Jikan Nazo Review: Clever KDP Idea or Just Hype?

Jikan Nazo is a browser-based software for creating “Find the Number” mystery puzzle books that you can publish through Amazon KDP or sell as digital printables.

The basic concept is quite unusual.

Instead of giving readers a normal number puzzle, Jikan Nazo creates a large register containing hundreds or even thousands of possible numbers. One number is the correct answer, and the reader works through a sequence of clues that gradually eliminates all the others.

Think of it almost like a detective mystery where the suspects happen to be numbers.

The important part is that the software isn’t simply generating random pages. Its elimination engine checks the puzzle so there is supposed to be one final solution, with the clues structured around reaching that answer.

You can choose different difficulty levels, book dimensions and other settings, and the software then puts together the actual interior for you, including the register pages, clues, instructions, answer section and supporting book pages.

What stands out to me is that this isn’t another AI book writer.

It is more of a specialised puzzle-building engine aimed at people who want to create a very specific type of activity or mystery book.

Jikan Nazo comes from the Royalty Prints team, with Ike Paz, Luke Bowes and Marina Matic behind this particular release.

I’m already familiar with this team and the type of publishing software they create, so I had a good idea of what to expect before going through Jikan Nazo properly. They tend to focus on unusual puzzle and activity-book concepts rather than simply producing another generic word-search or Sudoku creator.

With Jikan Nazo, Marina is behind the underlying time-crime/elimination engine, while Luke has turned the concept into a much more straightforward point-and-click publishing tool. Ike comes from the book and printable-selling side of the business.

That combination makes sense for this type of product because the difficult part isn’t really putting numbers onto a page. It is making sure the puzzle logic actually works.

Verified single-solution puzzle engine

This is probably the most important feature.

The software builds the elimination puzzle and checks it before export so the clues should lead to one surviving answer rather than leaving readers with several possible solutions.

For puzzle books, that’s a bigger deal than it may sound. A nicely designed book isn’t much use if somebody gets halfway through a puzzle and discovers the logic doesn’t work.

Jikan Nazo also creates an answer key showing how numbers were eliminated, which gives you another way of checking what has been generated.

Complete books rather than loose puzzle pages

You aren’t just getting a folder full of puzzle images.

Jikan Nazo can generate the surrounding book structure as well, including rules, front matter, clue sections, register pages, chapter titles and answer pages.

One thing I like here is that it makes the finished result feel much closer to an actual book rather than a collection of pages you still have to assemble manually.

Three difficulty levels

You can create books using:

• Gentle
• Standard
• Fiendish

That gives you some room to create different versions or even build a series where the difficulty increases from book to book.

KDP formatting built in

Jikan Nazo handles the less exciting but very important publishing details such as trim size, margins, gutters, page numbers and large-print formatting.

There’s also a pre-flight checking feature designed to catch potential formatting issues before the interior is uploaded to KDP.

For somebody new to KDP, this could save quite a bit of trial and error.

Large books are possible

The live example shown inside the software contains 28,500 numbers across 159 register pages, so this isn’t restricted to tiny puzzle interiors.

The main product page also advertises books of up to 42,000 entries, although I would treat that as the advertised maximum rather than assuming every configuration will necessarily use that size.

Multiple publishing angles

The obvious use is Amazon KDP, but you aren’t limited to that.

The same idea could potentially be used for printable puzzle packs, larger-format activity books, large-print editions, travel books, classroom material or themed number books.

You can also import your own numbers and chapter titles, which gives you more room to move away from completely generic output.

Commercial rights

Books you create are yours to use commercially, and the front-end is being sold without a recurring software fee.

That’s important because if you’re trying to build a catalogue, you don’t want every additional book increasing your software costs.

The basic workflow is refreshingly simple.

You start by choosing the type of book you want to create, including the difficulty, register size and book format.

Jikan Nazo then generates the number register, builds the clues and checks the elimination logic.

After that, the software assembles the other parts of the book around the puzzle.

You can preview the pages before exporting, so you’re not generating everything completely blind.

Once you’re happy with the result, you export the interior and use it for KDP or another platform.

The front-end includes 100 PDF exports per month plus unlimited PNG exports.

The way I see it, the big time saver isn’t merely generating pages quickly.

It’s removing the job of manually creating a logical elimination puzzle and then checking whether every clue actually leaves the correct answer behind.

That would be extremely tedious to do by hand.

Jikan Nazo makes the most sense for people who already publish, or want to start publishing, puzzle and activity books.

It could suit you if you’re interested in:

• Amazon KDP puzzle publishing
• activity and brain-game books
• mystery-themed puzzle books
• printables for platforms such as Etsy
• building book series rather than publishing one standalone title
• creating large-print puzzle editions
• testing less conventional puzzle concepts

If you’re just starting out, you don’t need to know how to program puzzles or design complicated interiors yourself. The software handles most of that part.

That said, I wouldn’t look at Jikan Nazo as a complete publishing business in a box.

You still need to research your market, create a decent cover, choose sensible keywords, prepare your listing and actually get the books published.

And although the software can make producing books much faster, publishing twenty books quickly doesn’t automatically make those twenty books profitable.

The biggest reason I’d consider Jikan Nazo is simply that the concept is different.

There are endless tools for word searches, Sudoku, colouring books and generic low-content interiors. Find-the-number elimination mysteries aren’t something I’ve seen pushed nearly as heavily.

That doesn’t guarantee demand, of course, but I would generally rather test an unusual format than make book number 10,001 in a completely saturated category.

