Best logic and deduction puzzle games

Logic puzzles are the broccoli of mobile gaming — quietly virtuous, somehow always satisfying once you start. The format is older than computing, and decades of design refinement have produced a small library of formats that are essentially perfect: sudoku, picross / nonograms, kakuro, slitherlink, and the various deduction-grid games where the rules are simple and the deductions are deep.

The list below is our pick of mobile implementations of those formats, plus a generous set of newer logic puzzles that adapt the lineage in interesting ways. To qualify, a title needs at least a 4.3 average and 500+ App Store ratings, and an editorial fit for the deduction-puzzle category. We have favoured apps that get the small details right — clean number entry, undo support, mistake-highlighting that helps you learn rather than just nagging.

This is a category where the right game can become a lifelong daily ritual. We know multiple readers who have been working through the same sudoku app every morning for years, and the developers behind the great implementations of these formats deserve enormous credit for keeping the experience fresh. If you are building a permanent slot on your home screen for a logic puzzle, start near the top of the list and try two or three until one clicks.