07-27-2005, 03:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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SuDoku - Old Japanese Puzzle On The Pocket PC
I don't really play many games on my Pocket PC. I can count on one hand, seriously, the number of games I've installed since 1998 when I got my first PDA and all of those are strategy games of some sort. Last week I installed SuDoku from Mastersoft Mobile Solutions. This type of game is right up my alley.
Figure 1: A completed SuDoku board
The game has 81 squares and that 9X9 grid is broken down in to 9 smaller 3X3 grids. The object is to fill the board with the numbers 1-9, 9 times and never repeat a number in a column, row or within one of the 3X3 sub-grids.
The game has multiple levels. The harder levels give you less starting numbers which increases the amount of guesses you have to make before you can determine with certainty where some of the numbers go. Mastersoft has given you tools though to highlight your numbers in various colors or use very small memo numbers that allow you to put several possible numbers in a box. Of course, there is a clock ticking away while you work. You didn't think you had all of the time in the world did you? ;-) The longer it takes, the fewer points you get once you complete a puzzle.
Figure 2: Various difficulty levels and scoring
There are some aids available to you. You can have the game to a quick error check to see if you have violated a rule, like putting the same number in a column more than once, or even get a hint, which will tell you if you have an incorrect guess or give you the number for one of the boxes. Don't use these features too much though. Besides not being terribly sporting, they take away available points very rapidly. 8O
It also allows you to pause the game, but doing do hides the board. It wouldn't be fair to "pause" while you study the board would it? You can also undo your last move, turn sounds on and off and if you get bored with the style and colors, you can change those too. In fact, if you are really wanting a challenge, you can stop using numbers altogether and use symbols, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: One of the symbol styles available.
The game itself requires about 6MB of storage space. I have mine installed into the extra ROM storage of my PDA2K. It should also work fine form a storage card. It requires the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, which is standard on all Pocket PC 2003 and higher devices. Mastersoft has links for the framework if your 2002 device doesn't have it.
I have really only scratched the surface of what features are available. It is really a comprehensive implementation of the original paper based game, enhanced just enough by the computer to make it thoroughly enjoyable. If this type of puzzle interests you I highly recommend you try this game. Consider this fair warning though. This is one of those games where you say "Oh, just one more board" and before you know it, you have whittled away a good part of an hour! There is a trial available and you can buy the full version for $14.95 on their site.
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07-27-2005, 04:30 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 7
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I haven't seen that particular piece of software, but I have however been using this
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=18649
I have to say that it is very good indeed. Certainly worth checking out if you like Sudokus. I emailed them with a (very) minor bug on an earlier release and they offered me a new build within 3 hours. Fantastic customer care I thought. they have since improved the game further and what's more, it's cheaper than the one you're suggesting.
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07-27-2005, 04:56 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 256
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by rangor
I haven't seen that particular piece of software, but I have however been using this
http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=18649
I have to say that it is very good indeed. Certainly worth checking out if you like Sudokus. I emailed them with a (very) minor bug on an earlier release and they offered me a new build within 3 hours. Fantastic customer care I thought. they have since improved the game further and what's more, it's cheaper than the one you're suggesting. |
Personally I wouldn't buy an inferior product to save $3 but then I would say that :lol:
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07-27-2005, 05:42 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,183
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SuDoku from Mastersoft Mobile Solutions ROCKS!!!
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07-27-2005, 06:13 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Oct 2006
Posts: 797
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Once you start and get the hang of it, it gets really addictive really fast. I bought it the day it came out and have not regretted it since. In fact, it's the only game that's been getting any play on my PPC lately!
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07-27-2005, 06:15 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,183
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Yeah - at first I thought it was cute and interesting. Now it's becoming about as addictive as teh Rubik Cube was ....
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07-27-2005, 06:42 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 11
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Like Ed, I do not usually put games on my PocketPC. But I downloaded the Betas of Mastersofts' version of Sudoku and love it. (Don't read the paper much so was not aware this was a new craze.)
I don't think I want to pay $15 for a game though. The most my cheap self would pay for a game is $5.
I did look at the versions on PockGear and downloaded a trial of the above mentioned one, Sudoku Rules. Mastersoft is much better than the $12 version on PocketGear. Of course, Sudoku Rules says it has 12 million puzzles. I do not think Mastersoft claimed to have that many included puzzles.
Of course, PocketGear has a freeware version called Sudoku Assistant which looks like it will suffice for me until I can find a version as good as the Mastersoft one for $5. You can input puzzles and save them. It is no where near what Mastersoft has accomplished but as I said it is FREE.
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07-27-2005, 10:20 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 182
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Until a little less than a month ago I had not even heard of SuDoku -- now, thanks to this game, I am hooked. I was lucky enough to be a beta tester of this game and have to say that it has been a great experience from beginning to end. Not only do I get to test a great, very fun game, but all of the feedback of all of the beta testers was considered and much of it added to the game. This is a game built, not just by a programmer but, by those who play the game.
As to the game, itself, it is a deceptively simple looking game which, as Ed said, gobbles up hours of your time if you let it. I am a sucker for logic games and this is the grandaddy of them all.
Mastersoft's version is the best I have tried, and I have tried most of them out there in the month since I discovered the game. The interface is clean and easy to use and the puzzles go from simple to pull-your-hair-out difficult, without frustrating me too much. There are about 1 million built in puzzles with the ability to add your own from your local paper or one of the approximately 20 billion SuDoku sites out there.
Best of all, development continues and you will soon see many more great features, I am sure.
I highly recommend this game. Try it, you won't be disappointed.
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07-28-2005, 02:41 AM
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07-28-2005, 03:56 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,183
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by klinux
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More nitpicking ... from the same article
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The Sudoku story began in 1783 when Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician, devised 'Latin Squares', which he described as 'a new kind of magic squares'. Euler had come up with a grid in which every number or sym bol appears once in each row or column. More than two centuries later, the difference for Sudoku players is that the grid is subdivided into blocks of nine.
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Linear Mode
