes a game of both deduction and of trial and error. Some circles will only have 1 way to go, but finding them isn't always straight forward. So the trial and error part often comes from simply picking a circle and see if you can figure out its possible paths.

Converting it to an RPG setting.

Satogaeri can be converted in multiple ways, but the obvious one comes from its rules. Since the divided parts are called countries the obvious adaptation would be to change the circles to armies, representatives, resources, or anything else that needs to be divided equally.
Countries could be replaced with households, farm plots, rooms, power sockets, and so on.

I went with a magical armor themed puzzle for my example below. My character is faced with a huge room full of armor sets. She's told to make sure each section, marked by lines on the floor, contains only 1 suit of armor. However, to move them she has to follow the rules of a Satogaeri puzzle. The only difference is that instead of direct number hints she's given them in the form of color hints. The black knight has to move three spots, the dark grey knigths have to move two, and the golden knights one spot.

As long as she manages to figure out the puzzle she'll be fine, but should she fail the suit of armor that's in the wrong spot will come to life, attack, return to its old position, and revert back to its inanimate form.
The returning to their original spot element of this ensures figuring out the puzzle won't take too long, at least in the case of the less puzzle enthusiastic parties. Those who do enjoy puzzles will likely delve into it, find the solution first, and then move the statues.

Privacy