Sudoku 2.0 approaching Beta status

Posted on Friday 28 July 2006

So I know I’ve been a little behind on working on 2.0, but I’m getting close and I’m going to need some BETA testers. If you are interested, please sign-up for an account on the blog (not in the comments please - I don’t want anyone’s emails revealed) and I’ll send you an email in a week or two.

Some of the new features include the ability to resize the widget, highlights on rows/columns you are on, central storage of high scores and competitions, and more…

Picture 4.png


85 Comments for 'Sudoku 2.0 approaching Beta status'

  1.  
    sachi
    July 30, 2006 | 3:57 am
     

    nice widget!

  2.  
    Judyknits
    August 3, 2006 | 4:27 pm
     

    I love your widget and I’d be happy to be one of your beta testers for the next version!

    Question: I use your widget on my mac, will it work on a pc, too?

  3.  
    Ron
    August 7, 2006 | 6:24 pm
     

    I just found your widget today. Nice.

    Any plans to release as a stand-alone app?

  4.  
    gebeba
    August 8, 2006 | 4:20 pm
     

    I’m addicted! and working on addicting family and friends.
    I am soooo looking forward to great new features in 2,0 and the competitions!

  5.  
    Eric
    August 8, 2006 | 7:17 pm
     

    I downloaded the widget yesterday and enjoyed it, but when I went to play today it is not allowing me to insert numbers, only pencil marks. Maybe I will have to uninstall and reinstall.

  6.  
    macsuperuser
    August 9, 2006 | 11:23 am
     

    Hi
    I’m addicted too by sudoku. But - I think your widget is a bit too hard to solve.
    I thought I am a sudoku-master ;-) - but I need over 7 minutes in position easy. For beginners, it should be easier!

  7.  
    mallao
    August 9, 2006 | 4:01 pm
     

    Hi,

    I love your widget ! Question; what is the score based on?

  8.  
    ebeth
    August 13, 2006 | 12:24 am
     

    I’d love to be a beta tester, too :) I really enjoy your widget (other than the fact that the score and time information at the end (in white type) is printed overtop of the Macfun whale, so it’s harder to read). I’m working on addicting my family and friends :)

  9.  
    Stephen Magladry
    August 15, 2006 | 9:03 pm
     

    As a long time user, since version 1, I would love to beta test version 2.0

  10.  
    August 15, 2006 | 10:07 pm
     

    I think your widget is cool. A bit hard to crack for me, though.

  11.  
    August 18, 2006 | 8:34 am
     

    I’ve checked out a lot of Sudoku apps for the Mac and I have to say this one has the absolute best usability. The interface is totally intuitive and simple, and I love the simplistic approach of the display.

    I’m looking forward to beta testing v2.0 (Yes, I created an account on the blog!). The feature to hilight the row and column is great, but I have just one request. Would it be possible to have a feature which will hilight all squares which contain the number you have currently selected? It should hilight penciled marks, pre-filled numbers as well as user entered answers. This would be a really cool feature :) I know you can’t do al the features everyone asked for, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

  12.  
    ientis
    August 22, 2006 | 5:58 pm
     

    I’ll be a beta tester too.

  13.  
    RayR
    August 23, 2006 | 1:58 pm
     

    Would love to beta test. Great widget

  14.  
    biglou502
    August 27, 2006 | 3:53 pm
     

    Play this widget all the time, would love a shot at the beta (already created an account)

  15.  
    darcy1b
    September 2, 2006 | 8:28 pm
     

    I just created an account so I too can be a beta tester. I love your widget and my wife is getting hooked now too.

  16.  
    Clairie
    September 11, 2006 | 7:34 pm
     

    Hey!
    I love your sudoku…I only have one main problem, when it doesn’t realise that there is more ways then one to winning a game. I have a screen shot of a recent game I completed, and it should count as a win, but the only reason why it is not, is because it must not be the game on file, it seems to have no way of chcking other entries…this is a problem.

    I can send yo the screen shot if you want, but I don’t know your email…

    Thanks!
    I hope your beta testing is going well!

  17.  
    September 28, 2006 | 4:23 am
     

    i’m italian and I’d be happy to be one of your beta testers for this wonderfull wdgt!!!

