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Editor's Choice Game
Sudoku by Nikoli
Reviewed by Angie Kibiloski
By now, everyone has come in contact with Sudoku, the addictive puzzle of grids and numbers, that has quickly ingrained itself into our daily past times. Whether you have played online, ripped out the weekly puzzle in the Sunday paper, or picked up a puzzle book off the rack at the store, you have most likely attempted to solve at least one Sudoku. Well, now you can always have a fresh puzzle at your fingertips, with the new Sudoku hand held game unit (Retail $24.95), published by Nikoli and distributed by Franklin.
This unit fits neatly into your palm, comes with a built in plastic stylus for use with the touch-sensitive screen, and contains many great features. When playing a game, you can choose to either play one of the 400 pre-programmed puzzles by Nikoli, or have the unit randomly generate a puzzle sequence for you. The pre-positioned numbers, those that cannot be moved by the gamer, are underlined so that they can be easily picked out. To fill in the blank spaces, all you must do is touch the empty space and then touch the number you think belongs there, from the number pads at the bottom of the screen. Don't worry if you make a mistake, changing the numbers is just as easy.
If you get stuck, you can ask the unit to solve your puzzle for you, and it will proceed to fill in the rest of the blanks. You may also pause the game and come back to it later when your mind is refreshed. Once you have filled in an entire grid, you may press the Check button, and the unit will let you know if you have solved the puzzle successfully, by making a happy winning noise, or tell you that you have made one or more errors by making a sad losing noise. Whichever numbers you have placed wrong however, is up to you to figure out. The game unit has the option to change the difficulty by you choosing levels 1, 2, or 3. You can chart your progress in each difficulty level by noting the timer at the side of the game board, which keeps track of how fast you complete each puzzle, and lets you know your fastest time for that level.
In addition to being a puzzle generator and game, you may use Sudoku by Nikoli to solve puzzles that you have found in other sources, such as in the newspaper. You can utilize this option by inputting the stationary numbers from the source puzzle into a blank grid, and then ask the unit to solve the puzzle for you. You may also wish to create your own puzzles. Simply start with a blank grid and input the stationary numbers where you would like them to go, and then ask Sudoku to validate whether or not your arrangement of numbers can make a solvable puzzle.
For someone who is already addicted to Sudoku, this is a very tempting product, as it allows you to have an endless supply of new puzzles always at hand. Plus, without the hassle of having to erase or scratch out your pen and pencil marks if you make a mistake, the lure of this digital time consumer is too much to pass up. If you are fairly new to the game, or by some miracle have yet to play, this unit is also a great learning aid, with the Solve and Check features, and the ability to change skill levels. All in all, no one should pass up the opportunity to own Sudoku from Nikoli and Franklin. It's a great buy and a ton of fun, all in the palm of your hand.
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