Software:Sokoban

From HandWiki
Short description: Puzzle video game

Sokoban
Sokoban official fan kit banner
Genre(s)Puzzle
Developer(s)Thinking Rabbit
ASCII
Itochu
UNBALANCE (ゲーム会社) (ja)
Falcon
Publisher(s)Thinking Rabbit
ASCII
Itochu
UNBALANCE (ゲーム会社) (ja)
Creator(s)Hiroyuki Imabayashi
Platform(s)
First releaseSokoban
1982[lower-alpha 1]
Latest releaseThe Sokoban
2021

Script error: The function "nihongo_foot" does not exist. is a puzzle video game created in 1981 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi. In Sokoban, the player pushes boxes in a warehouse to get them onto storage locations. The game is viewed from a top-down perspective. Boxes can only be pushed, never pulled, and only one box can be pushed at a time. The principal challenge is planning moves correctly to avoid causing a deadlock, a situation where a box or the player becomes permanently trapped, making the puzzle unsolvable.

Its core mechanics became the foundation for a series of official releases. Imabayashi's company, Thinking Rabbit, released the first commercial version in 1982. After that first release, Thinking Rabbit and its licensed partners developed new titles until 2000. The game debuted internationally in 1988 with the U.S. release Soko-Ban. Falcon, a Japanese software company, acquired the Sokoban rights in 2001. Since then, new installments have been published either by Falcon under the Thinking Rabbit brand or by licensed partners.

Over its history, the Sokoban series has sold over 4.1 million copies worldwide, with more than 40 official games released across various platforms. Reviewers have highlighted the game's simplicity, its addictive and challenging nature, and the level of thought required.

Sokoban's core mechanics have been replicated in numerous clones. The game has inspired thousands of community-created puzzles, as well as Sokoban-like games. The Sokoban puzzle concept of pushing boxes to clear a path or move them to targets has also appeared in other video games. Furthermore, Sokoban puzzles have been studied in the fields of computational complexity and artificial intelligence.

Gameplay

The puzzles in Sokoban require the player to push boxes to designated spots (shown as red dots in the animation) in the game world.

Sokoban takes place in a warehouse viewed from above and composed of walls and floor squares. A floor square may be empty, occupied by the player, or occupied by a box. Some floor squares are storage locations. The number of storage locations equals the number of boxes. The objective of the puzzle is to push all boxes onto storage locations.[1]

The player can move one square at a time, either horizontally or vertically, onto an empty floor square.[2] Boxes and walls block the player's movement, but the player can walk up to a box and push it to an empty square directly beyond it. If a box is pushed against a wall or another box, it does not move. Pulling boxes is not possible.[3]

Sokoban requires players to plan several moves ahead and consider all possible outcomes.[4] Careless moves could leave a box permanently trapped against a wall or another box,[2] stuck in a dead end,[5] or permanently prevent access to boxes that still need to be moved.[6]: 38  Any such situation creates a deadlock that makes the puzzle unsolvable, regardless of future moves,[7] unless the player undoes enough steps.[8]

History

In 1981,[9] Hiroyuki Imabayashi created the Sokoban video game for the NEC PC-8001 as a hobby, featuring text-based graphics and five original levels.[10]: 136–137  He had long been intrigued by the movement of a character pushing luggage[9] in action game Aldebaran #1 (1980),[11] in which luggage was used as an obstacle to block radiation;[12] he implemented that movement as a puzzle using BASIC in spring (c. April),[9][12] envisioning a warehouse setting where incorrect box placement could make further progress difficult or even impossible.[9] In c. autumn, he completed the design of levels that proved challenging even for his friends.[9] That winter,[9] his wife's parents owned a record store, and there was talk of setting up a small computer section in it; at the time, a salesman who happened to see the game suggested to Imabayashi that it had commercial potential.[10]: 137 [9]

First level of Sokoban for the NEC PC-8801, designed by Hiroyuki Imabayashi.

Imabayashi then began preparing Sokoban for commercial release;[9] using a NEC PC-8801 in the computer section, he decided on the design, enhanced the graphics, and expanded the level count to twenty.[10]: 137  He founded Thinking Rabbit, and Sokoban was released as its first commercial title. The timeline of these events varies across sources: official records report a 1982 founding[9] and a December 1982 release,[13]: 3  while other sources give 1983 as the release year, with differing months: April,[14]: 49  May,[10]: 136  and June,[15]: 128  as well as a June 1983 company debut[15]: 128  or incorporation.[10]: 136 

In August 1983, the Japanese magazine PC Magazine published Sokoban Extra Edition as a type-in program with ten new puzzles, developed by Thinking Rabbit at the magazine's request.[16] In 1984, Thinking Rabbit released Sokoban 2, which included a puzzle editor.[17] Throughout the 1980s, new titles appeared on various Japanese platforms, including home computers such as the MSX and PC-9801, and consoles like the Famicom, Sega SG-1000, Sega Mega Drive, and Game Boy.[13]: 112 [18] These releases were developed either by Thinking Rabbit or by other companies under license agreements.[9] In 1987, Spectrum HoloByte in California licensed Sokoban from Japan's ASCII, adapted the MSX version for IBM PC, Apple II, and Commodore 64, added features for the U.S. market, and released it as Soko-Ban in early 1988.[19][20] Falcon, a Japanese software company, trademarked the game's kanji name "倉庫番" in 1988.[21] New titles in the official series[22] were released in Japan throughout the 1990s for platforms including the Super Famicom, Windows, Macintosh, and PlayStation.[18]

Around 2000, Thinking Rabbit became inactive but remained a legal entity.[12] In 2001, Falcon acquired the copyrights for Sokoban,[23] and trademarked the Latin-script name "Sokoban" in 2003[24] and the name "Thinking Rabbit" in 2011.[25] From 2004 to 2007, Falcon developed several titles for Japanese mobile phones.[26][27] Between 2015 and 2018, Falcon developed five Sokoban titles for Windows and the smartphone game Sokoban Touch (2016), publishing each under the Thinking Rabbit brand.[18][28] Notably, Falcon bundled four of these Windows titles into the Sokoban Complete Pack (倉庫番 コンプリートパック) (2016) to commemorate the series' 35th anniversary, which was published by スキルインフォメーションズ (ja).[29][18] Falcon developed three Sokoban titles for Japanese digital terrestrial television broadcasters in 2018.[30] Unbalance developed and published an official title in 2021, The Sokoban, for the Nintendo Switch[31] and PlayStation 4.[32]

Games

Sokoban has a fixed set of gameplay rules;[3] however, certain official releases have expanded the rules or introduced variations on the core mechanics. For example, in the first commercial title (1982), a variant that applies from level 11 onward allows certain walls to be broken.[13]: 113–116  The PlayStation version of Ultimate Sokoban (究極の倉庫番) features a set of levels in which boxes must be stored in an arrangement that completes an electrical circuit.[33]: 14  Sokoban Special of Tears (涙の倉庫番スペシャル) and Sokoban Legend: Land of Light and Darkness (倉庫番伝説 光と闇の国) each offer two game modes: one following standard Sokoban rules, and another featuring action-oriented mechanics. The former allows the use of tools such as ropes;[34]: 98 [13]: 12  while the latter requires pushing enemies into holes and puppets onto magic circles.[35] Conversely, Power Sokoban (Power倉庫番) is an action-puzzle game that deviates from the warehouse keeper mechanic; the player shoots orbs and fills holes with boulders.[36][37]

More than 20 official Sokoban titles have been released across over 30 platforms.[38] The following table lists titles in the Sokoban series; it is not exhaustive.[18][13]: 112 

