What is a Color Sudoku?
Color Sudoku is a colorful wooden board game that is derived from the classic digit puzzle that originated from Japan. The classic Sudoku’s objective is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits from 1 to 9 so that each of the rows, columns and 3×3 subgrids won’t contain the same number. The game starts with a pre-completed puzzle sheet and the player attempts to solve the puzzle. Each puzzle has only one solution.
With Color Sudoku, the 1 to 9 digits have been replaced with nine bright colors. The same concept applies in this wooden puzzle box board game! The colored pieces are intricately carved to fit the hollow subgrids of the wooden board. The game itself is a masterpiece, a work of art and can be just displayed! It is also a great gift for wooden board game collectors or board game geeks. Having this unique board game is a treasure to Sudoku Senseis.
Why Play Color Sudoku?
Playing Color Sudoku is the same as playing the classic one. For beginners, the first puzzles might be mind-blowing! However, there is a lot of scientific research that supports the advantages of playing Sudoku. Basically, it is a mental exercise. It flexes and relaxes your brain as working out buffs your muscles. That being said, many neuro-scientists recommend this game to minimize the probability of having Alzheimer’s disease for aging individuals.
This game improves your recollection, focus and analysis. Maintaining a healthy brain is necessary and playing color sudoku is a fun activity to do that. It may be nerve-wrecking for beginners but you will be relaxed as you progress.
How to play Color Sudoku?
The objective of Color Sudoku is to fill a 9×9 grid that is further split into nine 3×3 subgrids with 81 carved wooden tokens. The colored tokens are composed of nine sets of nine various colors. Similar to the classic Sudoku, the nine colors should only appear once in each column, row and subgrid.
Unlike the classic Sudoku where you have a Sensei difficulty, the Color Sudoku cannot be extended into a 12×12 grid. Further, the two largest diagonal lines are not counted in this game. On the other hand, some puzzles on the classic Sudoku may include diagonal lines to increase variation and difficulty. However, the added challenge of the Color Sudoku is that colors are harder to memorize. Unlike the classic Sudoku which employs the digits 1 to 9, colors (red, brown, green, white, purple, pink, blue, yellow and grey) are so much harder to remember. This is the added difficulty of this game.
Each sudoku puzzle, even in Color Sudoku, has an initial set-up. You must analyze this setup considering that there is only one solution in this game. A single erroneous move can ruin the end result of the game! In addition, the initial setup gives clues on what move you should do next or which color can be put on a particular hole. As you progress and more colors are added on the board, the number of clues will increase until you completely solve the puzzle. In order to test if your solution is correct, you only need to check the rows, columns and subgrids if none of the colored tokens are placed twice.
Color Sudoku: Tips and Tricks
Now that you know the basics of the Color Sudoku, you’ll definitely solve any beginner or intermediate level of puzzles. However, as the difficulty bar increases, the number of clues on the initial setup will gradually decrease. At this point, you may need expert tips and tricks to complete the puzzles and progress further. Here are some:
- Take it slow
Puzzles like Color Sudoku may be solved at your own pace. This is not a blitz game where you are time-pressured. So haste makes waste in this game. Focus and analysis are the key skills that you need to master in this game. And the longer you analyze and focus on your available clues, the better you will get in this game.
- Look for what is missing
The clues are easier to spot when more colors are on the board. That being said, you must always look for what is missing. For example, if a column, row or subgrid already has 7 colors, then you will only need to focus on two colors to fill. Now, if 8 colors have been filled, then you only need to add the final color.
- Work on what is given
For puzzles with fewer clues, you must work on what is given. This means that if a color, for example red, is placed on row 2 column 5 (this is located on the top-center subgrid), then you must not put another red on that particular row, column and subgrid. Then eliminate as much color as you can until you find the correct color to put.
- Check for interrelations
This game will teach you to analyze interrelations of the colors with the row, column and subgrid that they belong to. There would be instances where rows or columns are left with two missing colors. There may be two types of cases in this example: a) the missing colors are not of the same subgrid; and b) the missing colors are of the same subgrid. Between the two, the case wherein they are not of the same subgrid is easier to solve. That is because one or both subgrids might give clues on what they might need.
For example, row 2 has only two missing colors (red and green) which should be placed in either columns 3 (top-left subgrid) and 8 (top-right subgrid). Notice in this example that the missing colors are not of the same subgrid. If the top-left subgrid already contains red in row 1 or 3, then the missing red in row 2 should be placed in column 8 (top-right subgrid) while green should be placed in column 3 (top-left grid). This analysis applies vice versa.
On the other hand if the missing colors are located on columns 2 and 3 (both are on the top-left subgrid), then the only way to solve this case is to look for a placed red or green tokens on either column 2 or 3. For example, having a green token that is placed on row 9 column 2 (bottom left subgrid) means that the remaining green token should be placed on column 3 and the red token should be placed on column 2.
Conclusion
Color Sudoku is a great leisure to spend your time with. It is also a great mental exercise with a lot of health benefits. Aside from that, it is a wooden masterpiece that is a perfect gift for all ages. The game might be hard at first, but you will find yourself getting better as you complete more puzzles and progress to difficult ones. Work on the game slowly and you will get better at playing Color Sudoku!
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