Filed under: Fun, Games, Macintosh, Commercial, Time-Wasters
by Jay Savage Dec 14th 2006
Filed under: Fun, Games, News, Windows
by Ryan Carter Oct 22nd 2006
Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Freeware, Time-Wasters
by Jordan Running Sep 27th 2006
I've fallen more or less out of my Sudoku obsession, but Sudoku Slam brings something new to the table. Sudoku Slam is a free web-based version of Sudoku, and has a "Traditional" mode that acts like most web-based Sudoku games. But it also has a "Sumo" mode that, for jaded, impatient Sudoku players like me, takes some of the tedium out of the game. Sudoku purists might call it cheating, but what Sumo mode does is automatically fill in all the "candidate" numbers at the beginning of the game and automatically eliminate candidates as you solve the puzzle. Sudoku Slam also has some other welcome features, like the ability to undo any mistakes you might have made, full keyboard control, and the ability to save and load games, as well as print them out. There's also a Smart Hint option in case you get stumped, and four different difficulty levels. Definitely worth checking out if other Sudoku sites have fallen short of your expectations.
Okay, time to really geek out. Declarative languages are really the way to go if you're trying to teach a computer
how to solve a puzzle, and though Prolog is the king of the declarative playground, it's equally geeky to do it in SQL,
and that's what Samuel Aina did. His article Solving Sudoku
with SQL describes what his title suggests: finding the unique solution to a Sudoku puzzle using T-SQL in SQL
Server 2000. While the code isn't short (compare to, e.g., Chris Neukirchen's Prolog version), it's very clear
and well-commented and really shows off the power of declarative programming.
Filed under: Fun, Games, Macintosh, Shareware
by Ted Wallingford Mar 29th 2006
The Japanese-inspired numeric logic game
is sweeping across the world. In many newspapers, a Sudoku puzzle grid sits alongside the traditional crossword and
word search puzzles under the comics. And downloadable versions of the addictive game are beginning to pop
up. The latest, and perhaps most refined, is Sudoku Companion
from Verek. Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Web services, Freeware, Time-Wasters
by Jordan Running Mar 16th 2006
I've featured super-addictive logic puzzle
Sudoku as a Time Waster before, so it feels like cheating to mention it again, but I've found a great new Sudoku site
called Iron Sudoku. While I'm still partial to the Miniclip.com version's mousewheel-driven interface, Iron Sudoku's
non-Flash interface (yes, that's AJAX you smell) is easy to use and efficient enough for speed-players. It also has two
different color markers, red and green (hold Shift or Ctrl, respectively) and lets you save your progress at any point
(and I'm told autosave is coming soon). Most interestingly, Iron Sudoku is social software, so while you're playing you
can chat with players around the world who are working on the same puzzle, and sometimes it's nice to know you're not
the only one pulling your hair out hunting for hidden subsets. There's one puzzle per day and completing a puzzle wins
you points—10 for Expert, 5 for Hard, and so on (but rankings unfortunately won't be enabled until April 1,
unless I've been fooled). Signing up for Iron Sudoku is free, but paying members (a one-time $14.95 fee) get a few
extra features like a friends list and account customization.Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware
by Jordan Running Aug 17th 2005
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.
After spending the better part of an hour on Forumwarz I still can't decide if it's just sick or if it's kind of fun. It's a bit like a car wreck on the highway. I know I shouldn't be looking but I can't quite turn away.
It's sick, it's twisted, it's the internet on it's worst level and darn it, it's kind of fun. At least for a little while.
Forumwarz is a parody role-playing game that takes place on the internet - or at least the Forumwarz version of it. Your goal is to complete missions that are given to you through a mock up of GoogleTalk called Sentrillion.
Your first "friend" is ShallowEsophagus who begins giving you missions to pwn various forums by being a troll. Depending on the character type you are assigned at start up, you have tools like drooling on the keyboard or bashing your head on the keyboard that you can use to destroy forum threads and eventually, pwn a forum.
Future missions involve buying illegal software from the Russians, pwning more difficult forums and other internet oddness.
Completing missions gives you cash, called Flezz in game, and items that you can pawn or use in other missions. The game is NOT for those easily offended. It's crass, coarse and there are frequent f-bombs in the fake chat sessions.
This is also a game for a more mature audience as it requires you to shop at the Drugs R Fun store to get various concoctions to improve your playing, engage in certain cyber activities to get more Flezz and just generally use a more adult perspective.
If you can get past that, here are the more enjoyable and time-wasting aspects.
Advertise with Download Squad. (Learn more)
| # | Blogger | Posts | Cmts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brad Linder | 69 | 8 |
| 2 | Lee Mathews | 60 | 30 |
| 3 | Jay Hathaway | 56 | 14 |
| 4 | Jason Clarke | 12 | 0 |
| 5 | Christina Clark | 7 | 5 |
| 6 | Nik Fletcher | 7 | 0 |
| 7 | Christina Warren | 5 | 5 |
| 8 | Victor Agreda, Jr. | 3 | 5 |
| 9 | Adam Maras | 2 | 2 |
| 10 | Grant Robertson | 2 | 5 |
| 11 | Dolores Parker | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | Todd Ritter | 1 | 1 |
IM openoffice.org-3.0 google burning firefox dvd twitter pandora iPhone windows-mobile music chat Gmail beta android css online-video open-source video GoogleMaps youtube Election2008 search time-waster windows-7 office favorite-apps google-chrome news microsoft antivirus email GTD windows g1 backup xp portable browsers flash photos streaming yahoo text rss mccain audio linux game windows-xp
All contents copyright © 2003-2008, Weblogs, Inc. All rights reserved
Download Squad is a member of the Weblogs, Inc. Network. Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Notify AOL