Title Release Platform Developer Publisher Region
Sokoban (倉庫番) 1982–1983 NEC PC-8801[39]
NEC PC-6001mkII
NEC PC-8001mkII
Fujitsu FM-7
Sharp MZ-2000
Sharp X1 		Thinking Rabbit[40] Thinking Rabbit Japan
Sokoban Extra Edition (倉庫番[番外編])[16] 1983 NEC PC-8801 Thinking Rabbit[16] PCマガジン (ja)[16] Japan
Sokoban 2 (倉庫番2) 1984 NEC PC-9801
NEC PC-8801
NEC PC-6001mkII
NEC PC-8001mkII
Fujitsu FM-7
Sharp X1
ベーシックマスター#S1 (ja) 		Thinking Rabbit[40] Thinking Rabbit Japan
Sokoban (倉庫番) (ROM pack) 1984 MSX ASCII[41] ASCII Japan
Sokoban Toolkit (倉庫番ツールキット) (Tape pack) 1984 MSX Seiji Nishikawa[42]
Sokoban (倉庫番) 1985 Game Pocket Computer Epoch[43] Epoch Japan
Sokoban (倉庫番) 1985 SG-1000 Sega[44] Sega Japan
Sokoban Special of Tears (涙の倉庫番スペシャル) 1986 Famicom Disk System ASCII[45] ASCII Japan
Soko-Ban 1988 IBM PC
Commodore 64
Apple II 		Spectrum HoloByte[19] Spectrum HoloByteUS
MirrorsoftUK[46] 		North America, Europe
Sokoban Perfect (倉庫番Perfect) 1989 NEC PC-9801 Thinking Rabbit[47] Thinking Rabbit Japan
NEC PC-8801 Thinking Rabbit[48]
Sharp X68000 Thinking Rabbit[49]
Sharp X1 Thinking Rabbit[50]
FM Towns Thinking Rabbit[51]
MSX2 マイクロキャビン (ja)[52] Micro Cabin
Sokoban (倉庫番)
BoxxleNA,EU 		1989[53] Game Boy Atelier Double[53][54] Pony CanyonJP
FCINA[55]
FCI FranceEU[54] 		Japan, North America, Europe
1990NA[55]
1991EU[54]
The Greatest Sokoban in History (史上最大の倉庫番)
Shove It! The Warehouse GameNA[56] 		1990 Sega Genesis 日本コンピュータシステム (ja)[57][58] メサイヤ_(ゲームブランド) (ja)JP
DreamWorksNA[56] 		Japan, North America
1990NA[56]
Sokoban World (倉庫番World)
BoxyboyNA[59] 		1990 TurboGrafx-16 Media Rings[60][61] Media RingsJP
NECNA[59] 		Japan, North America
1990NA[59]
Sokoban 2 (倉庫番2)
Boxxle IINA 		1990[62] Game Boy Atelier Double[62][63] Pony CanyonJP
FCI AmericaNA[63] 		Japan, North America
1992NA[63]
Sokoban Deluxe (倉庫番Deluxe) 1990 Namco System 1 Namco[64] Namco Japan
Sokoban (倉庫番) 1990 Game Gear Riverhill Soft[65] Riverhill Soft Japan
Sokoban Revenge (倉庫番Revenge) 1991 NEC PC-9801 Thinking Rabbit[66] Thinking Rabbit Japan
Sokoban Revenge SX-68K (倉庫番リベンジ SX-68K) 1993 Sharp X68000 Thinking Rabbit[67] Sharp[67] Japan
Super Sokoban (Super倉庫番) 1993 Super Famicom Pack-In-Video[68] Pack-In-Video Japan
Sokoban (倉庫番)
(for Windows/for Macintosh) 		1995 Windows Outback[69] Itochu Japan
1996 Macintosh Outback[70]
Ultimate Sokoban (究極の倉庫番) 1996 PlayStation Thinking Rabbit[33]: bc  Itochu[33]: bc  Japan
1998 Windows Outback[71] UNBALANCE (ゲーム会社) (ja)[71]
Sokoban Basic (倉庫番ベーシック) 1997 PlayStation Outback[72] Itochu Japan
Sokoban Selection (倉庫番セレクション) 1997 Windows Outback[73]
1997 Macintosh Outback[74]
Sokoban Special 102 (倉庫番スペシャル102) 1998 Windows Outback[75] Fujitsu Parex Japan
Sokoban Basic 2 (倉庫番ベーシック2) 1998 PlayStation Soft Office[76]
Thinking Rabbit[76] 		Unbalance Japan
Power Sokoban (Power倉庫番) 1999 Super Famicom Atelier Double[77][37] Nintendo Japan
Sokoban Legend: Land of Light and Darkness (倉庫番伝説 光と闇の国) 1999 Game Boy J・ウイング (ゲーム会社) (ja)[35] J Wing Japan
Sokoban: Guide to Difficult Puzzles (倉庫番 難問指南) 1999 PlayStation Thinking Rabbit[78]
Three D[78] 		Unbalance Japan
2000 Windows Unbalance[79]
Sokoban (倉庫番) 2000 Windows Unbalance[80]
Sokoban First Step (倉庫番ファーストステップ) 2004 EZweb Falcon[26] Square Enix Japan
Sokoban Perfect (倉庫番パーフェクト)
(1/2/3) 		2004 EZweb
Sokoban First Step (倉庫番ファーストステップ) 2004 i-mode Falcon[27] Dwango Japan
Sokoban Perfect (倉庫番パーフェクト)
(1-1/1-2/1-3/2-1/2-2/2-3/3-1/3-2/3-3) 		2004–2005 i-mode
Konami Wai Wai Sokoban (コナミワイワイ倉庫番) 2007 i-mode Konami[81] Konami Japan
Sokoban Perfect Plus A-side (倉庫番パーフェクト プラス A面) 2015 Windows Falcon[82] Thinking Rabbit Japan
Sokoban Perfect Plus B-side (倉庫番パーフェクト プラス B面) 2015 Windows
Sokoban First Step Plus (倉庫番ファーストステップ プラス) 2016 Windows Falcon[83]
Sokoban Revenge Reprint (倉庫番リベンジ 復刻版) 2016 Windows Falcon[84]
Sokoban Touch 2016 Android
iOS 		Falcon[30] Thinking Rabbit Worldwide
Sokoban Complete Pack (倉庫番 コンプリートパック) 2016 Windows Falcon[29] スキルインフォメーションズ (ja) Japan
Sokoban Smart (倉庫番スマート) 2018 Windows Falcon[85] Thinking Rabbit Japan
Chukyo-kun no Sokoban (チュウキョ～くんの倉庫番) 2018 Digital terrestrial television Falcon[30] Chukyo Television Japan
Dayon no Sokoban (だよんの倉庫番) 2018 Digital terrestrial television Miyagi Television
Kumojiro no Sokoban (くもジローの倉庫番) 2018 Digital terrestrial television Nippon Television
Minna no Sokoban (みんなの倉庫番)JP
The Sokoban 		2019JP Nintendo Switch
PlayStation 4 		Unbalance[30] Unbalance Japan
2021 Worldwide

