When I was much younger, my parents got me a book of a puzzle game that was popular in Japan and spreading around the world: Sudoku. I grabbed a pencil and quickly filled it up. The puzzles can be challenging, yet rewarding. There’s just enough logic, thinking, and a little trial and error to make the problems tricky yet fun.
Since I’ve been downloading apps, I’ve tried to find a decent version of Sudoku. So many are ad supported, have annoying interruptions, or lack customization. Others have terrible controls.
Good Sudoku doesn’t have that. In fact, Good Sudoku has an attractive interface, the ability to pencil in numbers, plenty of puzzles at different difficulty levels, a surprisingly catchy soundtrack, and… AI.
Good Sudoku is an app that changes the game of Sudoku. It’s still a fun puzzle, but it’s taken out some of its most tedious aspects and helps you become a better puzzle solver.
A Brief Rundown of Sudoku
Okay, super brief. Sudoku is made up of a 9×9 grid. Each row and column will have 9 numbers in it, and only one of each. 1-9. That 9×9 grid is broken up into a 3×3 grid of “houses.” Each of these will also only have one instance of the numbers 1-9. There’s no math, you just have to figure out where each number goes. There will be 9 instances of each of the 9 numbers across the board. Put them in the right place.
You can see how I derived where a 5 should go in the puzzle below. While I don’t know where the 5 is in the middle row, first and last house columns yet, I do know where that middle house 5 will go.
Good Sudoku’s AI
Good Sudoku gives you hints about how to find patterns and figure out the correct numbers for each square. Sometimes you can use the rows and columns to figure out exactly where something should be, but other times you have to figure out where a number is without having anything on the board. You might know that a 3 is one of the numbers in a row, and therefore know that you will have to put a 3 elsewhere.
One of the more annoying aspects of the harder boards is process of elimination. Sometimes you’ll only be able to fill a spot because you can figure out that no other number in the house, column, or row could be any other number. This takes a lit of little pencil marks, maybe a separate sketch board, and a lot of time. But Good Sudoku does all of that for you. It knows the joy of the game isn’t sitting there, looking at one square, and trying to figure out if any of the 9 numbers could go in it, one by one, for all 81 squares. Instead, it will help you see exactly which numbers are available.
Good Sudoku can also watch your play style, figuring out the techniques you used to solve a puzzle and rewarding you for learning or using new techniques. There’s a way to solve every puzzle without a single error, but it takes time and practice.
The game also has hints, for when you want to speed things up.
The AI alone makes Good Sudoku a blast. it takes the more annoying and tedious aspects out of the game and leaves the puzzle solving to you.
Jamming to Elevator Music
I’ve found myself whistling the tune from this game as I was nodding along, writing an article. It’s catchy, but not distracting. It sounds like elevator music… but good. It’s got a bit of a catchy hook. I can’t describe how, but it’s actually a decent soundtrack, perfect for solving Sudoku puzzles. I actually keep the sound on for this game.
Don’t judge it until you try it.
Relatively Inexpensive
The full version is just $3.99. Not a subscription (yet), just an up-front cost of just $4. That’s not much at all. This is a game that can easily provide you many hours of puzzles and learning for just $4? I’d almost say just buy it up-front, but the game is free. Download it and try it out. If you fall in love with it as quickly as I did, you’ll gladly put up the $4.
Listen, I don’t write about games much, but I do like playing them. I’m not too bad at Super Smash Bros, I’m weirdly good at Horizon Zero Dawn, and I definitely committed some crimes against humanity in The Last of Us 2. I love hardcore, fast-paced, even terrifying games. But I also like to take a break from work on occasion, just for a few minutes. I ride the subway (or, rather, I used to, pre-COVID). Sudoku might be a cliche for middle-aged smartphone “gamers,” but it’s a fun little game, and Good Sudoku is the best version of it that I’ve played. Considering I’ve tried to hunt down the best version of Sudoku on both iOS and Android, you should probably check it out.
Good Sudoku is available on the App Store as a a free download.