Thanks for your votes in the Nikoli Derby - 3rd world championship. The champion horse was Ferday Ferday Ferday starting from gate 14 with the jockey Ferday .
This victory must have been because the jockey cried out the name three times just before the goal!?
We are now quite sure you know what the Nikoli Derby is all about.
We are looking forward to your turnout and the results of the 4th Nikoli Derby. Look out for announcements about that.
80 horses entered and 79 horses started.
Duplicate entries from one email or IP address are invalid. Only the last entry from one address is considered the valid entry for that person.
Messages from the horse owners
Great thanks for your many vivid messages and comments about Masyu puzzles . We are glad and delighted that you all love this puzzle.
Gate: 1 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Bill
Horse owners nickname fbob
I love Masyu!! But sometimes I accidently erase lines becuase I move my mouse too fast. I do not like this.
Gate: 1 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name cutesheephorse
Horse owners nickname cyn
I like the Masyu puzzle, it's fun :)
Gate: 2 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Parsimony
Horse owners nickname caribou
I try to understand them, but mostly I fail. Sometime I will figure out that part I am missing and will be able to complete these puzzles.
Gate: 2 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Stopheles
Horse owners nickname The Dan
I enjoy Masyu once in a while, but they get repetitive if I solve a lot of them.
Gate: 3 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Flaming Homer
Horse owners nickname dementia1988
I am enjoying the Masyu puzzles although I'm still determining strategies for solving them. I hope that you add Filominos soon.
Gate: 3 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Glue Stick
Horse owners nickname tlhinman
I like Masyu a lot and I'm pleased to see it on the site. I'm hoping you will add Fillomino or Ripple Effect soon.
Gate: 4 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Penny
Horse owners nickname Alison
I love Masyu!
Gate: 4 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Urban Spaceman
Horse owners nickname Asteroid
The easier Masyu are too easy. Just follow the rules, fill in everything according to those rules and the puzzles solve themselves without me having to think. Follow the rules and the answer appears even if you have no understanding of it whatsoever. The hard ones are better, like mimic's recent 36x20 one where just using the rules doesn't give an instant solution as there are lots of possibilities left to puzzle over. I just got round to solving that and it was fun.
Gate: 4 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Lucky Strike
Horse owners nickname Tristal
It is not my style, unfortunately. I prefer Kakuro , Akari and Nurikabe .
Gate: 4 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Wasabi
Horse owners nickname photosurrealism
I didn't enjoy masyu puzzles when I first tried them on paper (in GAMES Magazine), but once I could experiment with them online, I found that I enjoy them very much! I don't like them as much as hashi (which I would like to see at Nikoli).
Gate: 5 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name IronChef
Horse owners nickname shaevel
This is a wonderful puzzle! Thanks so much for the excellent variety. ""Shikaku "" is probably my favorite right now, but ""heyawake "" and ""akari "" are excellent, too. I much prefer all of these to the more popular (at least in America) Sudoku and Kakuro . Thanks again for such a wonderful site.
Gate: 5 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name smitty
Horse owners nickname smitcat
I love the Masyu puzzles. Maybe someday I will be better at them!
Gate: 5 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Comedy Wears a Tie
Horse owners nickname Rick Lets
I LOVE MASYU. So glad it's a part of the website now.
Gate: 5 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Winchester
Horse owners nickname bethfay
I enjoy the Masyu puzzles very much!
Gate: 6 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Mister McPonypants
Horse owners nickname Carolyn
You wanted to know what I think of Masyu, so here is what I think. I love Masyu! There are no numbers on the grid so it is easy for anyone to play. The rules are simple but powerful, so there are many possibilities! I don't get a headache playing Masyu. Puzzles can be challenging, but it is not too frustrating to figure it out when I am stuck!
Gate: 6 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Steed Demon
Horse owners nickname Francis
I like Masyu pretty well. Would like Fillomino even better though! (^_^)
Gate: 6 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Out In Front
Horse owners nickname Yvraine
What do I think about Masyu? I love it! I discovered it when I bought a bunch of Nikoli books a few years ago and I'm so happy you've included it on the website.
Gate: 8 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Lucky
Horse owners nickname Simon
great
Gate: 8 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Zingaloo
Horse owners nickname Stitch
I had seen the puzzle in various forms and was interested, but the rules were unclear. Once I saw in the Nikoli tutorial the exact nature of the rules, It bacame one of my three favorite kinds.
Gate: 8 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Gecklyn
Horse owners nickname cris
I love the masyu puzzle. Thank you for adding it. Are we going to see hashi (bridges) someday? Thanks.
Gate: 9 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Pooper Buttercup
Horse owners nickname Zyntax
I enjoy the puzzle. Keep more of them coming!
Gate: 9 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Epona
Horse owners nickname Marble
I don't know why other horses enter my gate. :-(
Gate: 9 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name JoeyJoeJoeJuniorShabadoo
Horse owners nickname ZD
When a new puzzle is published, I am happiest to see that it is a masyu puzzle. This is a rich puzzle with many new tactics, despite there being so few rules. I like the hard puzzles more than the easy ones, and I do feel that I am getting better as I keep solving. One suggestion: is there any way to make long chains different colors? I often spend many seconds figuring out which ends should not connect because they belong to the same long chain. Thank you for masyu!
