Make Couples Logic Puzzles: One of Each in Every Region, and No Twin Ever Touches
Your reader turns the page and finds no numbers to add and no words to hunt. Just a grid cut into bold-walled regions, a few purple and yellow circles already in place, and one rule: put one of each color in every region, and never let two of the same color touch, not even corner to corner.
She tries a purple. It brushes another purple on the diagonal. Out. She tries yellow, it fits, and suddenly the region next door has only one cell left where its purple can go.
That chain reaction is Couples, and you can make a whole book of it. It is a logic puzzle many of your readers will never have met, it fits in one sentence, and it looks nothing like the sudoku and word search pages on either side of it. Pick a size and a difficulty, and every board comes out with exactly one solution, solvable by logic alone, with its answer key from the same run.
Then make it look like anything. Every edition prints the classic A and B; with Creative, the markers become two colors, colored circles or triangles, numbers, Roman numerals, or two pictures of your own. Make your first board in the free demo and see how long it takes you to solve it.
How a Couples Puzzle Works: One Sentence to Learn, a Chain of Logic to Solve
The best logic puzzles take one sentence to explain and a lot longer to master. Couples is one of them.
Every region gets one A and one B. Two A’s never touch and two B’s never touch, not even corner to corner, so every marker you place fences off the cells around it from its twin. A and B can sit side by side. That is the whole rulebook.
What keeps a solver going is the squeeze. Small regions run out of room fast, a placed A shuts down a neighbor’s options, and one forced move hands you the next. There is nothing to count and nothing to look up, so a solver who has never seen Couples gets it on the first board.
Guess-Free, One Solution, and a Difficulty Label That Tells the Truth
Every logic-book publisher dreads the same one-star review: it needed guessing, or it had two answers.
Couples boards are built so it never gets written. Every board has exactly one solution, and every board can be solved by deduction alone, with no guessing. The answer key comes out of the same run, so it always matches the page you printed.
And the label is honest. Easy, Medium and Hard each set how deep the logic goes, and every puzzle is labeled with the level it actually needs. A board never comes out harder than you asked for, and its label always names the level it really needs, so the difficulty printed on the page is the difficulty your reader gets.
Choose your edition in the switcher at the top of this page, or solve a Hard board in the free demo first.
From a 6×6 Warm-Up to a 20×20 Marathon: Size and Difficulty, Set Separately
A beginner wants a small board they can finish over coffee. A regular wants a big one that eats an evening. You set both, and you set them separately.
Width and height each run from 5 to 20, so you can print squares from 5×5 to 20×20 or a rectangle that fills a landscape page. Difficulty is its own choice: Easy, Medium or Hard at any size, so you can print a big, relaxed Easy board or a small, tough Hard one. Cap how big a region may grow for a tighter or roomier board. On bigger grids the regions grow with the board on their own.
Colors, borders and fonts are yours on every edition. Give the region walls their own weight and color, set the outer frame, and pick the fonts, so your Couples pages match the rest of your book.
Circles and Triangles, Bunnies and Puppies: One Puzzle, Any Look (Creative)
Couples began life in a Dutch puzzle book called Breinbreker: Cirkels en driehoeken, “circles and triangles”. With Creative, you can print it that way again, or any other way you like.
The two markers are the entire visible surface of the puzzle, so changing them changes the whole book. Keep the classic A and B. Switch to two colors. Turn the colors into shapes: circles, triangles, squares, stars, diamonds, crosses or bars. Use numbers or Roman numerals. Or load two pictures of your own and the board becomes a puppy-and-bunny puzzle for a kids’ book, a heart-and-star puzzle for Valentine’s Day, or your brand’s two icons on every page.
The logic underneath stays the same, so a new theme is a new book, not a new puzzle to build. Every look prints, exports, and plays on the web with Interactive.
What You Can Make With Couples
- A standalone Couples book for KDP, graded from Easy 6×6 warm-ups to Hard 20×20 finishers
- Themed and seasonal books where the puzzle carries the theme: pets, holidays, sports colors, your own art (Creative)
- A fresh logic chapter that breaks up a mixed book of sudoku, word searches and mazes
- Printable worksheet packs for Etsy or Teachers Pay Teachers, each puzzle with its answer key
- Reasoning practice for a classroom with no arithmetic at all, in letters, colors or pictures
- A live puzzle on the big screen for a lesson, a club or a stream (Puzzle Slides, Creative)
- A playable sample or a leveled game on your own website (Interactive)
From One Board to a Whole Couples Book
One Couples board is a page. Ninety is the book. Type 90 in the quantity box and one run makes them, each with its own answer key, on every edition.
Send the set to Instant Puzzle Books and the book builds from your settings in one step, or open it in Puzzle Book Studio and lay it out page by page with your own page art, a how-to-play page and your own titles. Every edition builds ready-to-print puzzle books, complete with a title page, a table of contents, and a footer on every puzzle that tells your reader exactly which page its solution is on. Export the interior as print PDF for KDP, or the pages as PNG, JPG and SVG for listings and worksheets.