  18.  
    Scott
    September 30, 2006 | 10:28 am
     

    Love your widget! I wonder if you might offer options for the toggling between the entry of pencil marks and entries… the cell shading is a bit subtle for me… maybe the border of the entire grid could change shades? or the color of the entered numbers? Also, I’d like to be able to change which key toggles it… or have it ALWAYS in entry mode and holding a modifier key enters pencil marks instead? Keep up the good work… looking forward to the new release.

  19.  
    Wendy Powell
    October 1, 2006 | 6:36 am
     

    Hello

    Is there any way to enlarge it? It would be nice if the puzzle was larger so that it was easier to see the numbers, especially the pencil marks.

    Wendy

  20.  
    Wendy Powell
    October 1, 2006 | 6:37 am
     

    Hello

    Sorry just saw now that the new one can be resized, let me know when it is available!! Thanks.

    Wendy

  21.  
    unowen
    October 2, 2006 | 7:20 am
     

    I’d love to beta-test. I had some friends over this weekend and we used your widget on our projector to do a group-solve! It was so much fun! It would have been great to have been able to scale it up to fill the screen.

  22.  
    warrenworld
    October 2, 2006 | 10:32 am
     

    I’m new at Sudoku. I like you Widget.
    For me there’s little difference in scoring at all levels. Diablo is only a teensy more difficult than Easy. I haven’t seen anything like scores in the thousands. The fastest I can do anything is in 8 minutes. Most times it is much longer. I believe it’s due to the size of the Widget. I do make numerous mouse clicking errors, unfortunately. Please tell me if all this is the norm. Thanks for the great design.

  23.  
    adrianne
    October 3, 2006 | 11:11 am
     

    I am hopelessly addicted both to Soduku and to your widget. The astonishing amount I spend at it, has, of course, improved my skill.

    This brings out my competitive tendencies, and I wonder how I stack up against other addicts out there.

    My top score: 13,106 (at Diablo, with a time of 6:20).

    Anyone else as addicted as me?

  24.  
    dberner
    October 9, 2006 | 8:09 am
     

    I’d also love to beta-test. I’d be happy to try the new version and discover it’s new features
    (I am not as fast as adrianne though, top score is about 5:20 and 12,000 in easy mode and 11:20 7,350 in Diabolo. ;)

  25.  
    tbroniec
    October 10, 2006 | 6:21 pm
     

    It’s been two and a half months since you posted. You still around?

  26.  
    mac-cnc
    October 18, 2006 | 5:45 pm
     

    I really like your widget. I can’t get it to create an empty puzzle. What am I doing wrong?

  27.  
    tom
    October 19, 2006 | 6:48 am
     

    yup, it’s a nice widget. (and a great way to kill HOURS of time, too!)

    one small suggestion: please add some indicator of how many of each digit are “used up” already, because if there are nine 4s on the board, for example, it’s nice to be able to skip them and concentrate on other numbers. one way might be to change the numerals along the bottom, either to a different colour, or something like fill them up as more of them are placed on the board. (going from outlined characters to filled ones, for example.)

  28.  
    Bishop3
    October 20, 2006 | 6:56 pm
     

    great widget! have you given any thought to having the pencil marks organized?
    it’s how i do it on paper: divide the empty cell into a 3×3 for pencil marks so the 123/456/789 always fall in the same place

  29.  
    prahllad
    October 28, 2006 | 1:22 am
     

    execcellent

  30.  
    November 12, 2006 | 10:51 am
     

    beta testing to germany !! ;)

  31.  
    jo
    December 10, 2006 | 11:45 pm
     

    Would love to be a beta tester. Your 1.5 is great, but my older eyes could use the ability to enlarge the puzzle. Thanks!

  32.  
    Bird
    December 11, 2006 | 3:48 am
     

    hjmg

  33.  
    maui_m
    January 2, 2007 | 8:29 am
     

    Hi:
    Love your widget. Been playing for a long time. Managed a 37,380 high score in diablo level.
    Would be happy to beta your 2.0.

  34.  
    alexbratu
    January 3, 2007 | 10:43 am
     

    Are you still beta testing this? I signed up for an account and haven’t received anything yet about the beta.

  35.  
    dflinn
    January 15, 2007 | 9:14 am
     

    I really enjoy your widget, but as a sudoku master I’m looking for something tougher (I finish the Diablo level puzzles in about 10 minutes). Any chance you’ll try to program a Monster Sudoku (4×4 grids) widget?

