Cool Sudoku User Guide. Play Jigsaw, Killer, Mini Sudoku and Kakuro

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User Guide

Sudoku Solver

Our online Sudoku Solver allows you to run through all the steps involved in solving our Sudoku puzzles.

A future enhancement coming very soon will allow you to enter the puzzle number (or the date for the puzzle) and it will then load up the puzzle and take you through the process of solving it.

Sudoku Solver

For the puzzle rules please see the relevant page from the Tabs above.

We decided to produce Cool Sudoku without the gimmicks such as skins. Our aim is to make Cool Sudoku easy to use and a to have a "clean" display which is easy to read. We concentrate on delivering well graded puzzles which are challenging yet are possible to solve without resorting to guesswork.

Show Possibles - UPDATED

The settings page is very important and you will need to understand how it works in order to get the most from Cool Sudoku. I have made some major changes to the way that pencil marks work so please take the time to become acquainted with the new way it works.

Sudoku with no pencil marks

No pencil marks will be shown

Sudoku with Pencil marks

Pencil marks shown and these will show auto possibles

In the image above on the left "Show Possibles" is set to OFF. This will mean that no pencil marks are displayed. On the right "Show Possibles" is set to ON and so pencil marks will be shown. On the right "Auto Possibles" is set to ON and so the pencil marks will be automatically updated.

When you are playing a puzzle and you enter a pencil mark then the "Auto Possibles" will be switched off. In order to go back to "Auto Possibles" you will need to switch it on again from the settings screen.

The "Clear Pencil Marks" button resets all pencil marks to be none. This would be used if you wanted to enter all pencil marks from scratch. The "Reset Pencil Marks" button sets all pencil marks to be the current possible values.

If you exit a puzzle using the back button or if you receive a phone call and exit the application then the current state of the puzzle is saved. This includes all pencil marks and also whether you were using auto pencil marks or not.

Sudoku with no pencil marks

Sudoku with show possibles off

Sudoku with pencil marks

Sudoku with show possibles switched on

In the above two examples you can see the effect of switching the show possibles on and off. This is achieved by using the settings button (top right).

When you have show possibles switched on (does not apply to Kakuro or Killer) then all the possible values for the cell are shown. The possible values are the values which have not been used in that row, column or block. If there is only one number in the show possibles then you can safely insert that number into the cell.

There are a multitude of methods for solving Sudoku puzzles and these will be detailed elsewhere. One very useful method is to look for numbers which occur only once in a row, column or block. This means that that number can only be placed in that particular cell.

Sudoku Unique Cell

In the above example we can see that the number 4 (circled in red) is the only number 4 in that block (and row). We can therefore enter the number 4 into that cell.

The possibles are updated every time you enter a new number into the grid or if you use the "Clear Cell" button to remove a number from a cell.

Pencil Marks

By touching the pen button you can select to enter pencil marks. The pen image will change to a pencil image. Please note that pencil marks are only displayed if you have selected the "Show Possibles" from the settings screen.

Sudoku with Pencil Entry

Sudoku with pencil entry (note pencil image)

Once you have selected the pencil entry mode you can change the small numbers. If you touch a number which is not already in a cell then that number is added, if it already exists in that cell then the number will be removed. Once you have started using pencil marks the possible values will not be updated automatically (this is so that all your hard work with pencils is not overwritten). If you wish to go back to displaying possible values then touch the back button and then go back into the puzzle.

If you select the pencil mode when show possibles is set to on then all the possible values are displayed as pencil marks. If you are not showing possibles and you turn on the pencil mode then you will see a blank set of pencil marks and you will have to enter them all in manually.

Completing a Puzzle

Once you have finished a puzzle (by entering in all the numbers in the grid), you will see the "Submit" button displayed.

Sudoku Completed

A Completed Sudoku Puzzle (note submit button)

Sudoku Submitted

A successfully submitted Sudoku Puzzle

The clock is stopped as soon as you touch the "Submit" button. You will then see the submission page and, on touching the "Submit Puzzle" button your solution will be submitted (assuming you have a network connection). You can only submit each puzzle once and an error will be shown if you try to submit more than once.

When you submit your first puzzle you will be prompted to choose a user name. If you do not do this then your submitted entry will be shown with the user name "Temp" and you will be promoted again when you submit your next puzzle.

Selecting a Puzzle Type

When you start Cool Sudoku it defaults to Sudoku. You can select the different puzzle types by touching one of the puzzle images at the top.

If you select Puzzle of the Day, Resume Practise, Practise Puzzles or Leader Board then you will be shown the relevant puzzle currently selected and the title at the top of the screen will be changed to the selected puzzle type.

For example, if you touch the Killer image and then Leader Board then you will see the Leader Board for Killer. If you select Resume Practise then you will be taken to the current Killer Practise puzzle. If you touch the Practise Puzzles button then you will be able to choose a new level of Killer puzzle to practise.

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