Sudoku took the world by storm. I'm not here to talk about this number game (that originated from Japan), but it surpassed itself from being a fad thus constantly appearing side by side with the
Crossword Puzzle on every single newspaper. Admittedly, I wasn't a big fan until recently. There wasn't a single bus ride without having seen anybody with a newspaper and a pencil. Indeed, Sudoku became the
crossword puzzle of this generation. Honestly, number games are a bit complex than word games but the fun factor is as exciting and more rewarding.
Playing Sudoku with pen and paper is quite cumbersome and messy especially for beginners and for those who are not good in numbers. I personally think that playing it on an electronic mobile device will give the player a better experience. What could be a better device to play the game than with a
Palm. Yes, I've seen and tested other iteration from other devices like the Nintendo DS and those stand-alone Sudoku gaming devices, but nothing beats the touch screen and the interface implementation of Astraware's Sudoku on the Palm. Astraware Sudoku comes with a multi-level puzzle that would give you instantly hours of Sudoku fun. If you've already finished all puzzles, there's an option to let you connect wirelessly to download the Puzzle for the Day (provided you have a wireless enabled Palm connected to the web) or create your own puzzle. Which in my case, I usually copy the puzzles from the magazine and play it with my Palm (while commuting to work).
Let's talk about how the interface became perfect for Sudoku. First, it has a clean and intuitive interface. No fuss, non complicated. The interface is very straight forward. Second, it has a pencil mode to jot down the number possibilities. Third, entering the numbers is very easy. Just tap the desired cell grid and the corresponding numbers on the right of the screen. The pencil marks could be entered by either tapping the numbers at the bottom of the screen or entering the numbers through Graffiti or the thumboard of your device. That's as easy and intuitive as it could get. No learning curve required, only skills in solving Sudoku puzzles. Challenge wise, its open ended. There's unlimited possibilities (either by solving all included puzzles, downloading puzzles or creating puzzles). This makes Astraware Sudoku so addictive that I've been playing it non-stop for several months now. Its clearly a winner!
You can download a free trial over at
Astraware's website.
