The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Pupp]

I use Sudoku 10,000
Currently I'm at level HARD 1.
-This is a bit tongue in cheek.

1. Do NOT buy a book on solving Sudoku puzzles, flip to chapter 48 of 52, and learn about forcing chains.
...you'll end up trying to solve every puzzle with forcing chains, and skip leaning what you need to learn: the basics. It's difficult to use basic techniques when you think you can magically shortcut every puzzle into an instant win.

2. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INVENT A NEW SUDOKU TECHNIQUE!!!
... Thats what happens when you learn less than half of the basic techniques, and a smattering of too advance techniques for your skill level. A "new technique" that is correct 80% of the time is still just an educated guess.

3. Do not make educated guesses!!! (see part 2). Seriously: any suduku puzzle less than "Beyond Nightmare" can be solved without using an educated guess. Knowing what to look for is the problem. Puzzles don't come with a manual.

4. Puzzles don't come with a manual. Hitting the analyze button lets you know if you're still on track and if you missed a major technique. It won't explain that, for example, there are 5 cells in a block, and 4 of them are a quad, and the 5th cell is a red herring, with only a single viable pencilmark number. Ok, that one took me nearly 40 minutes to puzzle out.

5. Sudoku puzzles can, and frequently, get trickier without technically getting much more difficult. In Sudoku 10,000 there are 5 levels for each section. Each section gets trickier, more of the hardest techniques, but the hardest techniques are just more of what was in level 1.

6. Sudoku is about having fun. The puzzles are a zero sum game of logic. That is, every viable puzzle with only one solution can be solved by logic, and by logic alone.

7. When using Sudoku 10,000, which I think is only on Android, I'd suggest if you work your way up to Hard 1 level, start doing all 250 puzzles in each section. Just to make sure you master every technique in that section before getting to the "Very Hard" section. Hard puzzles are no slouch, although it's the Fiendish level that really shows your mastering the mid level techniques.

Final thoughts: when learning Sudoku, it can be challenging to figure out what basic technique to use at times, because there are different types of techniques to apply to find the various "claiming", that Sudoku 10,000 just lumps together as a most basic techniques. At least for Sudoku 10,000 app. Probably the most useful button is ANALYZE. It tells you if your still on track or not, and if you missed a harder technique.

[Pupp]

For a ballpark estimate on technique difficulty. (rated by Sudoku Explorer)

Starter level is 0.1 to 2.9

Beginner using all basic techniques are puzzles under 5.0

Midlevel is 5.0 to 6.9 on Sudoku Explorer (SE).

Advanced is 7.0 to 8.9

Expert is 9.0 and above.

Of course this is just my opinion.

In any event, if you're solving puzzles up to 7.9 SE without getting stuck, you're an excellent player. I think on Sudoku 10,000, Nightmare starts at 7.0.

You have to install Beyond Nightmare puzzles and I think those start at 9.0. You can't even analyze those with Sudoku 10,000 due to a cell phone's limitation on being able to compute that level of difficulty.