Another thing I like is that the difficult part of this particular book concept is handled by the software.

Anyone can fill a page with random numbers. Creating clues that consistently eliminate everything except one correct answer is a completely different problem.

Pros

1. The concept is genuinely different.
It’s not simply another variation of a standard word-search generator.

2. The puzzle logic is verified automatically.
For this particular type of book, that is probably the feature that matters most.

3. It creates much more than individual puzzles.
The surrounding pages, clues, instructions and answer sections are generated as part of the book.

4. It has useful KDP formatting features.
Trim sizes, margins, gutters, large print and pre-flight checking are already built into the workflow.

5. The $19 front-end is reasonably priced for testing the idea.
You don’t have to buy the entire funnel just to find out whether this style of publishing interests you.

Cons

1. The front-end has export limits.
You get 100 PDF exports each month rather than unlimited PDF exporting. Heavy publishers will probably end up looking at Pro.

2. Some of the more interesting customisation is in the upgrades.
Additional registers, languages, fonts, story formats and extra export formats aren’t all included with the basic version.

3. Creating the book isn’t the same as selling the book.
Jikan Nazo solves the production side very well, but keyword research, covers, positioning and promotion still matter.

If you prefer a completely different online business model rather than publishing books and printables, I’d also recommend checking out the alternative make-money-online system I recommend elsewhere on my site.

The funnel is quite straightforward, but there is a fairly large jump between the lower-priced upgrades and Premium.

Front End – Jikan Nazo – $19

This is the main Find-the-Number mystery book creator.

You get the core single-solution puzzle engine, difficulty levels, KDP book formatting, front and back matter, live page previews and commercial rights.

The front-end includes 100 PDF exports per month and unlimited PNG exports.

Upgrade 1 – Jikan Nazo PRO – $57

Pro is mainly about expanding your options.

It adds nine register types, including formats such as phone numbers, timestamps, times, lottery tickets and IP addresses.

You also get additional fonts, page frames, seven languages and unlimited PDF exporting, along with PPTX and DOCX exports.

Upgrade 2 – Jikan Nazo PREMIUM – $187

Premium is the biggest upgrade in the funnel.

It includes everything from Pro and adds 10 story-style registers, including things such as dates, coordinates, coded names, colours, addresses and card hands.

You also get The Casebook, which adds printed story pages around the puzzles, plus SVG exporting for more advanced print and POD work.

Upgrade 3 – Icon Nazo – $47

This is actually a separate puzzle engine rather than simply another Jikan Nazo feature pack.

Icon Nazo creates mystery puzzles based around icons instead of the number-register concept.

That potentially opens up younger audiences, family puzzle books and more visual gift-book ideas.

Every export format is included with this upgrade.

What exactly does Jikan Nazo create?

It creates Find-the-Number elimination mystery books where readers use clues to remove incorrect numbers until one answer remains.

Do I need to know how to create puzzles?

No. The software generates the number register, clues and solution logic for you.

Does Jikan Nazo verify the puzzles?

Yes. Verification is one of the central features of the engine, with the puzzle designed to finish with one solution.

Can I use Jikan Nazo for Amazon KDP?

Yes. The software has been created specifically with KDP publishing in mind and includes trim sizes, margins, gutters and print-layout features.

Can I sell the books elsewhere?

Yes. The material can also be used commercially for formats such as downloadable printables.

Are commercial rights included?

Yes. You receive commercial rights to the books you create.

Is there a monthly software fee?

The offer is being sold as one-time access with no recurring fee.

How many PDFs can I export?

The front-end allows 100 PDF exports per month, with unlimited PNG exporting.

Pro removes the PDF limitation.

Can I make large-print editions?

Yes. Large-print formatting at 18pt is included.

Can I customise the books?

Yes. There are options for difficulty, register size, trim size, chapter themes and other settings. Additional registers, fonts, languages and design options are available through Pro and Premium.

Do I need the upgrades?

Not necessarily.

The $19 front-end contains the actual Find-the-Number engine, so I would start there unless you already know you need unlimited exporting or one of the additional register formats.

Does Jikan Nazo guarantee that my books will sell?

No.

The software makes creating the books easier, but it cannot guarantee sales. Your niche selection, presentation, keywords, cover, pricing and promotion still affect the result.

After going through Jikan Nazo properly, I think the strongest thing about it is not simply that it can produce a lot of pages quickly.

Plenty of software can do that.

The more interesting part is the actual elimination engine sitting behind those pages.

Creating hundreds or thousands of numbers isn’t difficult. Creating a puzzle where the clues consistently narrow everything down to one answer — and verifying that logic automatically — is where I see the real value.

I also like that the front-end is only $19.

You can test the core idea without committing to the more expensive upgrades, and I think that’s the sensible way to approach this funnel.

Would I buy every upgrade immediately?

Probably not.

Pro makes sense if you’re producing books regularly and want unlimited exporting and more register formats. Premium is considerably more expensive and is something I’d look at once I knew I wanted to take the concept further.

Overall, Jikan Nazo is one of the more unusual KDP tools I’ve looked at recently, and that is actually what makes it interesting to me.

It isn’t going to remove the need for niche research, good covers or smart publishing decisions. But if you specifically like the idea of creating puzzle books with a mystery element, it handles a part of the process that would otherwise be extremely difficult and time-consuming to build manually.

For me, the front-end at $19 is the strongest starting point, and you can decide later whether any of the additional formats and publishing options justify moving further into the funnel.

Jikan Nazo Bonuses

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