  36.  
    alcefius
    January 27, 2007 | 7:21 am
     

    I think you have created an excellent and enjoyable widget - but I am biased for anything sudoku. The one suggestion I have that i haven’t seen in the suggested feature set is the ability to enter sudoku you already have from books and newspapers. I would also be happy to test the beta when it is ready. Once again, excellent work on a solid widget.

  37.  
    BM
    February 19, 2007 | 3:33 pm
     

    Very often, I try to solve sudoku puzzles in the press. Would it be possible to allow me to enter the puzzle myself instead of generating it randomly?

  38.  
    Miguel
    February 22, 2007 | 1:33 am
     

    I love your widget, but there’s a bug. If I play a lot of games on it without closing it, it gets slow. There will eventually be a noticeable delay between the click and the number appearing. The problem goes away as soon as I close the widget and reopen it, but then I lose my high scores. Will 2.0 fix this problem?

  39.  
    myrubi
    March 4, 2007 | 10:57 am
     

    I would like to be a beta tester. I like the current version and I like the updates that you are planning. Thanks mike

  40.  
    Stephen Magladry
    March 4, 2007 | 6:51 pm
     

    BM,

    You can already do this. Set Level of Difficulty to blank. Put in the number from the press based puzzle. Finally, press the ‘L’ or ‘l’ key. this will lock the the puzzle. Now, you ready to go!

    Stephen

  41.  
    bob
    March 5, 2007 | 4:47 pm
     

    I don’t understand the “lock cells to begin blank puzzle” command. Am I to hit I then L ? When? I would love to able to insert numbers in a blank puzzle and then solve it using your pencil marks system.

  42.  
    March 7, 2007 | 9:08 am
     

    Hi, dflinn,

    in your meesage from January 27th, 2007 you write that you finish the diablos in about 10 minutes. Well, a lot of sleepless nights ended up in a record time of 4 minutes and 54 sec.
    Our 10th best time there is 8:16. Let’s see if you can top that???
    But nevertheless I think your 4*4 idea is a good idea.

  43.  
    erikhusby
    March 7, 2007 | 9:54 am
     

    I’d like to be a beta tester. Have enjoyed 1.5 very much and look forward to the new features.

  44.  
    Konradl
    March 24, 2007 | 11:29 am
     

    I’d like to be a beta tester. It’s the best Sudoku on Mac. Do you need a german localisation?

  45.  
    Miguel
    March 29, 2007 | 2:02 pm
     

    Bob: Here’s how you use the L (lock): First, start a blank puzzle. Then enter all the numbers from the newspaper’s puzzle. Finally, type an L to lock those numbers, and you’re ready to begin solving it.

  46.  
    U
    April 11, 2007 | 10:20 pm
     

    I would have written sooner, but was stuck on a devilish Diablo puzzle.

    I wanna be a beta tester..

  47.  
    myssronda
    April 19, 2007 | 5:54 am
     

    Love this puzzle. I’ll be a beta tester.

  48.  
    Frans
    April 30, 2007 | 12:24 am
     

    Your possible dutch beta tester is avoiding the madnes in the streets of Holland on Queensday.

  49.  
    moshiko51
    April 30, 2007 | 9:33 am
     

    Any interest in porting this widget to chumby (www.chumby.com)?

  50.  
    maclib
    May 8, 2007 | 5:22 pm
     

    I’d love to be a beta tester.

  51.  
    June 5, 2007 | 10:29 am
     

    Wonderful Widget! I have a comment concerning visual problems affecting 1/3 of the male population. Varing degrees of red green color blindness. Could you make it friendly by using contrastion colors?

  52.  
    Dave
    July 4, 2007 | 12:30 pm
     

    Amazing game, the best sudoku ive found for the dashboard however it has one MAJOR problem. When playing it on my macbook pro while not connected to a power source (running on battery) after a few minutes it will give me a kernel panic and my computer crashes and will not start until the battery is fully charged. At first I thought it was a computer problem (on my 1 week old computer) so the apple store replaced it, when playing it again on my new mac it did the same thing. I removed the game and havent had the problem since. Please look into this problem, I would love to have this game again!

