Nikoli Co., Ltd. (Japanese: 株式会社ニコリ, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha, Nikori) is a Japanese publisher that specializes in games and, especially, logic puzzles. Nikoli is also the nickname of a quarterly magazine (whose full name is Puzzle Communication Nikoli) issued by the company in Tokyo.^[1] Nikoli was established in 1980,^[1] and became prominent worldwide with the popularity of Sudoku.

The name "Nikoli" comes from the racehorse who won the Irish 2,000 Guineas in 1980; the founder of Nikoli, Maki Kaji, was fond of horseracing and betting.^[2]

Nikoli's claim to fame is its vast library of "culture independent" puzzles. An example of a language/culture-dependent genre of puzzle would be the crossword, which relies on a specific language and alphabet. For this reason Nikoli's puzzles are often purely logical, and often numerical.^{[citation needed]}

Nikoli's Sudoku, the most popular logic problem in Japan,^[3] was popularized in the English-speaking world in 2005, though that game has a history stretching back hundreds of years and across the globe.^[4]

The magazine has invented several new genres of puzzles, and introduced several new games to Japan.

Nikoli puzzles

Some of the popular Nikoli puzzles,^{[citation needed]} along with their Japanese names; terms in parentheses are published English titles for the same puzzles.

• Bag (バッグ, baggu) (Corral)
• Connect the dots (点つなぎ, ten tsunagi) (dot to dots)
• Country Road (カントリーロード, kantorī rōdo)
• Crossword (クロスワードパズル, kurosuwādo pazuru)
  • Cipher crossword (ナンクロ, nankuro)
• Edel (エデル, ederu) (Paint by Numbers, Nonogram, Griddler)
• Fillomino (フィルオミノ, firuomino) (Allied Occupation)
• Gokigen Naname (ごきげんななめ, gokigen naname) (Slant)
• Goishi Hiroi (碁石ひろい, goishi hiroi) (Go Stones)
• Hashiwokakero (橋をかけろ, hashi o kakero) (Bridges)
• Heyawake (へやわけ, heyawake)
• Hitori (ひとりにしてくれ, hitori ni shitekure)
• Hotaru Beam (ホタルビーム, hotaru bīmu)
• Inshi no heya (因子の部屋, inshi no heya)
• Kakuro (カックロ, kakkuro) (Cross Sums, Kakro)
• Keisuke (ケイスケ, keisuke)
• Kin-Kon-Kan (キンコンカン, kinkonkan)
• Kuromasu (黒マスはどこだ, kuromasu wa dokoda)
• Light Up (美術館, bijutsukan)
• LITS (ヌルオミノ, nuruomino)
• Mainarizumu (マイナリズム, mainarizumu)
• Masyu (ましゅ, mashu)
• Maze (迷路, meiro)
  • Picture maze (浮き出し迷路, ukidashi meiro)
• Mochikoro (モチコロ, mochikoro)
• Numberlink (ナンバーリンク, nanbā rinku)
• Nurikabe (ぬりかべ, nurikabe) (Cell Structure)
• Reflect Link (リフレクトリンク, refurekuto rinku)
• Ripple Effect (波及効果, hakyū kōka)
• Shakashaka (シャカシャカ, shakashaka)
• Shikaku (四角に切れ, shikaku ni kire) (Divide by Squares)
• Slitherlink (スリザーリンク, surizā rinku) (Fences)
• Stained Glass (ステンドグラス, sutendo gurasu)
• Sto-stone (ストストーン, sutosutōn)
• Sudoku (数独, sūdoku) (Number Place, Nine Numbers)
• Tatamibari (タタミバリ, tatami bari)
• Tatebo-Yokobo (タテボーヨコボー, tatebō yokobō)
• Tentai Show (天体ショー, tentai shō) (Galaxies)
• Tile Paint (タイルペイント, tairu peinto)
• Verbal arithmetic (ふくめん算, fukumensan) (Alphametics, Cryptarithm)
• Word search (シークワーズ, shīku wādo) (Word seek)
• Yajilin (ヤジリン, yajirin) (Arrow Ring)
• Yajisan-Kazusan (やじさんかずさん, yajisan kazusan)