Mensa® Sudoku

by Michael Rios

Sudoku for the super-smart! Mensa members are known for their finely-honed logic skills—and that’s just what it takes to become an expert at sudoku. So it’s no surprise that this organization for the highly intelligent has put together a huge collection of these sizzling-hot puzzles—a whopping 534 games to sate the obsessed solver’s craving. They start out relatively easy for the newcomer, and get harder (and more fun!) as you go along. 

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 28, 2005

Reviews

[Sjors · Rating 1 out of 5]

Insultingly simple. Scandalous marketing practices. Don't buy!

So I like the odd sudoku here and there; in fact, I don't mind spending up to an hour to crack particularly a fiendish exemplar of said genus. So I bought this book thinking I was getting a bit of a challenge on my hands - after all, isn't MENSA that shadowy organization for the hyper-intelligent? The back flap blurb read: "The mind bogglers in this championship-level collection will challenge even the most expert solvers." So I was rubbing my hands inwardly as I carried this book to the checkout.

Imagine my dissapointment when I found out that I could solve all puzzles I tried with great ease. I started in the beginning of the book - very easy, the kind of sudoku my kid solved when he was 8. 'Ok' I thought 'this is to be expected; even the hyper-intelligent must need a warm up'. I then tried some puzzles from the middle of the book. Very slightly more difficult, but still most numbers were practically handed to you. Then I tried the last pages. Same here. Simple. Too simple, no challenge at all. A waste of money and time. I don't think even my kid will like to get this book passed to him (he is 9 now).

These are not "championship-level" puzzles..! MENSA should be ashamed of this cash grab.

[Dewey Wilkerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book itself is very well designed. The pages are not too bright white, making it comfortable to look at. The paper is nice to write on, and the size is perfect for travel while not being too small as to make it uncomfortable to use. Not to mention, the cover has a very ordinary design, as opposed to a cringy "eye-catching" one. It reminds me of when Anton Ego said in Pixar's Ratatouille (2007), "to say the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement." The meal being sudoku, the maker being Puzzle Write Press, and the fine cooking being puzzle books. It is a peak example of user experience design.
The puzzles are fine.

[David Grissom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of 500+ sudoku puzzles that is an official Mensa puzzle book. Yes it took a long time for me to complete. I had lost interest and other things came up. About Oct of 2023 I picked this book up and began to finish it. I had up till then done about 70 puzzles. If these puzzles are Mensa quality/hard to do then I’m a lot smarter than I think. Yes, it takes time but I could expect to do one every 20 to 30 minutes if I tried. If you are a Sudoku fan then this book will keep you busy for the summer. Have fun and enjoy!!

[cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basic Sudoku puzzles for the not-quite-beginner.
Most of these would be rated "easy" by the New York Times. The greatest puzzle must be the mystery of the Mensa branding. Okay, not really--we all know it was done for money.

[Irene Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easier than I thought it would be.