  53.  
    wim bartels
    July 8, 2007 | 5:25 am
     

    Het is een geweldig speeltje. Ik gebruik het vaak en wil graag beta tester zijn voor de nieuwe versie

  54.  
    Tobias
    July 9, 2007 | 7:09 am
     

    Love your Soduko widget. Small comment though.
    You have these auto-pencil marks. thats great but…
    When solving the puzzle one needs to be able to edit the pencil marks.

    Automatic pencil marks (when the game starts)
    fully editable when playing would be a great option.

    Keep up the good work.

  55.  
    DennisMK
    July 17, 2007 | 3:17 am
     

    I would also like to be a beta tester for version 2.0.

    Does anyone out there know of a solution for my only frustration with Sudoku which is partly a problem with the Dashboard itself? Sometimes clicking on something in the Dashboard causes the Dashboard to close. Then I have to hit F12 to open it again. The biggest problem with this is that it usually happens when I’m entering a pencil mark with the Shift key held down. Of course, the Shift key makes Dashboard close in slow motion which makes it take longer for me to get back to Sudoku. This also seems to screw up Sudoku’s timing, since I’m fairly certain I did NOT complete a Diablo game in 32 seconds to earn a score of 77,481 points. I believe more than half of my high scores are “corrupted” in this way.

  56.  
    Andrew
    July 20, 2007 | 1:19 pm
     

    Hey you know that there is a big flaw with your game, the boxes you are originally given in a game need to be mirrored across the board. For examples look at www.websudoku.com if you have any questions feel free to e-mail me

  57.  
    Andrew
    July 20, 2007 | 1:20 pm
     

    sorry forgot my e-mail ADSchulman@mac.com

  58.  
    rlockhart
    October 9, 2007 | 3:51 am
     

    I’d love to be a beta tester. I really like your widget. As a slightly older guy, I’m glad to hear the new widget will be resizable!

    Good luck and keep up the good work!

  59.  
    itasara
    November 10, 2007 | 8:21 pm
     

    Would like to suggest an option for a blank sudoku widget so I can plug in the same numbers as the newspaper and try to solve the puzzle that way.

  60.  
    itasara
    November 10, 2007 | 8:21 pm
     

    Would like to suggest an option for a blank sudoku widget so I can plug in the same numbers as the newspaper and try to solve the puzzle that way.

  61.  
    itasara
    November 10, 2007 | 8:21 pm
     

    Would like to suggest an option for a blank sudoku widget so I can plug in the same numbers as the newspaper and try to solve the puzzle that way. I’d like to be a beta tester.

  62.  
    November 22, 2007 | 4:50 am
     

    Can we expect to get a Wordpress Widget in the near future?

  63.  
    anon
    November 22, 2007 | 9:12 am
     

    Hi,

    I just wanted to notify you that the version string in the plist file for sudoku 1.5 isn’t correct (still states 1.0)

    Ciao, Thomas

  64.  
    rwb
    December 5, 2007 | 2:46 am
     

    Fun widget. Thanks. I will be glad to Beta test the next release.

    How about a standalone version, and perhaps a puzzle solver?

  65.  
    longeagle
    December 5, 2007 | 6:15 pm
     

    Two suggestions for 2.0 (if it’s not too late):

    1) abiility to change the color of a pencil mark to red (or some other color), so i can keep track of “tentative” choices

    2) ability to save a state of a game (inlcuding pencil marks) so i can go back after some of my “tentative” choices are disproved

    That would help me handle much harder Sudokus that I currently can.

  66.  
    December 21, 2007 | 6:08 am
     

    I’m hooked on Sudoku. I’d love to give your V2.0 a shot!

  67.  
    Lynda Yeager
    December 30, 2007 | 2:47 pm
     

    How the heck do you Start a New Game???????? Please some assist!!!!!!!

  68.  
    Lynda Yeager
    December 30, 2007 | 2:47 pm
     

    How the heck do you Start a New Game???????? Please some assist!!!!!!!

  69.  
    Lynda Yeager
    December 30, 2007 | 2:47 pm
     

    How the heck do you Start a New Game???????? Please some assist!!!!!!!

  70.  
    Lynda Yeager
    December 30, 2007 | 2:47 pm
     

    How the heck do you Start a New Game???????? Please some assist!!!!!!!