Reception

The first Sokoban title became a bestseller in Japan, with over 25,000 copies sold by July 1984.[86][40][87] Junji Tanaka wrote that the first level of the PC-8801 version perplexed puzzle enthusiasts upon release.[13]: 4  Titles for Japanese home computers, such as the NEC PC-9801 and Sharp X1, were said to have sold more than 100,000 copies combined.[88] The MSX version alone, published by ASCII, sold over 400,000 copies and was considered a commercial success.[19][89] The U.S. release, Soko-Ban, sold over 50,000 copies by mid-September 1988.[19] By c. 1996, after 13 years of availability, the series had sold over one million copies;[90] By c. 1998, after 15 years, total sales, including Ultimate Sokoban (究極の倉庫番) for PlayStation exceeded 1.4 million units across all platforms, including game consoles, word processors, and electronic organizers.[91] By 2018, Chukyo Television Broadcasting reported that the series had sold over 4.1 million copies worldwide since its 1982 release.[92]

The 1990 book PC Games 1980s Chronicles (パソコンゲーム80年代記) described Sokoban as "the king of PC puzzles", listing Sokoban 1, Sokoban 2, and Sokoban Perfect.[14]: 49  It included Sokoban 1 (1983) in its top 10 games of the 1980s, a list selected by 71 industry experts based on titles they considered most memorable rather than personal preference.[14]: 4–5 

Reviewers often emphasized the game's addictive nature. In 1983, Micomgames staff remarked that players would find it difficult to stop playing Sokoban.[4] In 1988, Roy Wagner of Computer Gaming World suggested that anyone trying the US version, Soko-Ban, would likely remain absorbed for an extended period.[8] The Computer Entertainer newsletter described the game as "fascinating" and "almost impossible to stop playing".[93] In its console reviews, Computer and Video Games magazine called Sokoban for Game Boy "an infuriatingly addictive little title" and said its appeal was "not far off" from Tetris.[94] In 1990, Famicom Winning Guide (ファミコン必勝本) recognized Sokoban as a staple puzzle game, citing its difficulty, depth, and continued presence across multiple platforms.[95]

Commentators often highlighted one or more aspects of the game: its simplicity, the level of thought it required of players, or its challenging nature. Micomgames staff described the first Sokoban title as simple yet requiring deep thought comparable to playing Go or Shogi.[4] The 1988 book Video Games: Complete Collection of TV Games (テレビゲーム: 電視遊戯大全) described Sokoban as a pure computer-based puzzle game with a logic akin to Japanese disentanglement puzzles.[15]: 189  It stated that while the game appears simple, the boxes are "cleverly" arranged; some levels require moving other boxes for twenty moves just to shift a single target box one space.[15]: 189  Henk Rogers of BPS wrote that Sokoban was "incredibly simple" yet "fun", and Satoru Sato of ASCII wrote that, despite its visual simplicity, it was "outstandingly fun".[14]: 49 

In 1989, writing for MSX Magazine (ja), a reviewer cited Sokoban as the representative example of a purely logic-based puzzle, distinguishing it from puzzles that incorporate action elements such as enemies or time pressure, and those involving elements of chance.[96] Family Computer magazine's All Catalog supplement described Sokoban for Game Boy as great due to the simplicity of its gameplay,[34]: 199  and Computer and Video Games magazine staff described it as one of the Game Boy's "simple but effective puzzle games".[94]

Reviewers for the German magazine Happy Computer praised Soko-Ban as a brilliant logic puzzle that kept players thinking without pressure and recommended that players carefully observe a level before moving a box,[97] and in Computer Gaming World, Wagner summarized it as "very playable and mentally challenging".[8] In Game Player's magazine, Tom R. Halfhill reviewed Shove It! for the Sega Genesis, noting it was challenging and would require players to plan their moves carefully,[98] and reviewing Boxxle for Game Boy, he stated that it required careful planning or plenty of trial and error (usually both).[99] He later commented on Boxyboy for the TurboGrafx-16 that while the initial rooms were not difficult, players would eventually encounter one that "seems impossible".[100]

The series faced occasional criticism for a lack of variety. Tom R. Halfhill wrote that the puzzles in Shove It! were "essentially the same",[98] and noted that in Boxxle, variation was limited to crate count, placement, and room shape.[99] Reviewing Boxyboy, he described it as "virtually identical" to the others, concluding that all three games required players to enjoy solving the same type of puzzle repeatedly.[100]

