Here are a few screen shots of the game. All screens are functional.
However, screens are subject to change as development continues.
We tweak these screens on every release, responding to both our own playing
experiences and feedback from our active users - that's you!
The game board, complete with your notes (and possibly computer hints) for each move, and a tree of moves you've tried. As one begins learning Sudoku, the tendency is to guess, or use incomplete logic, which can lead to a dead-end. Soon though, you'll learn all the logic necessary to stop guessing and only progress to a solution quickly. The main screen offers easy shortcuts to turn on/off portions of the screen, to get hints and save your work. Also, using Sudoku Koubou, you can create your own puzzles by hand, quickly checking to ensure the board has only 1 solution, and even rating it to see how hard it seems to be!
Rows, Columns and Region all igve you visible signals to when they are not solved correctly and when they are. Each board style comes with a unique set of indicators - but none so different that the feel of the entire game is lost.
Below is the style chooser. Sudoku Koubou allows for all puzzles to be played in the style of your choosing, and does not fix a
style to a game. As such, puzzles and styles are separate. Find the style you like the most, customize the fonts and colors,
and play all puzzles this way.
Note that the board allows for "marking" - or tracking possibilities. You can do it all yourself, or have Sudoku Koubou give you marking hints (up to a certain level, say only marking using the basic rules, and letting you concentrate on the tough logic).
This is the puzzle generator. Choose a overall difficulty level (1 to 100) or pick the details yourself. By checking each successive
logic method, you can learn how each method helps improve your solving skills. Also, by requiring a higher number of moves than
just a direct fill-in, you are demanding the built-in solver to create puzzles it's logic cannot solve (it must guess and backtrack). This will
create harder and harder puzzles as you increase the logic involved. Of course, you can generate games in bulk, set the type
of start pattern and then create your own printed book of puzzles to take anywhere. We are constantly tweaking this area
of the game to create ever-more intriguing puzzles.
Each puzzle file stores the fastest solved times and who did it. Create a puzzle by hand (or generate one) and then email to your
friend who thinks they can beat you!
The hints you are given are completely configurable, so you can examine what each level of logic can reveal about the board. Combined
with the great tutorials, you can quickly learn the strong solving skills necessary to solve the hardest Sudoku puzzles.
Have the program solve any puzzle for you - and visually watch if the logic you allow it to use can solve it quickly, or
it must back up and try a different set of entries. By increasing the intelligence of the solver, games are solved more quickly.
There are no known Sudoku puzzles that Sudoku Koubou cannot solve, but it does know how to back up and try a different value
when it gets stuck!
Email questions to sensei@sudoku-koubou.com