Magic total 15
How to play
Goal
Place every number once so that each row, each column and both diagonals add up to the same magic total.
How it works
- On 3×3 you use the numbers 1 to 9 and every line must make 15. On 4×4 you use 1 to 16 and every line must make 34.
- A few numbers are already placed to get you started.
- Tap an empty square, then tap a number. Tap ⌫ to clear a square.
- The totals at the end of each row, under each column and in the corners (for the diagonals) update as you go. They turn peach when a full line hits the magic total.
Tips
- On 3×3 the middle square is always 5, the middle number of 1 to 9.
- On 3×3 the even numbers 2, 4, 6 and 8 always sit in the corners.
- Opposite squares through the middle add up to 10 on 3×3, so they balance each other.
- On 4×4, look for lines with three numbers already filled: the fourth is simply 34 minus their sum.
The history of Magic Square
According to Chinese legend, around 2000 BC a turtle rose from the Lo river with a pattern of dots on its shell: the 3×3 magic square now called the Lo Shu. Magic squares later spread to India, the Islamic world and Europe. The artist Albrecht Dürer put a 4×4 one in his 1514 engraving Melencolia I, with the year hidden in its bottom row.