Sudoku Widget FAQs
You have questions - we have (some) answers. Here are the most frequently asked questions and some of my answers.
Questions
- What is Sudoku? What are the rules?
- What are the key commands for playing the game?
- Is there a way to make the game bigger?
- How can I print puzzles to send to my friends?
- How is the score calculated?
- I just did an easy puzzle that was harder than a diablo one. What happened?
- How do pencil marks work?
- Why doesn’t the widget have feature x?
- What happened to my high scores? They’ve all disappeared.
- I have a puzzle with 2 solutions. What happened?
- Is there a way to install the widget for all users?
- I am having a problem with the widget - what should I do?
Answers
- What is Sudoku? What are the rules?
From the wikipedia…
Sudoku, also known as Number Place, is a logic-based placement puzzle. The aim of the canonical puzzle is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell of a 9×9 grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called “regions”), starting with various digits given in some cells (the “givens”). Each row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral. Completing the puzzle requires patience and logical ability. Although first published in a U. S. puzzle magazine in 1979, Sudoku initially caught on in Japan in 1986 and attained international popularity in 2005.Back to top - What are the key commands for playing the game?
Here’s the one’s I can think of off the top of my head…
Arrow keys - move around the game
Tab Key - move to next cell
Shift-Tab Key - move to previous cell
1-9 - select a number for insertion
Space - insert/remove selected number into the current cell
Shift-Space - insert/remove selected number as a pencil mark into the current cell
p/P - switch in or out of pencil mark only mode
a - insert suggested pencil marks in the current cell only
A - insert suggested pencil marks in all the empty cells
option-a - auto-pencil mark mode - ie. continually update/insert pencil marks in empty cells
delete - clear the current cell of pencil marks or a number
shift-delete - clear all cells of pencil marks and numbers
h/H - turn on or off highlighting of incorrect answers
l/L - lock a blank puzzle to begin solving it
Back to top - Is there a way to make the game bigger?
Sorry, at this time there is not. But, that being said, you can use the built in feature of OS X to zoom in if you have trouble seeing the puzzle. To use the zoom feature hit Option+Command+”+” to zoom in. Option+Command+”-” to zoom out. To turn zooming on your need to hit Option+Command+8 first (hit it again to turn it off).Back to top - How can I print puzzles to send to my friends?
There is no built in way to print the puzzles. But, you can use the built in features of OS X to take a screen shot and then print that in the preview program. You can take screenshots by hitting Command-Shift-4 and then highlighting the area of the widget. OS X will save the screenshot to the desktop - open it in preview and print to your heart’s content.Back to top - How is the score calculated?
Your score starts with a certain amount based on the level - approximately 20000 for Diablo, 18795 for Hard, 17830 for Medium, 15420 for Easy. Each time you make a mistake you lose 50 pts. If you use a single assist you lose a fraction of your points. If you use the full assist you lose more - your score / 50. And finally your score is adjusted based on your time ( (score*250)/# of seconds). This is up for debate so make suggestions on how you think the score should be calculated.Back to top - I just did an easy puzzle that was harder than a diablo one. What happened?
Being that the puzzles are computer generated, it’s very difficult for the computer to determine exactly how difficult a puzzle is. Currently, the computer calculates the number of possible entries in each cell and uses that as it’s basis. In addition to that, harder puzzles tend to require more guesses. Of course, there’s always that one or two easy puzzles that seems really difficult still. Back to top - How do pencil marks work?
Pencil marks have three options. Insert in one cell (key command “a”) - this is like a small hint. Insert in all cells that are empty (key command “A”) - this is like a big hint. Neither of the last two update after continuing on the puzzle. The Mega-mode (key command - option “a”) continually updates all empty cells with pencil marks. In this mode you can still strike-out suggested pencil marks if you like by shift-inserting a number into the cell. Some might consider the last option cheating though, and your score goes down quite a bit if you use it.Back to top - Why doesn’t the widget have feature x?
I try to include as many features as I can, but I also want to keep the widget as simple as possible so that it doesn’t take up a lot of real estate and so that it’s really a simple matter to play the game. Too many bells and whistles can be a bad thing if done poorly. Plus, as I have learned how a person solves a Sudoku puzzle is almost as unique as each person who plays it, and some of the suggestions would be great for one person, but not what another person wants….So, with that in mind - keep suggesting and if enough people want the same things then hopefully it will get added.Back to top - What happened to my high scores? They’ve all disappeared.
In order to ensure that when upgrading that the widget works as well as possible - I have instituted the policy of deleting the widget preferences if it has a different version than the preferences. I may change that at some point, but until then be prepared that upon upgrading you may lose all your precious scores.Back to top - I have a puzzle with 2 solutions. What happened?
Though they have happened much less frequently than before, it is possible that the program made a mistake. If you find a puzzle with multiple solutions please send me an email with a screenshot of the completed puzzle. You can send it to brianATbriandeboerDOTcom.Back to top - Is there a way to install the widget for all users?
I haven’t tried this myself, but it should work if you place the widget in /Library/Widgets instead of your home folder.Back to top - I am having a problem with the widget - what should I do?
First just try refreshing the widget. This can be done by hitting command (apple) - R when the widget has the focus. You should see it whirl around. If that doesn’t work completely uninstall the widget and reinstall it again. To uninstall the widget. 1) first click the “+” sign at the bottom left corner. You should now see an “x” on the top left corner of the Sudoku widget. Click that x to close the widget. 2) now click the “Manage Widgets…” button. You should see listed the Sudoku Widget with a “-” sign to the right of it. Click the minus sign. A dialog box will open asking you to confirm trashing the widget. Click “ok”. 3) Also, delete the widgets preferences. These can be found in ~/Library/Preferences/widget-com.bdeboer.widget.sudoku.plist (~ means your home directory and depending on your version of OS X it might not include the “widget-” at the beginning.) 4) Restart your computer (you don’t really need to do this step, but just to be safe.) 5) Re-download the sudoku widget and install it again.Back to top