The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Annie]

I like playing with colour patches instead of numbers, but find it irritating that the colours appear in a different order each time I start a new puzzle. This makes it difficult to run through the colours quickly in my head and see what's missing. Is there any way I can keep the colours in the same order, or is this something you might consider changing at some point?

[Pappocom]

The shuffling of colors is by design, as you might imagine. The intention was to avoid solvers beginning to associate a color with a number (e.g., "Oh yes, orange. That's the second color in the list, so orange = #2"). If that happens, you may as well be playing with numbers. To make it a truly random test, the colors have to be re-ordered.

Any thoughts?

- Wayne

[Annie]

I guessed this was the reason for it, but I think that playing with colours is very different to playing with numbers. It's actually a much more immediate (and sensory) experience, with the eye finding patterns as well as the brain. If I was able to arrange the colours myself, I would put them into a spectrum. It wouldn't actually matter if this spectrum was presented from left to right or reversed, just so long as the colours were in the same relationship to each other. I find that I can solve puzzles much more quickly with colours, apart from the point when I have to slow down and search through the row of buttons at the top to check which ones I've missed.

A static spectrum of colours might be a very nice option for a future edition - and could enable people whose brains work like mine to achieve breathtaking speeds.

[Pappocom]

Mmm... yes, I'll think about making it an option.

- Wayne