Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Sudoku
- Thread starter wowser
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I play on Brain Age / DS Lite also. Very nice interface. 
It's the thing that finally got me to play them. I have a couple more beginner to do and a fair number of intermediate... I think I'm 44% complete. But I really enjoy it!
It's the thing that finally got me to play them. I have a couple more beginner to do and a fair number of intermediate... I think I'm 44% complete. But I really enjoy it! 
Good one. Did you ever see the movie "Proof"? The main characters are all mathematicians, and there's a very good line in it about imaginary numbers.
This thread started before I joined MR so I didn't know about it. One of the reasons I joined MR was to wean me off of my Sudoku habit. Now I'm addicted to both. Thanks guys.
Must say, I am getting annoyed with lazy developers for the DS who churn out endless Sudoku games for the console. I have it on my phone though, and that makes me happy
I just can't understand sudoku. I've given it a try a few times and always given up. Logic puzzles don't normally bother me - I've done degree level maths modules (a long time ago), and am reasonably nifty with a chessboard so i know it's not a problem with my logic skills.
My grandmother got really into sudoku a couple of years ago and has books full of completed puzzles. Embarrassing for me
My grandmother got really into sudoku a couple of years ago and has books full of completed puzzles. Embarrassing for me
Start with easy puzzles and ask for help. You'll catch on. You may wish you hadn't but you will!
Have you tried my home-made un-patented non-guaranteed-or-your-money-back strategy suggestions?I just can't understand sudoku. I've given it a try a few times and always given up. Logic puzzles don't normally bother me - I've done degree level maths modules (a long time ago), and am reasonably nifty with a chessboard so i know it's not a problem with my logic skills.
My grandmother got really into sudoku a couple of years ago and has books full of completed puzzles. Embarrassing for me
I used to do the Sudoku in our paper every day, but cut myself off because they weren't very challenging and I felt like I needed to cut some stuff out of my day to be more productive. But then I was in Borders and saw a book of 1002 Sudokus on closeout for $5, and I caved. I've made it through 300 or so in the last six weeks.
I still do the Sudoku Monster in our Sunday paper though...at least that's challenging.
I still do the Sudoku Monster in our Sunday paper though...at least that's challenging.
There's a newly announced Sudoku game on the market: Sudoku: Latin Squares from TikGames. A Mac version is available here.
Screenshot.
Screenshot.
My resolution
As of today, I have solved the Sudoku puzzle in the Los Angeles Times for 1000 consecutive days, ever since they introduced them.
I've done them no matter what; even if the house was on fire or I was late to accept my latest Nobel prize, I would finish the daily puzzle before calling 911 or getting in my limo. When I went to Japan for nearly a month, I didn't cancel the newspaper. I let them pile up and then did all the Sudoku puzzles when I got home. I was relentless and single-minded, ripping into the newspaper to find that puzzle every day.
I told myself that after 1000 days I would stop requiring myself to do the puzzles, and it's now that time. If I'm out of town, I will no longer worry about missing the puzzle in the newspaper. (After all, I have Sudoku puzzle books that I take on business trips, and new puzzles are always a click away on the computer.) The L.A. Times gave it their best shot and couldn't defeat me, even with the puzzles they label diabolical, so I'm going to declare victory and use the time I save for other worthy endeavors, such as writing ridiculous posts at MacRumors.
I'm saying all this in a public forum to force myself to stick to this resolution. Even if my hands start to shake, I will not glue myself to the daily puzzle, clutching my pencil and ignoring the rest of the world, if I have more important things to do. Thank you for supporting me in my effort!
By the way, did anything happen in the world since June 2005? That was the last time I looked up.
As of today, I have solved the Sudoku puzzle in the Los Angeles Times for 1000 consecutive days, ever since they introduced them.
I've done them no matter what; even if the house was on fire or I was late to accept my latest Nobel prize, I would finish the daily puzzle before calling 911 or getting in my limo. When I went to Japan for nearly a month, I didn't cancel the newspaper. I let them pile up and then did all the Sudoku puzzles when I got home. I was relentless and single-minded, ripping into the newspaper to find that puzzle every day.
I told myself that after 1000 days I would stop requiring myself to do the puzzles, and it's now that time. If I'm out of town, I will no longer worry about missing the puzzle in the newspaper. (After all, I have Sudoku puzzle books that I take on business trips, and new puzzles are always a click away on the computer.) The L.A. Times gave it their best shot and couldn't defeat me, even with the puzzles they label diabolical, so I'm going to declare victory and use the time I save for other worthy endeavors, such as writing ridiculous posts at MacRumors.