On Productivity, Time Saver runs a whole graded book in one pass: a row of Easy 7×7, a row of Medium 10×10, a row of Hard 15×15, each its own fresh set. Puzzle Book Studio Productivity combines those sets, and collections from your other Productivity modules, into one mixed book. And JSON export sends the puzzle data to your own apps and workflows.
Solve It Together on the Big Screen: Puzzle Slides (Creative)
A Couples board on paper is one person’s quiet puzzle. Put it on a screen and a whole room argues about where the next purple goes.
With Creative, export your set as Puzzle Slides, an interactive PowerPoint deck of your puzzles. Project it for a classroom warm-up, share it on a video call for a tutoring session, or run it as a round at a puzzle club or on a stream. The deck has the same look as your book, whether that is letters, colors or pictures, and it opens in PowerPoint with nothing else to install.
Let Readers Try One First: Play Couples on Your Own Site (Interactive editions)
The hardest part of selling a puzzle nobody has heard of is the first board. So let them solve one free.
With Interactive on Creative or Productivity, publish your Couples set to your own website through the free BookPublisherTools WordPress plugin. Visitors tap a cell to place a marker, tap again to switch it, and solve right in the browser, in letters, colors or your own pictures.
Drop in a sample. Put a short puzzle list on a blog post or your book’s page, and a visitor learns the rule by playing it, without you explaining a thing.
Or turn it into a game. Turn the set into a leveled game whose levels can unlock in order, with each visitor’s progress kept in their own browser. Rename the levels “Lessons” and it becomes reasoning practice each student works through at their own pace. When the last board is cleared, a finish screen shows your own message and button, such as “Enjoyed these? Get the full book.”
Play Couples online and see how the first region falls.
Who Couples Is For: Publishers, Teachers and Kids’ Book Makers
Puzzle book publishers on KDP and print-on-demand. The category is full of sudoku. Couples gives you a logic book that looks like none of them, every board with one solution and its key, and with Creative you can theme it for any audience.
Existing Puzzle Maker Pro customers. Add a new logic page to the workflow you already run: the same presets, Smart Titles and book builders, and on Productivity one more row in the Time Saver grid you already use.
Teachers, tutors and Teachers Pay Teachers sellers. Logical reasoning with no arithmetic: a small Easy board in pictures (Creative) for younger learners, a Hard one for early finishers, every one with its answer key. With Creative, project it as Puzzle Slides and solve it as a class.
Activity and kids’ book creators. With Creative, swap A and B for two cute pictures and the puzzle becomes a page a child wants to solve, with the same guaranteed single answer underneath.
Which Edition Should You Choose?
Every edition makes Couples puzzles at every size and difficulty, with one solution, an answer key and ready-to-print books. Then ask two questions. Do you want the puzzle itself to carry your theme, in colors, shapes or pictures? And do you make one book at a time, or a catalog?
Couples (Standard). For publishers who want the classic puzzle in A and B. Every size from 5×5 to 20×20, Easy to Hard, your own colors, borders and fonts, exported as JPG, PNG, SVG or PDF and built into a finished book.
Creative. For themed books. Everything in Standard, plus the markers as colors, colored shapes, numbers, Roman numerals or your own pictures, and Puzzle Slides for solving on the big screen.
Productivity. For the publisher with a catalog. Everything in Creative, plus Time Saver for a whole graded book in one pass, mixed books from several collections, JSON export, and the right to supply the generated puzzles to other publishers.
| What you get | Standard | Creative | Productivity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Couples puzzles from 5×5 to 20×20, Easy, Medium and Hard, one solution and an answer key for every puzzle | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Classic A and B markers; your own colors, region walls, frame and fonts | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Export JPG, PNG, SVG and PDF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instant Puzzle Books and Puzzle Book Studio (one collection), with title page, table of contents and solution cross-references | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Markers as colors, colored shapes, numbers, Roman numerals or your own pictures | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Puzzle Slides, an interactive PowerPoint for classrooms and live sessions | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Time Saver, batch production from saved rows | ✓ | ||
| Puzzle Book Studio Productivity, books from several collections plus external puzzles | ✓ | ||
| JSON export of the puzzle data for your own apps and workflows | ✓ | ||
| Play on the web, as a puzzle list or a leveled game | + Interactive | + Interactive | |
| License to sell finished books, worksheets and packs to your own readers and customers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| License to sell or supply the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers | ✓ |
Add Interactive to Creative or Productivity and your readers solve their first Couples board on your own site, before they buy the book.
You can move up to any higher edition after you buy: Creative when you want themed books, Productivity when you want a catalog, Interactive on either for web play. Pick the edition that fits what you are making today in the switcher at the top of this page.