  71.  
    Bob Tinker
    January 4, 2008 | 5:31 pm
     

    Great widget. I’m addicted. I play only the hardest level with the auto-pencil marks. In many games, there comes a point at which it is simply impossible to make a move that is certain. It would be nice to be able to add colored entries that one is unsure of–then if a dead end appears later on, one could back up by removing the colored entries.

  72.  
    Bob Tinker
    January 4, 2008 | 5:31 pm
     

    Great widget. I’m addicted. I play only the hardest level with the auto-pencil marks. In many games, there comes a point at which it is simply impossible to make a move that is certain. It would be nice to be able to add colored entries that one is unsure of–then if a dead end appears later on, one could back up by removing the colored entries.

  73.  
    paul
    January 12, 2008 | 11:55 am
     

    Hi Brian

    Am I going crazy. This puzzle of yours can have two solutions - B1, B9, F1 & F9 can are unique rectangles with 29. F1 really should be a 3 but then the puzzle is broken. Rgds Paul

    7 8 1
    2 4 6
    3 9 5

    3 9 4
    8 7 5
    2 6 1

    2 5 6
    3 9 1
    7 8 4

    5 2 4
    1 7 8
    9 6 3

    9 8 6
    5 3 2
    1 4 7

    1 7 3
    4 6 9
    8 2 5

    8 1 9
    6 5 2
    4 3 7

    7 5 3
    4 1 8
    6 2 9

    6 4 2
    9 3 7
    5 1 8

  74.  
    computerhusky
    February 4, 2008 | 1:50 pm
     

    Hello,
    I love the current version of the Sudoku widget and I’m curious to see how you improved it. Please register me as a beta tester!
    Thanks
    Thomas

  75.  
    Edo
    February 29, 2008 | 9:30 pm
     

    Heya.

    Love your widget! But there’s some great improvement you could make:

    1. Add right click to add a pencil note.
    2. Add a second row of smaller 1-9’s so that can click on those to make pencil notes. This effectively removes the need for keyboard access.
    Note: when you do this, the need for a coloured box also disappears as the nr selected wll be highlighted.
    3. Minor issues: make 1-9 a bit larger for problem free clicking.

  76.  
    Cookie
    March 10, 2008 | 4:34 pm
     

    I love it. Yet I think it would be better if you could improve it by making it an application, not just a widget. Hope you take that in consideration and email me if it happens. Thank you.

  77.  
    Liance
    April 29, 2008 | 1:33 am
     

    if you change the level of difficulty in the course of part, the score is not recorded correctly, too bad…

  78.  
    Wuyang
    May 8, 2008 | 5:24 pm
     

    Hello, I’m Wuyang. I’m now writing a OS X 10.5 guide book in Taiwan, and in the book i want to introduce this good widget Sudoku.It also contents a CD, and I’ll put it in, can you agree with it?

    Please mail me about your answer.

    Thanks very much;)

  79.  
    David M.
    June 27, 2008 | 5:02 pm
     

    This was the best widget for Mac OS X - the only one I would consider paying for!! I wish it worked well with 10.5 :-(

  80.  
    Thomas P.
    September 3, 2008 | 12:21 am
     

    Key-select a number doesn´t work for me (MacBook Pro, OSX 10.5.4). It works only by clicking a number. Otherwise Sudoku is a great Widget with potencial. I love it. Thnx

  81.  
    Nanoni
    September 17, 2008 | 6:35 pm
     

    I love Sudoku. Unfortunately, after I finally realized the method for solving even the most difficult puzzles (pencilling in all the correct possible numbers for each cell, then systematically checking for a pencilled number that occurs only once in a row, column or the 9-cell square, & patience) it’s kinda lost its addictive appeal for me.

  82.  
    October 6, 2008 | 5:07 pm
     

    Lately, the last few sudoku puzzles allowed the same number in a square. What’s up? Ronda

  83.  
    October 6, 2008 | 5:07 pm
     

    Lately, the last few sudoku puzzles allowed the same number in a square. What’s up? Ronda

  84.  
    Clay
    November 22, 2008 | 11:07 am
     

    If you’re still looking for testers, I’d be happy to join up.

  85.  
    F G
    January 2, 2009 | 11:38 pm
     

    1.5 is great, New Macbook seems slow to respond sometimes. Could it be a little bigger (not much though), and sometimes the red errors don’t show up clearly (especially if not directly in front of the screen).

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