Gate: 9 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name NoName - in the desert
Horse owners nickname JesterJ
I like the new Masyu puzzle a lot! Thank you for adding new puzzle types.
Gate: 11 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Seven
Horse owners nickname LY2020
very difficult
Gate: 11 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Little Bit
Horse owners nickname trollsdotter
I am enjoying the Masyu puzzles very much. I hope that you will add more games from your Penpa Mix volumes as time goes on.
Gate: 12 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Mustang Sally
Horse owners nickname Nickoli
Gate number chosen at random--the only way to win. Masyu is the best puzzle.
Gate: 12 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Gambling Georgia
Horse owners nickname Torch32
I think they are very good puzzles- very tempted to join- maybe I can win a free membership
Gate: 12 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Pegasus
Horse owners nickname Bob
I like them a lot. I wish there were more of the large format puzzles, as the small ones are too easy. I would like to see yajilin (arrow ring) puzzles too.
Gate: 12 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name 10e100
Horse owners nickname tim
Masyu is great!
Gate: 13 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name bpackwood
Horse owners nickname packing
nikoli.com rocks! run horses run
Gate: 13 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Rukocina
Horse owners nickname Flette
Masyu puzzles are different, but fun. I would like to see some more challenging ones
Gate: 13 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Alpha
Horse owners nickname dlimpid
Masyu is very interesting. :) I want to meet more ""brand new"" Masyu puzzles that contains wonderful strategies, and more new kinds of puzzle. :)
Gate: 13 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Rocinante
Horse owners nickname The Quixotic Yombo
Masyu is a great puzzle, and your online version works well. Keep 'em coming!
Gate: 13 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Demosthenes
Horse owners nickname Wervyn
I was extremely excited when Nikoli announced they were going to start posting Masyu online. The flash app is practically flawless. Please make more.
Gate: 14 Champion
Horse name Ferday Ferday Ferday
Horse owners nickname Ferday
I love Masyu - it's a wonderful puzzle and it works well for both easy and hard designs. It's one of my favorite Nikoli puzzles, along with Shikaku , Fillomino , and Yajilin (hint hint).
Gate: 17 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name HopAlongTed
Horse owners nickname Jinnantonnix
I can never remember the rules, so I don't play it very often.
Gate: 18 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Barely Legal
Horse owners nickname kekoa
Masyu is pretty fun, but I like Hitori more.
Gate: 21 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Dysons Sphere
Horse owners nickname stigant
Masyu is lots of fun. I don't think that the difficulty levels correspond to difficulty levels of other puzzles very well yet. ie for me a ""Hard Masyu"" is probably about as difficult as a ""Medium Heyawake "" or a ""Medium Slitherlink "" etc, and I don't think this is because I'm particularly better at masyu. I hope you guys add a ""Spiral Galaxies"" puzzle sometime in the future, but of course, I look forward to any new additions.
Gate: 28 5th place
Horse name Adam Sapple
Horse owners nickname Moorsy
Masyu... good idea, just can't get my head around them so far. I'll get there though... ^_^
Gate: 29 Ran whole distance.
Horse name Kamaboko
Horse owners nickname Jeff
Masyu が大好き！
Gate: 36 Ran whole distance.
Horse name Freuds Revenge
Horse owners nickname Filou
Masyu is one of the best! Possibly my favorite after Heyawake .
Gate: 38 Ran whole distance.
Horse name Khartoum Violins
Horse owners nickname Khartoum
I like your implementation of the Masyu puzzle. It's very intuitive (I basically do the puzzles by pencil in the exact same manner). I can't wait for additional puzzle types to be supported
Gate: 41 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name OhMyPoorHooves
Horse owners nickname Yggrynd
I love it!
Gate: 41 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Lyrical Garuda
Horse owners nickname Rinka Serizawa
No Time Thinking.
Gate: 42 Ran whole distance.
Horse name Devlin
Horse owners nickname Sawallaby
Masyu is an awesome puzzle! I'm so happy to be able to play it.
Gate: 47 Ran whole distance.
Horse name Federer
Horse owners nickname tsonga
I like puzzles requiring to draw a path in the grid.
Gate: 82 Ran whole distance.
Horse name Willow Lodge
Horse owners nickname Puffin
I love the new Masyu puzzle. More please - especially medium/hard ones.
Gate: 88 Ran whole distance.
Horse name Allegory
Horse owners nickname nlwhis
I love the new Masyu puzzles. Very challenging.
Gate: 97 Booby prize
Horse name Pegazus
Horse owners nickname dreahan
Maysu puzzle ROKCS!!! I just love it!
Gate: 99 Fell from horse before reaching goal.
Horse name Mr. Sugar Cube
Horse owners nickname Mr. Pickles
I'm enjoying it- it has the simplicity and aesthetic of slitherlink , but with a different determinative mode.
The gate number is the key to winning the Nikoli Derby. The smallest gate number chosen by only one person is the winner. If two or more persons choose the same gate number they will lose the race. This means that you have to choose the smallest number that nobody else has chosen to win the race. What is the smallest number from 1 to 100?
Right, of course gate number 1 has the greatest advantage, but other horse owners know that too. If say, two or more horses are entered for each of gates 1 to 50, then the horse starting from gate 51 will win. Now, you have to guess the "smaller number" of those where you will be the only starting horse. The final ranking is ordered from smaller to larger numbers.
