Introduction
Sokoban is a puzzle video game in which the player organizes a warehouse by pushing boxes trying to get them to storage locations. This might seem simple, but the limited space makes it surprisingly challenging.
Gameplay
The warehouse is a grid composed of floor squares and impassable wall squares. Some floor squares contain a box and some are marked as storage locations. The number of boxes equals the number of storage locations.
Moving the Player
The player moves in four directions (up, down, left, or right) and cannot pass through walls or boxes.
Pushing Boxes
The boxes are heavy. Boxes can only be pushed one square forward if directly in front of the player and the space directly beyond the box is free of obstacles (a wall or another box). Boxes cannot be pulled or lifted, and only one can be pushed at a time.
Objective
The puzzle is solved when all boxes are on storage locations.
Challenge
Sokoban requires strategic thinking and careful planning. A misplaced box can block pathways or create dead ends, often forcing players to undo moves or restart the puzzle. Solving these puzzles offers a satisfying sense of accomplishment.
History
Sokoban (倉庫番) is a puzzle video game created in Japan in 1981 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi.
In 1982, he founded his software company Thinking Rabbit and began to publish and license many Sokoban games.
However, around the year 2000, Thinking Rabbit became inactive. Subsequently, in 2001, Falcon, another Japanese software company, acquired the Sokoban and Thinking Rabbit trademarks, and has since continued to develop and license official Sokoban games.
In addition, over the years, other companies and individuals created games with the same mechanics, often called Sokoban clones, which also contributed to Sokoban's popularity.
To get an idea of what the official games and clones look like, see the screenshots below:
Japan - Sokoban 1
Sokoban (PC-8801)
1982 December - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban (PC-8001 mk2)
1982 December - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban (PC-6001 32K)
1983 - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban (PC-6001 mk2)
1983 - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban (MZ-2000 Mono)
1983 - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban (MZ-2000 Color)
1983 - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban (Sharp-X1)
1983 - Thinking Rabbit
Japan - Sokoban 1 Extra
Sokoban Extra Edition (PC-8801)
1983 August - PCマガジン
Sokoban Extra (PC-6001 32K)
1984 May - PCマガジン
Japan - Sokoban 2
Sokoban 2 (PC-8801)
1984 February - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban 2 (PC-8001 mk2)
1984 March - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban 2 (PC-6001 mk2)
1984 November - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban 2 (PC-6001 32k)
1984 December - Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban 2 (Sharp-X1)
1984 - Thinking Rabbit
Japan releases 1984-1989 (various)
Sokoban Tiny Editor (MZ-700)
1984 March - MICRO
Sokoban Tiny Editor (PC-8001)
1984 April - MICRO
Sokoban (SMC-777)
1985 January - FLOPPY Magazine
Sokoban (EPOCH Game pocket computer)
1985 April - Epoch Co.
Sokoban Rom Pack (MSX)
1984 May - ASCII Corporation
Sokoban Tape Pack (MSX)
1984 November - ASCII Corporation
Sokoban (Sega SG-1000 II)
1985 December - Sega
Sokoban Special of Tears / Namida no Sokoban Supesharu (Famicom)
1986 July - ASCII Corporation
Sokoban for Pasopia 7 (Pasopia 7)
1987 November - Oh! PASOPIA
Soko-ban Perfect (MSX2)
1989 - MICRO CABIN
Soko-ban Perfect (Sharp X-68000)
1989 - Thinking Rabbit
Soko-ban Perfect (FM Towns)
1989 - Thinking Rabbit
Japan releases PC-9801
Soko-ban Perfect (PC-9801)
1989 - Thinking Rabbit
Soko-ban Revenge (PC-9801)
1991 November 27 - Thinking Rabbit
Soko-ban Select 30 (PC-9801)
1991 - KAO
Japan releases Others
Soko-ban Revenge (J-3100)
1993 November - Thinking Rabbit
Japan releases Game Boy
Soko-ban (Game Boy)
1989 August - Pony Canyon
Soko-ban 2 (Game Boy)
1990 June - Pony Canyon
Japan releases 1990-1993
Sokoban DELUXE (Namco System 1)
1990 - Namco
The Greatest Sokoban in History / Shijo Saidai no Sokoban (Sega Mega Drive)
1990 January - Masaya
Shove It! ...The Warehouse Game (Sega Genesis)
1990 May - DreamWorks
Sokoban (Sega Game Gear)
1990 December - Riverhill Soft
Sokoban World (PC Engine)
1990 March - Media Rings
Boxyboy (TurboGrafx-16)
1990 October - NEC
Amusement Series I Sokoban (Windows 3.0)
1992 - Pack-In-Video
Soko-ban Revenge Sx-68K (Sharp X68000)