Legacy

Sokoban was regarded in 1990 as a pioneer in puzzle games.[14]: 49  It sparked a "puzzle game boom" in the Japanese personal computer market starting in 1983 and continuing for a time.[15]: 189  In the decades since, the series has attracted many enthusiasts in Japan and overseas.[38] The game's core mechanics have been replicated in numerous clones across a wide variety of platforms,[101] including the web.[102] The Sokoban community has created thousands of puzzles[103] distinct from the official releases,[104] freely available online and ranging in difficulty.[101] Puzzles resembling Sokoban, involving pushing boxes or similar obstacles to the correct targets, have been present in gaming,[105] particularly in 1980s and 1990s action-adventure games with grid-based movement.[106] The Legend of Zelda series and titles such as Adventures of Lolo (1989) and LIT (2009) incorporate Sokoban-style elements into their gameplay;[105] for example, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (1991) has a puzzle in which blocks must be pushed to clear a path to a treasure chest.[106] Resident Evil 2 (1998) includes a puzzle similar to Sokoban in which two statues must be pushed onto corresponding marked floor areas, with the correct matching inferred.[106] Additionally, Sokoban-like games such as Sokomania 2 (2014) introduce new mechanics, including switches and conveyor belts.[105]

Research

The computational problem of solving Sokoban puzzles has been studied using computational complexity theory, and is known to be NP-hardCite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag The first documented automated solver, Rolling Stone, was developed at the University of Alberta. It employed a conventional search algorithm enhanced with domain-specific techniques such as deadlock detection.[6]: 139–140 [107] A later solver, Festival, introduced the FESS search algorithm and became the first automatic system to solve the standard XSokoban benchmark, a suite of ninety puzzles with a ten-minute per-puzzle time limit that had eluded a complete solution for more than twenty years.[108][109] Despite these advances, Sokoban puzzles that have been solved by humans are beyond the reach of state-of-the-art solvers.[104][110][111] Humans solve such instances by breaking down puzzles into subproblems,[6]: 40  recognizing patterns and exceptions, and drawing on learning from prior puzzles.[6]: 62 

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1982 is the official year, though 1983 is also reported in certain sources; see § History.

