Help Overview

Sudoku Koubou is a free download from this website. There are no spyware/adware portions to the software, and it does not need to be connected to a network to run. Simply run the downloaded file in Windows 2000 or later, and it will install. It can be uninstalled completely through the Windows Control Panel (Add/Remove Applications).

Help Index

• Appearance
• Collections
• Construction
• Generation
• Using Hints
• Move Tree
• Notes
• High Scores
• Save/Load Single Puzzle
• The Math of Sudoku

Once started Sudoku Koubou presents an empty game board. From here, you may

• Generate a New Puzzle using SK's built-in generator
• Enter the numbers from another puzzle into the board and set it as the "start"
• Open a single puzzle you've been working on
• Explore a puzzle collection file, which holds puzzles in a single text file

You can also adjust the skin of the board, fonts and colors for numbers. This setting is independent of what puzzle you are working on, and can be changed while playing a puzzle or not.

While solving puzzles, several optional aspects of the game are available for you to use. Each number you enter (or remove) into the board is recorded in a Move Tree. This tree tracks what value has been placed in each position. You can use the Undo to set the "live" position in the tree; it will walk the focus bar upwards on the tree. Once making a move after backing up, the tree will split and record all your moves from that point forward on a new branch. In this way, several pathways of your entries can be tracked, which then allows you to back up and try another if you get stuck.

Also while playing, there is a Notes area that lets you enter information pertaining to the cell you are on and the move you are making. Your notes are kept in the Move Tree, so that you can leave yourself clues about your solving process while playing, and while backup up from a dead end.

In especially difficult puzzles, you can ask for a Hint One type of hint can highlight a cell and suggest a value that you may not have seen.

While solving difficult puzzles, it's typical for people to Mark cells This involves placing all the possible values for a cell in it, to be revisited later when you have more information. It's very useful to mark an entire Region, Row or Column as a way of thoroughly checking what is possible and not possible in unfilled cells.

Sudoku Koubou can offer hints in the form of Auto-Marking, where the marks to display possible values in every cell are automatically tracked and adjusted as the board is filled in.

When curious about a puzzle's solution, you can ask Sudoku Koubou to solve the puzzle. It will start from the "starts" (different colored numbers) and keep going until it solves the puzzle. Depending on what logic modules you allow Sudoku Koubou, this may go quickly or take several seconds. Also, you can choose whether you want to watch Sudoku Koubou fill out the board (and back up if need be), or just solve it instantly.

Sudoku Koubou uses several mathematical modules to gather information from a board and make an informed decision. These modules are somewhat common techniques for typical sudoku solvers. You can control which of these modules are active in Sudoku, for both the generation portion of the game, the hints and the solver. By adjusting these settings for hints, if you have Auto-Marking turned on, you will see the immediate effect of Sudoku Koubou's investigation of the board. Turning on more modules usually solves the puzzle more quickly. There are new or improved modules written into Sudoku Koubou in most releases, so that puzzles it may have thought were very hard become easier. At the moment, Sudoku Koubou is very smart and can solve many of the hardest puzzles without resorting to guessing 1 of several choices in a cell. There are always harder puzzles, though, that challenge that game and can challenge you.