1993 - Thinking Rabbit
Super Sokoban (Super Famicom)
1993 January - Pack-In-Video
Japan releases 1995-2000
Sokoban for Windows (Windows)
1995 - Itochu
Sokoban for Macintosh (Macintosh)
1996 - Itochu
Sokoban Revenge for Windows (Windows)
1996 - Itochu
Sokoban Revenge for Macintosh (Macintosh)
1996 - Itochu
Ultimate Sokoban / Kyukyoku no Sokoban (PlayStation)
1996 - Itochu
Sokoban Basic (PlayStation)
1997 August - Itochu
Sokoban Selection (Windows)
1997 October - Itochu
Sokoban Selection (Macintosh)
1997 December - Itochu
Sokoban Special 102 (Windows)
1998 January - Itochu
Ultimate Sokoban / Kyukyoku no Sokoban (Windows)
1998 March - Itochu
Sokoban Basic 2 (PlayStation)
1998 August - Itochu
Sokoban Basic (Windows)
1998 - Unbalance
Sokoban: Guide to Difficult Puzzles / Sokoban Nanmon Shinan (PlayStation)
1999 April - Unbalance
Sokoban: Guide to Difficult Puzzles / Sokoban Nanmon Shinan (Windows)
2000 June - Unbalance
Sokoban (Windows)
2000 - Unbalance
Japan releases for mobile phones (keitai) 2004-2007
Bomberman Puzzle Vol. 1 Mini (i-mode)
2004 - Hudson Soft
Bomberman Puzzle Special (i-mode)
2005 - Hudson Soft
Konami Wai Wai Sokoban (i-mode)
2007 - Konami
Japan releases 2015-2020
Sokoban Perfect Plus Side A (Windows)
2015 September 25 - Falcon
Sokoban Perfect Plus Side B (Windows)
2015 November 20 - Falcon
Sokoban Firststep Plus (Windows)
2016 February 09 - Falcon
Sokoban Revenge Reprint (Windows)
2016 April 25 - Falcon
Sokoban Smart (Windows)
2018 May - Falcon
Minna No Sokoban (Nintendo Switch)
2019 May 23 - Unbalance
International releases
Sokoban Touch (Android)
2016 March 15 - Falcon
The Sokoban (Nintendo Switch)
2021 October 28 - Unbalance
U.S. releases by Spectrum HoloByte
Soko-Ban (IBM PC DOS)
1988 - Spectrum HoloByte
Soko-Ban (Commodore 64)
1988 - Spectrum HoloByte
Soko-Ban (Apple II)
1988 - Spectrum HoloByte
Soko-Ban (Tandy Color Computer 2)
1988 - Tandy Corporation
China releases
Warehouse Family (IBM PC DOS)
1990 - Softstar
Soko-ban Perfect (IBM PC DOS)
1995 September - Softstar
Soko-ban Revenge (IBM PC DOS)
1995 September - Softstar
MoveBox (Windows)
2002 - Yi-Century
Others (Japan)
Soko-mania (Windows)
2003 - SALVA
Soko-mania 2 (Windows)
2002 - MSD-JAPAN
Sokoban variant
StoreGame (Windows)
2008 - Magnolia
Others (International)
Porter (Nintendo)
1991 - Mega Soft (NTDEC)
Box World (Windows)
1992 - Jeng-Long Jiang
Cheese Terminator (Windows)
1992 - Microsoft Corporation
SokoWin (Windows)
1992 - Erik Pallemans
Bulldozer (Windows)
1995 - The Code Zone
Cargo Bay Deluxe (MS-DOS)
1995 - MVP Software
PocoMan (Windows)
1996 - Sleepless
Sokoban 1.20G (Windows)
1997 - Softdisk
SokoMan 2.01 (Windows)
2002 February 10 - Lena Pankratova
Soukoban Pocket Edition (MSX)
2004 - Karoshi Corporation
Sokoban (ZX Spectrum 128K)
2006 - Compiler Software
Boxboy (MSX)
2008 - Icon Games
Sokoban DS (Nintendo DS)
2008 - RTL Games GmbH
SokoBot (Windows)
2009 - Joven Club de Computación y Electrónica
1001 Crystal Mazes Collection (Nintendo DSi)
2010 - Teyon
Box Pusher (Nintendo DSi)
2012 - GameOn
The Incident (Remastered) (Nintendo)
2020 - KHAN Games
SKBN v2 (Sega Master System)
2022 - Raphaël Assenat
Sokoban based on the SG-1000 version (Windows)
2024 - Retrograde Road
Super Sokoban (MSX)
2025 - 2NICE
Sokoban Variants
Games that follow Sokoban’s core mechanics but introduce additional behaviors or new elements, such as different types of boxes.
Sokomania (Nintendo DSi)
2010 - Cinemax
Sokomania 2: Cool Job (Nintendo DSi)
2014 - Cinemax
Box-Pushing Games Similar to Sokoban
Some games are similar to Sokoban in that they require players to push boxes in a maze, but the objective is completely different—for example, reaching the exit.
Puk Puk (MSX)
1986 February - POPCOM
Push boxes to open a path and collect stars.
What does the word 'Sokoban' mean?
The word Sokoban is written using Kanji.
Ming Wu, a Chinese fan of the game, kindly explained to me how it was written:
- 倉庫番 (Traditional Chinese characters).
- 仓库番 (Simplified Chinese characters).
- 倉庫番 == 仓库番 are exactly the same in meaning and in saying.
- 倉庫番 in Japanese means "warehouse keeper".
- 倉庫番 in Chinese means "spending time in the warehouse" or "things happening in the warehouse".
- Most people in China call the game 推箱子 (Push box).
Katakana: ソウコバン. Hiragana: そうこばん.
Thanks
I'm really grateful to Mr Takatoshi, who helped me with:
- Transcription of the type-in programs: Sokoban Tiny Editor (MZ-700, PC-8001), Sokoban for Pasopia 7.
- Dump of the cassette tapes: Sokoban 2 (PC-6001 mk2, PC-6001 32k).