Time Waster of the Day: Sudoku

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware

Time Waster of the Day: Sudoku

by Jordan Running Aug 17th 2005

Sudoku at Miniclip.com I first heard about Sudoku awhile ago, but never really got into it until this week. But boy did I get into it. Sudoku is a logic puzzle in which you're presented with a grid of nine rows and nine columns. The object of the game is to fit the numbers 1 through 9 into the grid so that each number appears only once in each row, column, and 3x3 sub-grid. At the beginning of the game you're given many of the numbers and have to use deductive to figure out where the rest go. It's a very simple game—sort of a cross between minesweeper and the venerable crossword puzzle—but maddeningly addictive and, at the higher difficulty levels (i.e. fewer "given" numbers), a real mental exercise.

There are many sites where you can play Sudoku online, but I've found Miniclip's Flash Sudoku to be the best. It has three difficulty levels, the invaluable ability to record "guesses" (e.g when you know a cell must be a 3 or a 9, but you don't know which), and a new puzzle for each difficulty level every day.

Tags: flash, fun, games, lateral+thinking, LateralThinking, logic, puzzle, sudoku

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

J.T. Mill said 5:46PM on 8-17-2005

My mom got addicted to this game when she first found it in the Washington Post. I've played it to and it's pretty fun.

Jonathan Cohen said 11:35PM on 8-17-2005

Try this freeware downloadable version:

http://www.easton.me.uk/tcl/sudoku/

It says it's free for personal use (Windows only). It doesn't have the guess-recording feature, but you can generate an infinite number of random Sudoku puzzles, and play at your leisure...very nice.

David Easton said 8:44AM on 12-22-2005

The Sudoku Puzzle Generator at http://www.easton.me.uk/tcl/sudoku does have the guess-recording feature (use the right mouse button to put in guesses).

The miniclip Sudoku puzzles are also generated by an earlier version of this software.

haybeci said 5:22PM on 12-22-2005

sudoku

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters