Treo Sudoku Craze

Unless you’ve been stranded on a desert island for the past year you will undoubtedly have heard of a puzzle game called Sudoku which has taken the world by storm and recently also become one of the bestselling Treo games ever.

According to Wikipedia: “the term Sudoku implies "numbers singly" in Japanese.  Sudoku is a logic-based placement puzzle, also known as Number Place in the US.  The aim of the canonical puzzle is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell of a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called "regions").  Some cells already contain numbers, known as "givens" (or sometimes as "clues").  The goal is to fill in the empty cells, one number in each, so that each column, row, and region contains the numbers 1–9 exactly once.  Each number in the solution therefore occurs only once in each of three "directions", hence the "single numbers" implied by the puzzle's name.  Each row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral.  Completing the puzzle requires patience and logical ability.” 

No kidding!!! I have a ton of patience and Sudoku tested its very limits as I struggled sometimes for hours to complete one of the more advanced games.  A ‘totally addictive’ label would be considerably more appropriate to describe the effect that Sudoku can have on you.

Lately there have been any number of software developers releasing Sudoku games and among these the two most popular have proven to be:

1. Astraware Sudoku v1.2 ($19.95)

Astraware Sudoku includes a puzzle creator which generates literally billions of true Sudoku puzzles, all solveable by logic alone and a puzzle solver, so you can input any Sudoku from a newspaper or book and Astraware Sudoku can show you the solution or give you hints to help you play along.

Also, new in version 1.2, you can now download the latest puzzle of the day directly to your Treo over the air.

2. TopSuDoKu v2.6 ($8.99)

Both of the above two Sudoku versions are among the best and personally I am rather fond of TopSuDoKu because of its more pleasing and colourful design as well as its somewhat easier functionality.

Like crossword puzzles (BeCrossword is superb) there is a distinctive advantage in being able to play Sudoku in electronic format anywhere/anytime on your Treo instead of relying on the paper versions.

To help you join the Sudoku craze I have created a special 20% off coupon valid until 25 December which you can use to purchase any of the six Sudoku versions currently available in the Treonauts Software Store.  Simply add the promotion code SUDOKU in your shopping cart.

Treonauts are always solving great puzzles…