OT: Fudoku

[admin]

And now something completely different...

I invented a game, a hybrid of sudoku and football (soccer). Like sudoku it's something you do on paper with a pencil, but since yesterday, there's a flash-based online-version here:
http://www.fudoku.de/

The interface is in German, so here's some info in English for all you non-german speakers:

Fudoku rules are extremely easy: Fill balls into the empty squares (by clicking into the squares) so that there are exactly 3 balls in each row, and 1 ball in each column. The balls must not touch (the 8 neighboring fields of a ball must not contain another ball), and the fields with a hand are taboo. And, of course: There's only ONE solution.

You can remove a wrong ball by clicking on it.
To take part in the competition you have to login.
You can select one of 3 levels of difficulty.
"START" will start a new game, "LÖSUNG" means solution.

Alles klar? Then Good Luck and Enjoy!

[Gandolf]

If you're a Su Doku fan have you seen "The Su Doku Assistant" from EuroSoft? http://www.stokepoges.plus.com/sudoku.htm

[admin]

If you're a Su Doku fan have you seen "The Su Doku Assistant" from EuroSoft? http://www.stokepoges.plus.com/sudoku.htm

No, I'm more into the pen & paper setup. And, currently I'm clean after a short but heavy phase of sudoku addiction. And, I can tell: fudoku is better!

[admin]

If you're a Su Doku fan have you seen "The Su Doku Assistant" from EuroSoft? http://www.stokepoges.plus.com/sudoku.htm

Forgot to ask: why are you asking? Do you use it? Have you written it? Are you EuroSoft?

[Gandolf]

Forgot to ask: why are you asking? Do you use it? Have you written it? Are you EuroSoft?

Because I'm a Su Doku fan. Yes. No, but contributed suggestions. No.

It will provide the "pen & paper setup" you prefer since it generates puzzles and will print them out. In the unlikely event that you cannot solve a puzzle then it has the facility to offer hints to a solution.

I've been debugging and suggesting ideas for Su Doku and another of his programs (Calendar Magic) for some years. I don't expect I'll ever get back to writing serious software again but the logical thinking it still there and I want to keep that active as long as I can. Hence, beta testing and puzzles keep the old brain going (what's left of it!!)

[admin]

Let me exploit your english skills. Does this read okay? Are the rules clear?
-->> http://www.fudoku.de/rules.php

[zridling]

I apologize for my ignorance, but never having played Sudoku, I don't understand how Fudoku is played. Ah, LöSUNG teaches me what's going on! What do the hands signify? The whistle hurts at full volume; thanks for the volume control.

The rules in English are fine. However, if you want to change the third part of the instruction, which states:

"... and no balls touch each other."

You might change the above phrase to read:

"... and none of the balls are next to each other."

or

"... and no ball touches another."

or if you want to get wordy,

"... and no ball is adjacent to another between both rows and columns."

________________________________________________
Great job, Don! This is a nice, relaxing brain challenge several times throughout the day. Oh, and as far as your English skills go, if you didn't tell me, I'd never know you were a Deutscher.

[admin]

Great job, Don! This is a nice, relaxing brain challenge several times throughout the day. Oh, and as far as your English skills go, if you didn't tell me, I'd never know you were a Deutscher.

Thanks! I'll go for the shortest ("... and no ball touches another"). The hands are the hands of the goal keeper (you cannot place a ball here). Think of the game board as a soccer goal seen from the player's/attacker's perspective, i.e. from the front.

I'll calm down the whistle a bit the next days... (it won't go as fast as with XY updates because I have to pay somebody else to code the flash).

EDIT: hey, just saw your blog, that's great, thanks!!
http://www.thegsblog.com/?p=188