Try It Before You Buy
Make one Hard board in the free demo and solve it before you look at the key. If the last region makes you stop and think, it will do the same to your readers. Each demo run makes one watermarked puzzle image; a paid edition makes a whole set in one run, with no watermark.
Get the free demo and place your first pair.
Licensing and Commercial Use
Couples and Couples Creative both let you sell the finished books, worksheets and packs you make to your own readers and customers, on KDP, Etsy, Teachers Pay Teachers, or your own store. It is a one-time commercial-use license, and nothing you make carries a watermark.
Couples Productivity includes that, plus you may sell or supply the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers.
Standard and Creative carry the same selling rights. Moving up to Creative adds what you can make, not what you may sell. Delivery is immediate: your download and license appear in your member area the moment your order completes.
Product Details
| Product | Puzzle Maker Pro – Couples |
| Editions | Couples (Standard); Creative; Creative + Interactive; Productivity; Productivity + Interactive |
| Platform | Windows desktop |
| Puzzle | Region logic: one of each marker per region; equal markers never touch, diagonals included |
| Grid sizes | Width and height each 5 to 20 (squares and rectangles) |
| Difficulty | Easy, Medium, Hard at every size; each puzzle labeled with the level it needs |
| Solutions | Exactly one per puzzle, reachable by logic alone; answer key from the same run |
| Markers | A and B on every edition; colors, colored shapes, numbers, Roman numerals and your own pictures with Creative and up |
| Styling | Canvas, cells, grid lines, region walls, outer frame and fonts on every edition |
| Output formats | JPG, PNG, SVG, PDF |
| Puzzle books | Instant Puzzle Books and Puzzle Book Studio on every edition; title page, table of contents and solution cross-references; books from several collections with Productivity |
| Puzzle Slides | Creative and up |
| Batch creation | Quantity up to 999 per run on every edition; Time Saver with Productivity |
| JSON export | Productivity editions |
| Web play | On your own site through the WordPress plugin, as a list or a leveled game (Interactive editions) |
| Upgrades | Move up to any higher edition after you buy |
| Commercial license | Sell finished books, worksheets and packs to your own readers and customers (Standard and Creative); Productivity adds selling or supplying the generated puzzles to other publishers and sellers |
| Free demo | Yes, download the Windows demo |
| Delivery | Immediate, in your member area |
Questions Before You Buy
Is there a free demo?
Yes. Install the free Windows demo, make a Couples board and solve it yourself. Each demo run gives you one watermarked puzzle image.
What is a Couples puzzle?
A region logic puzzle. The grid is split into bold-outlined regions, and you place two markers so every region holds exactly one of each, while two of the same marker never touch, not even diagonally. There is no math and nothing to count.
Will my readers know how to solve it?
Yes. The rule fits in one sentence, and each page can print it under the title: “Place one of each shape in every region.” Start the book with a few Easy boards and readers learn the rhythm before the harder ones arrive. Rather test it first? Run a Couples chapter inside a mixed book before you give it a book of its own.
Can a board have two answers, or need guessing?
No. Every board has exactly one solution and can be solved by logic alone. Each one is labeled with the difficulty it actually needs, so the level you print is the level your reader gets.
Which edition do I need?
Classic A and B puzzles and books: Couples. Colors, shapes or your own pictures, plus Puzzle Slides: Creative. A whole graded book in one pass, mixed books or supplying puzzles to other publishers: Productivity. Add Interactive to Creative or Productivity for play on your own site. The whole ladder is on Puzzle Maker Pro Editions Explained.
Can I use my own pictures?
Yes, with Creative and up. Load two images and they become the markers, on the printed page, in Puzzle Slides and in web play.
Does a bigger board mean a harder puzzle?
No. Size and difficulty are separate settings, so you can print a large Easy board or a small Hard one.
What do I need to run it?
A Windows PC. Couples is part of the Puzzle Maker Pro desktop app, so install the free demo on the computer you will use and try it there first.
Can I sell what I make?
Yes. Couples and Couples Creative both let you sell the finished books, worksheets and printable packs you make to your own readers and customers. Productivity adds the right to sell or supply the generated puzzles themselves to other publishers and sellers.
Can I upgrade later?
Yes. You can move up to any higher edition after you buy: further up the ladder when you want themed markers or a whole catalog in one pass, or Interactive on top of Creative or Productivity. Start with the edition that fits what you are making today; you are never locked into it.
Give Your Readers a Puzzle They Have Never Solved
Without something new, your next logic book is one more stack of sudoku grids in a category full of them.
Put Couples in instead. A reader meets the rule on page one, finishes the Easy boards in an evening, and turns to the Hard section to find out how deep it goes. The kids’ book has bunnies and puppies, the Valentine’s book has hearts and stars, and every board in every one has one answer and a key to prove it.
Pick the edition that fits the book you are making next, in the switcher at the top. Not sure yet? Get the free demo and solve a board before you decide.