I'm saying all this in a public forum to force myself to stick to this resolution. Even if my hands start to shake, I will not glue myself to the daily puzzle, clutching my pencil and ignoring the rest of the world, if I have more important things to do. Thank you for supporting me in my effort!
By the way, did anything happen in the world since June 2005? That was the last time I looked up.
I said you were obsessed. Was I not right? I couldn't let a day go by for a long time, but finally I had to take a break from sudoku for a few months. You can either go cold turkey or try the 9-step program. I hear they also have a patch.
I just can't understand sudoku. I've given it a try a few times and always given up. Logic puzzles don't normally bother me - I've done degree level maths modules (a long time ago), and am reasonably nifty with a chessboard so i know it's not a problem with my logic skills.
My grandmother got really into sudoku a couple of years ago and has books full of completed puzzles. Embarrassing for me
Have you tried my home-made un-patented non-guaranteed-or-your-money-back strategy suggestions?
Thanks Q, I tried out some of your suggestions, and tried a few simple sudoku puzzles. Now I understand how it works. Completed a few sudoku puzzles, and like you said, quickly formulated a few mechanical rules for completing them. A few puzzles later, refined my algorithms to speed up completing the puzzles. Did a few more.
Then the whole thing just became too mechanical, and I lost interest. No longer interested in doing sudoku sorry. I've done about 20 altogether, which is nothing compared to your 1000, but at least thanks to your help, I'm no longer out-skilled by my grandmother.
Just thought I'd mention it since this thread came back to life.
Now I've got to go polish my Excel skills. Yes, another area in which my 75 year old grandmother is much better than me... Oh the embarrassment...
It looks like a 9-step program from a distance, but if you look closely you'll see it really has 81 steps.
The reason your class was canceled is that the professor was busy playing Sudoku!wow this thing is addictive. i was getting bored w/ playing chest so i tried a web-based sudoku... before i knew it it's already 3:15 a.m.! good thing i just got an email from my prof saying that our class is canceled today.
Thanks for the other suggestions, guys. I can see how putting patches over your eyes might reduce the Sudoku temptation.
I thought I'd better wake up this thread before it goes a year without a post, since Sudoku is still a great puzzle-game.
First, I present the dumbest Sudoku article of the year:
And now for some more useful math. There are more than 6000000000000000000000 different possible Sudoku grids. If you solved one million of them per second, you would still need over 200 million years to solve them all. You'd better pick up the pace!
Most Sudoku puzzles are computer generated, but the ones published by Japanese puzzle company Nikoli are designed by hand and made rotationally symmetric (as the best crossword puzzles are). Nikoli is the company that gave Sudoku its name (su=number or digit, doku=single), shortened from the original name suji wa dokushin ni kagiru, meaning something like "the numbers must be single".
My favorite Sudoku spinoff game? The Sudo-Q game show!
First, I present the dumbest Sudoku article of the year:
Sudoku has met its match: Math
A mathematician/computer scientist claims that there is a foolproof way to solve Sudoku puzzles. But if you look at the details you see that his foolproof method is to fill in the cells that you know (because they have only one possible choice), and then guess at the rest. If you are wrong, go back and try again.
Wow - you can use trial and error to solve puzzles with a fixed number of choices. What big news!
A mathematician/computer scientist claims that there is a foolproof way to solve Sudoku puzzles. But if you look at the details you see that his foolproof method is to fill in the cells that you know (because they have only one possible choice), and then guess at the rest. If you are wrong, go back and try again.
Wow - you can use trial and error to solve puzzles with a fixed number of choices. What big news!
And now for some more useful math. There are more than 6000000000000000000000 different possible Sudoku grids. If you solved one million of them per second, you would still need over 200 million years to solve them all. You'd better pick up the pace!
Most Sudoku puzzles are computer generated, but the ones published by Japanese puzzle company Nikoli are designed by hand and made rotationally symmetric (as the best crossword puzzles are). Nikoli is the company that gave Sudoku its name (su=number or digit, doku=single), shortened from the original name suji wa dokushin ni kagiru, meaning something like "the numbers must be single".
My favorite Sudoku spinoff game? The Sudo-Q game show!