Sudoku Puzzle Variations [Page 4 of 15])

   

When you have solved many regular Sudoku 9x9 puzzles you may wish for a bit of a change. Although Sudoku Dragon offers a range of ten different grid sizes from 4x4 up to 20x20 and six levels of difficulty for each size, this does not offer a distinctly different challenge as the rules are the same.

Our Sudoku Stripe is just one of the variations on the Sudoku theme offered by the program. The stripe consists of an ordered row, column or region hidden somewhere in the grid. In this case (a 12x12 puzzle) it is hidden in row i.

In addition to the Stripe, Sudoku Dragon offers some even stranger options. The first one is actually closely related to the stripe, but instead of an ordered row there is a nine letter word hidden somewhere in the grid as a row or column. In the following example Sudoku Dragon has hidden DIPLOMATS in row B. So at the same time as using the Sudoku strategy you can be wracking your brains for anagrams.

Adding the diagonals of Sudoku into two groups, so that all the numbers must be unique in each diagonal as well as all rows; columns and regions, adds a lot more complexity to the analysis. Now a square on the diagonal belongs to three sub-groups and not just the normal two. The end effect is that X-Sudoku or Diagonal Sudoku puzzles can be easier to solve.

The fourth variation provided by Sudoku Dragon is the most challenging. In this version the normal square or rectangular regions are replaced by odd shapes. Each region still has the same number of squares as the rows and columns, so many but not all of the Sudoku strategies will still work. It is often termed 'Jigsaw' or 'Squiggle' Sudoku to emphasise the odd shapes of the regions. The Two out of Three strategy no longer works and the shared subgroup rule needs to be adapted. A row (or column) no longer has the same number of shared squares as its neighbors. Sudoku Dragon devises a new jigsaw pattern each time it generates a puzzle. So you have to rethink your solving strategies a little each time.

Samurai sudoku is the fifth variation provides overlapping Sudoku puzzles. The square grid has not one but up to five regular Sudoku puzzles, but some of the squares are shared between them. Samurai can make a very difficult challenging puzzle. We support a 8x8 (with 4 numbers and 3 sub-puzzles) and a 21x21 (with 9 numbers and 5 sub-puzzles) sized version

For information on even more types of Sudoku visit our variants page.

Give the SudokuDragon a free 23 day trial by visiting our download page.
Try out some of the many varieties of Sudoku available.

• Tour Guide Introduction
• Generating a new Puzzle
• The square allocation list
• All forms of Sudoku
• Puzzle hints
• Annotating individual squares
• Explaining possible square assignments
• Showing possible square assignments
• Looking at possibilities
• Automatic allocation for 'easy' squares
• Marking Sudoku squares
• Contribute your puzzle
• Larger Sudoku grid sizes
• League Table
• Change grid appearance

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