| The Download | This
Issues Review |
The Web Site |
| Simple Sudoku by Angus Johnson | ||
Check out any newspaper and right there with the crossword puzzle is one of the newest and most popular puzzles around, Sudoku! This numbers game is great to play and can be a real challenge. Personally, I'm not the best at it but I know many friends of mine that just love these things. If you're interested in learning how to play or you're already a pro player and would like to make your own, check out Simple Sudoku below and see if this bit of free code interests you: Platform and Requirements......... Runs on Win 98 to XP and everything in between. The Website... The web site for Simple Sudoku is a simple, one page site with no fancy graphics or add ons. The print is large and easy to read, there's a pic of the program in action, downloads, program info and a few links to other sudoku sites. Help Files.... Simple Sudoku has an excellent help file system to give you both information on how the puzzles are played and of course, complete information on the program including some excellent graphics so that you can throughly understand what is being explained to you. Download, Installation and Uninstall... The program itself is about 835k in size and there are two small files available that contain extra puzzles. Each is about 15k in size. The download connection is fast and direct from the site itself. The installation creates a directory in your program files folder which is about 2.35 mb in size. Simple Sudoku uses a standard installation engine to get on your hard drive, giving you the usual procedures. The uninstall will remove the directory but only if you haven't created any new puzzles. Interface and Features..... The
interface of Simple Sudoku looks just like the standard grid design that
is famous for the puzzle, not including all of the nice icons along the
top of the program. Here's a pic of the startup interface which consists of Simple Sudoku in 'Design' mode:
 Starting
out with Simple Sudoku is rather easy with numerous ways to begin. You
can start by installing seperate values in each square to begin
designing your own puzzle. Also, you can click on the 'File' menu
item and choose 'Create New'! From there you can choose whether you
want to create a puzzle that is either Easy, Standard, Hard, Expert or,
if you really want a challenge, Extreme! If you select 'Open', you can
pick from many of the pre-made puzzles that can be downloaded from
their
site. Also, Simple Sudoku gives you the ability to cut and paste text
based games from different text forums found online. Below is an
example of what
you will receive for your efforts when letting the program create a
puzzle for you. There is an information bar at the bottom of the
program which states the type of puzzle you created plus how many
squares are filled and how many are still open:
 If the puzzle size is too big for your liking, there is an adjustment found
under the 'Options' menu that allows you to set the size to something
more comfortable for you. Here's a pic of the adjuster and the same puzzle with it's size changed:
  As
you can see, Simple Sudoku gives you the ability to show all of the
candidate numbers for each square which is one of may settings
made in the 'options' menu item at the top of the program.
The icon bars give you some great tools to help you in your quest to complete even the most toughest puzzle. There are numbered squares that let you filter out certain candidates to help you reveal isolated values, advanced patterns and candidates restricted to a specific row. The colored icons give you another tool in helping solving the puzzles, allowing you to used advanced methods of solving such as the X-wing and Swordfish techniques. Here's a pic of the same puzzle with colors added as well as the color preferences pallet allowing you to make color adjustments to suite your tastes:   Simple
Sudoku also has many other great features such as a puzzle timer, hints
and super hints, the ability to block invalid moves, multiple languages
such as Greek, German and Italian, undo and redo, and the ability to
print up to 4 different puzzles on one page for traveling.
Yes! The puzzles are too damn hard!! Well, for me anyway. The program itself works flawlessly and, except for the initial time that it needs to make it's internal bank of games, it's fast! Conclusion.... Though I'm not the best at solving these puzzles, they are a lot of fun to try and this program will just make creating and solving them that much more enjoyable. Download it and give it a whirl and see if you don't agree. Cheers! Buzzy :) |
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