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Sudoku Station is a PC-based application to play the popular puzzle-game Sudoku. |
How to play Sudoku
Sudoku is a very simple game. Your objective is to populate the grid with numbers 1-9 in every column, row, and 3x3 box. You can only use a number once in each column, row or region.
Like all puzzles with simple rules, there are many strategies and varying levels of complexity. Sudoku Station helps you develop your strategies by providing hints (if requested) as you play. When you start the game, you'll notice the hints are quite simple and obvious, but later become more complex as the game nears completion.
Playing with Sudoku Station
To get started, you need to open a pre-loaded game within Sudoku Station. You can find games to load from the Games List, available at the top menu along the left.
You can add numbers to the grid (called tiles) by clicking the square with the mouse or using the arrow keys to navigate the "cursor" over the square and pressing the number on your keyboard. If you use the mouse-option, a tile selection window will appear, giving you the added option of editing the square's notes. Use the notes feature to keep track of the possible tiles that could be placed in the square - a note means the number is possible.
To remove a tile, click the blank square in the Tile Editor (the window that appears when you click a square). Alternatively, you can press the delete button when the cursor is selecting the square.
The game will progress and the counter will keep track of your time until every square has a tile. You can save your progress at any time and load it again from the Games List.
Getting Hints
Any time you need help playing a game, you should click the question mark menu item. Sudoku Station will examine the game and if possible, recommend a change to the notes or squares in the game. It will not directly tell you the solution and only gives you logical hints you can deduce from the given board.
While you could manually follow the hints yourself, some are quite elaborate (particularly the simple notes hints) and should be automatically applied. When a hint is being presented, the Hint menu will change into the "Apply Hint" button. After you are sure you understand the hint being shown, simply click the "Apply Hint" menu item and the board will be automatically updated.
Since the Hint Manager uses the notes in determining possible moves, it is a good idea to use the notes yourself, to learn with the program and allow the program to know the possibilities you are aware of.
SudokuSystem.com goes into greater detail on the techniques used to play and solve Sudoku with Sudoku Station.
Trial Version Limitations
The trial version only allows you to play the pre-installed games and does not allow you to add any of your own, or use the export / import features to transfer games between systems.
When you create games in the full version, Sudoku Station will analyze each game you add, suggest a difficulty rating, give you detailed information on the level of hints required to solve the game, and internally test to see if the game has a solution. This can be a very useful feature for playing games from books or newspapers, as Sudoku Station can walk you through games you may pick up elsewhere but are unable to solve. It also makes a great learning resource.
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