References

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named sokoban-pricai-96
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 (in ja)LOGiN (ja) (ASCII Corporation): 125. August 1983. https://archive.org/details/login-1983.08/page/124/mode/2up. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://sokoban.jp/rule.html. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 (in ja)MICOMGAMES (Obunsha) 1 (1): 38. December 1983. https://archive.org/details/micomgames-magazine-dec-1983-sokoban/page/3/mode/2up. 
  5. ↑ (in ja)Famicom Tsūshin (ja) (ASCII Corporation): 30. July 1986. https://archive.org/details/famitsu-0003/page/30/mode/2up. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Andreas Junghanns (1999). Pushing the Limits: New Developments in Single-Agent Search (PhD thesis). University of Alberta. doi:10.7939/R3W95103S.
  7. ↑ Jean-Noël Demaret; François Van Lishout; Pascal Gribomont (2008). "Hierarchical Planning and Learning for Automatic Solving of Sokoban Problems". pp. 1–2. https://orbi.uliege.be/bitstream/2268/5895/1/bnaic2008.pdf. Retrieved June 4, 2025. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Wagner, Roy (May 1988). Sipe, Russell. ed. "Puzzling Encounters". Computer Gaming World (Golden Empire Publications) (47): 42. http://pdf.textfiles.com/zines/CGW/1988_05_issue47.pdf#page=42. 
  9. ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://sokoban.jp/greeting.html. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 (in ja)LOGiN (ja) (ASCII Corporation): 136–139. December 1983. https://archive.org/details/login-magazine-dec-1983-thinking-rabbit/page/6/mode/1up. 
  11. ↑ "Aldebaran" (in ja). 月刊マイコン (ja): 22–28. January 1980. https://archive.org/details/micom-1980-01/page/22/mode/2up. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "My conversation with Mr Hiroyuki Imabayashi". https://sokoboxes.com/articles/my-conversation-with-mr-hiroyuki-imabayashi. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 Tanaka, Junji; Himabayashi, Hiroyuki; Ishii, M. (1986) (in ja). SCALE. ISBN 4-88239-606-8. https://archive.org/details/sokoban-book/mode/1up. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Kaneko, Yoichi, ed (May 20, 1990) (in ja). パソコンゲーム80年代記. 辰巳出版 (ja). pp. 4–5, 49. https://archive.org/details/pcgame80. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 (in ja) テレビゲーム: 電視遊戯大全. Kawade Kosan (河出興産). June 1988. pp. 128,189. ISBN 4-946432-31-0. https://archive.org/details/tv-games/tv-games/mode/1up. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 (in ja)PCマガジン (ja): 52. August 1983. https://archive.org/details/pc-magazine-aug-1983-sokoban-extra-edition/page/n1/mode/2up. 
  17. ↑ (in ja)LOGiN (ja) (ASCII Corporation): 76. July 1985. https://archive.org/details/logi-n-july-1985/LOGiN%20-%20July%201985/page/n77/mode/2up. 
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://sokoban.jp/history.html. 
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Ellison, Carol (December 1988). "Special Report: Why Japan Can't Write Software". PC Computing (Ziff‑Davis) 1 (5): 113–114. https://archive.org/details/PC_Computing_1988_12/page/n116/mode/1up. 
  20. ↑ Soko‑Ban (Video game manual). Spectrum Holobyte. 1988. p. 2. https://archive.org/details/stx_Spectrum_HoloByte_Soko-Ban/page/n4/mode/1up. 
  21. ↑ "Trademark Application JP-1985-042893" (in en). Japan Platform for Patent Information. https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/c1801/TR/JP-1985-042893/40/en. 
  22. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://thinkingrabbit.jp/. "倉庫番シリーズ" 
  23. ↑ "Sokoban Official Site" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://www.sokoban.jp/. 
  24. ↑ "Trademark Application JP 2003-012201" (in en). Japan Platform for Patent Information. https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/c1801/TR/JP-2003-012201/40/en. 
  25. ↑ "Trademark Application JP 2010-078408" (in en). Japan Platform for Patent Information. https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/c1801/TR/JP-2010-078408/40/en. 
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://www.square-enix.co.jp/mobile/game/pocket/pocket_puzzle.html. 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://contents.dwango.jp/games/shousai/souko/. 
  28. ↑ The source distinguishes between the former legal entity Thinking Rabbit Co., Ltd. ((有)シンキングラビット) and the brand name Thinking Rabbit (シンキングラビット) owned by Falcon.
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 倉庫番 コンプリートパック [Sokoban Complete Pack] (Disc box). Windows (in 日本語). Back cover.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://www.sokoban.jp/lineup.html. 
  31. ↑ "The Sokoban (2021) | Switch eShop Game | Nintendo Life". October 7, 2021. https://www.nintendolife.com/games/switch-eshop/sokoban. 
  32. ↑ "The Sokoban - Kotaku". November 28, 2025. https://kotaku.com/games/the-sokoban. 
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 (in ja) 究極の倉庫番 (Video game manual). SLPS 00475. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/ultimate-sokoban-psx/. 
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 (in ja)ファミリーコンピュータMagazine (ja) (徳間書店 (ja)). 1991-05-24. https://archive.org/details/family-computer-magazine-famicomdiskcard-gameboy-superfamicom-all-catalog-sokoban/mode/1up. 
