Sudoku

[Traianvs]

ok, but where's the fun in this game?

[duke o' york]

It's a very simple logic puzzle. There are no power-ups to be had (unless you count the Independent's 16x16 version, with 1 to 9 and A to H), no clever animation when you win, and only the thrill of testing yourself against the skill of the setters. Just like crosswords really. It would depend on your definition of fun, I'd agree, but I enjoy them almost as much as cryptic crosswords. Not that I'd ever dare to set a sudoku mind you.
And for those with no Asian stamps in our passports, can we have a definitive Japanese version of the pronunciation please? I say that the o should be hard: su-dock-oo, although many think su-dow-koo.

[Traianvs]

i wouldn't even know where to start in order to solve a puzzle like that

[Kassiopeia]

I don't like these numbery puzzles, except the encryption ones, where you figure out which number corresponds to which letter...

Wildly offtopic - when did you change your nick to that, Traianvs? I think I recall commenting on how it'd be nice if you used the original Latin form - although I figure "TRAIANVS" would be actually closer to the original (but way more annoying as a nick).

[alva]

So finally, Soduko has reached Poly...That took some time.

They are good fun for a while but get real old very quickly IMHO.

[Traianvs]

i registered with trajanus, because that's the way to write it down in dutch; however for english speakers that must've seemed weird (the letter "j"!) so i decided now to change it to Traianus
someone else commented that it'd be even better if it were Traianvs so that's what I asked Ming to change it to

I always find it weird that the romans used the same letter for both v and u..

the god vvlcanvs for example appears so weird in my eyes, especially if there's another word ending in vv before the god (they don't use full-stops etc!)

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Traianvs
ok, but where's the fun in this game?

DoY mostly said it exactly as I see it - it's a simple in form, yet complex in execution, logical puzzle. It doesn't take much to learn how to do it; yet even a simple puzzle can take a while to do, and the exhiliration from finally figuring out where that last 4 goes - and seeing dozens of other numbers fall into place once you figure out a single number - is pretty neat.

Not for everyone, as indeed it has no powerups or animations of any sort (tho i'm sure one will evolve with both ), but for those of us who like testing our logical skill in games, it's pretty good ...

[Urban Ranger]

I am more interested in an efficient computer algorithm to solve these puzzles. Anybody has any ideas?

[snoopy369]

A computer program can easily solve these puzzles. Indeed, according to www.sudoku.com folks, any puzzle *not* solvable by a computer program (like theirs) is an illegal puzzle, requiring a 'guess' to complete (which is antithetical to the point of Sudoku, I suppose).

The interesting thing, from my understanding, is when 'guessing' becomes logical - some of the "advanced coloring" algorithms discussed in some of the fora i've browsed sound basically like "guessing and then checking if the guess works" ...

[Urban Ranger]

Since you always have more than one choices I reckon you need to start a puzzle with some guesses, then follow the rules to fill in the rest of the blanks and check see if you run into trouble along the way. Sort of like Minesweeper.

Brute force guessing is simple for a computer. I am wondering though if there are more elegant ways to do this with an algorithm.

[Adagio]

So far I haven't finished any puzzle that needs guessing. In the situations when the 'normal' puzzle-solving doesn't work there's other options like checking for each empty spot on what numbers can actually go there. This way you can go on with the game without guessing

[duke o' york]

You should never have to guess!
If you do then it is a badly set puzzle.
If there is no logical way forward from any "correct" point then it's a bad puzzle - like chess, occasionally on the toughest puzzles you have to think a few steps ahead, considering options conditional on others, but I'd consider this logic anyway.

[Carolus Rex]

After having read this thread I discovered it in my local daily paper...

Otherwise, I would have guessed some kind of martial arts genre...

Carolus

[DrSpike]

Well I'm not sure what the distinction between the guess and working it out is. Say there are a few possibilities left, and you put in a 'guess' and follow that 'guess' to it's logical conclusion, to find that there is no solution with your initial choice. That's one quite reasonable way of proceeding and eliminating possibilities.

[snoopy369]

I indeed have a similar difficulty understanding the precise distinction between 'guessing' and 'working it out' in the situation you describe (which happens in harder puzzles, at least to me) ...

but hardcore SuDoku people make a real distinction between guessing and logic, so there must be something