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). https://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~ua4s-njm/gb_soft/gpuz03.html. 
  36. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). https://www.nintendo.co.jp/n02/shvc/bpsj/index.html. 
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Willow, Robin (April 18, 2021). "Power Soukoban – Hardcore Gaming 101" (in en-US). http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/power-soukoban/. 
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 "倉庫番 35周年コンプリートパック Windows 10対応版" (in ja). JustSystems. https://www.justmyshop.com/camp/sokoban/. 
  39. ↑ Thorpe, Nick; Jones, Darran (February 2023). "The 80s: A Decade of Incredible Games". Retro Gamer (Future Publishing) (243): 26. 
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 (in ja)ポプコム (ja) (Shogakukan): 131. June 1984. https://archive.org/details/popcom-198406/page/130/mode/2up. 
  41. ↑ ASCII (in ja). 倉庫番. MSX. Scene: opening. 
  42. ↑ ASCII (in ja). 倉庫番ツールキット. MSX. Scene: opening. 
  43. ↑ 倉庫番 [Sokoban] (Cartridge label). Game Pocket Computer (in 日本語).
  44. ↑ Sega (in ja). 倉庫番. SG-1000. Scene: title screen. 
  45. ↑ ASCII (in ja). 涙の倉庫番スペシャル. Famicom Disk System. Scene: title screen. 
  46. ↑ "Little boxes, little boxes ...". The Games Machine (Newsfield Publications) (5): 3. April 1988. https://archive.org/details/The_Games_Machine_Issue_005/page/3/mode/1up. 
  47. ↑ Thinking Rabbit (in ja). 倉庫番Perfect. NEC PC-9801. Scene: title screen. 
  48. ↑ Thinking Rabbit (in ja). 倉庫番Perfect. NEC PC-8801. Scene: title screen. 
  49. ↑ Thinking Rabbit (in ja). 倉庫番Perfect. Sharp X68000. Scene: title screen. 
  50. ↑ Thinking Rabbit (in ja). 倉庫番Perfect. Sharp X1. Scene: title screen. 
  51. ↑ Thinking Rabbit (in ja). 倉庫番Perfect. FM Towns. Scene: title screen. 
  52. ↑ "ja:あの伝説の世界へ" (in ja). MSX Magazine (ja) (ASCII) 8 (2): 37. February 1990. https://archive.org/details/MSX_Magazine_1990-02_ASCII_JP/page/n36/mode/1up. 
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://www.double.co.jp/hp1989.htm. 
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 54.2 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://www.double.co.jp/hp1991.htm. 
  55. ↑ 55.0 55.1 "Boxxle". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Sendai Publications) (9): 22. April 1990. https://archive.org/details/Electronic_Gaming_Monthly_09/page/n23/mode/1up. 
  56. ↑ 56.0 56.1 56.2 "Shove It!". Electronic Gaming Monthly (Sendai Publications) (11): 20. June 1990. https://archive.org/details/ElectronicGamingMonthly_201902/Electronic%20Gaming%20Monthly%20Issue%20011%20%28June%201990%29/page/20/mode/1up. 
  57. ↑ (in ja)BEEP!メガドライブ (ja) 6 (2): 108. March 1990. https://archive.org/details/beep-megadrive-1990-03/page/108/mode/1up. 
  58. ↑ Shove It! The Warehouse Game (Cartridge box). Sega Genesis. Back cover.
  59. ↑ 59.0 59.1 59.2 GP (August 1990). "Turbo Players". Game Player's 2 (8): 56. https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File%3AGamePlayers_US_0208.pdf&page=58. 
  60. ↑ Media Rings (in ja). 倉庫番World. TurboGrafx-16. Scene: title screen. 
  61. ↑ Media Rings (in en). Boxyboy. TurboGrafx-16. Scene: title screen. 
  62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://www.double.co.jp/hp1990.htm. 
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 63.2 "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://www.double.co.jp/hp1992.htm. 
  64. ↑ Namco (in ja). 倉庫番Deluxe. Namco System 1. Scene: title screen. 
  65. ↑ Riverhill Soft (in ja). 倉庫番. Sega Game Gear. Scene: title screen. 
  66. ↑ Thinking Rabbit (in ja). 倉庫番Revenge. NEC PC-9801. Scene: title screen. 
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 "倉庫番リベンジ SX-68K" (in ja). Oh!X (ja) (SoftBank) 12 (5): 5,28. May 1993. https://archive.org/details/OhX_1993-05/page/n29/mode/1up. 
  68. ↑ Pack-In-Video (in ja). Super倉庫番. Super Famicom. Scene: title screen. 
  69. ↑ 倉庫番 for Windows [Sokoban for Windows] (Disk box). Windows (in 日本語). Back cover.
  70. ↑ 倉庫番 for Macintosh [Sokoban for Macintosh] (Disk box). Macintosh (in 日本語). Back cover.
  71. ↑ 71.0 71.1 (in ja) 究極の倉庫番 ユーザーズマニュアル (Video game manual). Back cover. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/ultimate-sokoban-win/. 
  72. ↑ (in ja) 倉庫番ベーシック (Video game manual). Back cover. SLPS 00924. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/sokoban-basic-psx/. 
  73. ↑ (in ja) 倉庫番セレクション ユーザーズマニュアル (Video game manual). Back cover. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/sokoban-selection-win/. 
  74. ↑ (in ja) 倉庫番セレクション ユーザーズマニュアル (Video game manual). Back cover. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/sokoban-selection-mac/. 
  75. ↑ (in ja) 倉庫番スペシャル102 ユーザーズマニュアル (Video game manual). Back cover. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/sokoban-special-102-win/. 
  76. ↑ 76.0 76.1 (in ja) 倉庫番ベーシック2 (Video game manual). Back cover. SLPS 01519. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/sokoban-basic2-psx/. 
  77. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://www.double.co.jp/hp1999.htm. 
  78. ↑ 78.0 78.1 (in ja) 倉庫番 難問指南 (Video game manual). Back cover. SLPS 02010. https://archive.org/download/sokoban-manuals-reference-archive/sokoban-nanmon-shinan-psx/. 
  79. ↑ Unbalance (in ja). 倉庫番 難問指南. Windows. Scene: title screen. 
  80. ↑ Unbalance (in ja). 倉庫番. Windows. Scene: title screen. 
  81. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). http://www.gpara.com/article/cms_show.php?c_id=2867&c_num=14. 
  82. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://sokoban.jp/products/perfectplus/. 
  83. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://sokoban.jp/products/firststepplus/. 
  84. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://sokoban.jp/products/revenge/. 
  85. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Falcon Co., Ltd.. https://sokoban.jp/products/smart/. 
  86. ↑ (in ja)ポプコム (ja) (Shogakukan): 101. July 1984. https://archive.org/details/popcom-198407/page/100/mode/2up. 
  87. ↑ (in ja)ポプコム (ja) (Shogakukan): 29. March 1985. https://archive.org/details/popcom-198503/page/28/mode/2up. 
  88. ↑ (in ja)BEEP!メガドライブ (ja): 56. November 1989. https://archive.org/details/beep-megadrive-1989-11/page/54/mode/1up. 
  89. ↑ Lafe Low (November 1988). "News Line; Made in Japan". inCider: 14. https://archive.org/details/inCider_1988-11/page/n15/mode/1up. 
  90. ↑ "究極の倉庫番" (in ja). Itochu. c. 1996. http://powerhouse.co.jp/sokopsx/sokopsx.html. 
  91. ↑ "倉庫番ベーシック" (in ja). Unbalance. c. 1998. http://www.unbalance.co.jp/sokobasic/Z024.html. 
  92. ↑ "Error: no |title= specified when using {{Cite web}}" (in ja). Chukyo Television Broadcasting. July 10, 2018. https://www.atpress.ne.jp/news/160010. 
  93. ↑ "Computer Entertainer". Computer Entertainer 7 (4): 9. July 1988. https://archive.org/details/computer-entertainer-7-4/page/9/mode/1up. 
  94. ↑ 94.0 94.1 "Soko Ban". Computer and Video Games (EMAP Publishing) (96): 119. November 1989. https://archive.org/details/Computer_Video_Games_Issue_096_1989-11_EMAP_Publishing_GB/page/n118/mode/1up. 
  95. ↑ (in ja)ファミコン必勝本 (ja) (88): 87. 1990-02-02. https://archive.org/details/no.-088-1990-02-02/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%9F%E3%82%B3%E3%83%B3%E5%BF%85%E5%8B%9D%E6%9C%ACNo.088%281990%E5%B9%B402%E6%9C%8802%E6%97%A5%E5%8F%B7%29/page/n87/mode/1up. 
  96. ↑ (in ja)MSX Magazine (ja) (ASCII) 7 (9): 25. September 1989. https://archive.org/details/MSX_Magazine_1989-09_ASCII_JP/page/n24/mode/1up. 
  97. ↑ "Soko-Ban" (in de). Happy Computer (de) (Markt&Technik): 86. January 1988. https://archive.org/details/Happy.Computer.N51.1988.01-Cartman/page/86/mode/1up. 
  98. ↑ 98.0 98.1 Halfhill, Tom R. (June 1990). "Shove It!". Game Player's 2 (6): 45–46. https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File%3AGamePlayers_US_0206.pdf&page=48. 
  99. ↑ 99.0 99.1 Halfhill, Tom R. (June 1990). "Boxxle". Game Player's 2 (6): 90. https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File%3AGamePlayers_US_0206.pdf&page=92. 
  100. ↑ 100.0 100.1 Halfhill, Tom R. (December 1990). "Boxy Boy". Game Player's 2 (12): 90. https://segaretro.org/index.php?title=File%3AGamePlayers_US_0212.pdf&page=92. 
  101. ↑ 101.0 101.1 Tony Mott (2011). 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die. Tristan de Lancey. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-84403-681-3. https://books.google.com/books?id=olpPoAswgHoC&pg=PT96. 
  102. ↑ Marçal Mora Cantallops (2023) (in es). Rompecabezas: Cinco décadas de videojuegos y puzles. Héroes De Papel. ISBN 978-84-947149-3-1. 
  103. ↑ Dockhorn, Alexander; Lucas, Simon M.; Volz, Vanessa; Bravi, Ivan; Gaina, Raluca D.; Perez-Liebana, Diego (August 2019). "Learning Local Forward Models on Unforgiving Games". IEEE. p. 1. doi:10.1109/CIG.2019.8848044. https://ieee-cog.org/2019/papers/paper_225.pdf. Retrieved February 23, 2026. 
  104. ↑ 104.0 104.1 Petr Jarusek; Radek Pelánek (2010). "Difficulty Rating of Sokoban Puzzle". Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications 222: 141. doi:10.3233/978-1-60750-676-8-140. https://www.fi.muni.cz/~xpelanek/publications/stairs2010-final.pdf. 
  105. ↑ 105.0 105.1 105.2 Lee Meyer (May 17, 2014). "Sokomania 2: Cool Job Review (DSiWare)". https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/dsiware/sokomania_2_cool_job. 
  106. ↑ 106.0 106.1 106.2 Totten, Christopher W.; Sandoval, Adrian (2024). World Design for 2D Action‑Adventures. CRC Press. pp. 95–97. ISBN 9781032579986. 
  107. ↑ Andreas Junghanns; Jonathan Schaeffer (2001). "Sokoban: Enhancing general single-agent search methods using domain knowledge". Artificial Intelligence 129 (1–2): 223–224, 227–237. doi:10.1016/S0004-3702(01)00109-6. 
  108. ↑ Yaron Shoham; Jonathan Shaeffer (2020). "The FESS Algorithm: A Feature Based Approach to Single-Agent Search". 2020 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG). Osaka, Japan: IEEE. doi:10.1109/CoG47356.2020.9231929. https://ieee-cog.org/2020/papers/paper_44.pdf. Retrieved June 4, 2025. 
  109. ↑ Yaron Shoham (2020). "FESS presentation at the CoG conference (17.5 minutes)" (in en) (video). https://archive.org/details/fess-algorithm. 
  110. ↑ "Let's Logic Bots Statistics". https://archive.org/download/lets-logic-bots-statistics/lets-logic-bots-statistics-2024-oct-06.pdf. 
  111. ↑ "Sokoban Solver Statistics - Large Test Suite". https://sokoban-solver-statistics.sourceforge.io/statistics/LargeTestSuite/. 



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