Playing Sudoku is the purpose and the views expose opportunities to eliminate possibles from some cells.
Where the game is played. Shows the standard 9 rows by 9 columns that also form the 9 squares. The cells already solved at the start of the game are in large green characters. Cells that are solved during play show large black characters. Unsolved cells are blank till you fill in the possible values: the cell's possibles, Unsolved cells are displayed with small characters.
Tap a cell to add/edit its possibles and tap outside of the edit box to save it. Long tap a cell to edit it and set a checkpoint (for multiple undo operations).
Solve a cell by entering a single value. Tap out and the cell is highlighted to show that it is a single value. Press the Solve button at the bottom. Press Unsol (same button) to return a solved cell to the unsolved state.
Activates Auto's programs for eliminating possibles. In Play all you will see is where the cells that are elements of the program are located and the name of the program at the top. The bottom left buttons are named for the program: Nxn, blkLinePt, Colours, Medusa, etc. The far left button is the next program with deletions; second from left is the currently active program.
When examining the highlighted Hints cells keep in mind that the hint is based on Auto's calculations. Check that the Play possibles are up to date.
Swipe left to Auto to see exactly which cells and/or possibles are part of the findings of the program. Once familiar with a program players may know what to look for and how to find characters to eliminate from cells without looking at Auto.
If all cell possibles are not filled in the Hints button is changed to xHints and Hints are only highlighted in Auto.
Shows the solution to the puzzle. Press the Play button (top or bottom) to go back.
Enter a character from the character set in use that you want to examine. Setting this will cause only cells with that character, as well as all solved cells, to be displayed. Useful when filling in cell possibles at the start of play but also after cell possibles are done for all cells. In both cases this exposes block-line-point hint eliminations which exploit the properties of the nine squares of the Sudoku board. Once all cell possibles are filled in this feature wiil make it obvious when a possible can only be located in one cell of a row, column or square.
The button label is changed to the always display character.
Enter '0' (zero) to not show ANY possibles (button label becomes a red ?).
Erase the text box to resume displaying all possibles.
The Play view is also represented by the Markup view. Markup is set up to eliminate the need for manual editing of strings of possibles. Tapping a cell in Markup brings up the input screen where you can add or delete possibles or declare a single possible as the cell's solution. You can also colour squares and/or possibles to show which cells are members of a program for eliminating possibles from certain cells. Markup and Play always show the same possibles: the ones you entered. The "Hints" button in Play also highlights cells in Markup which allows for colouring cells and/or digits in the same manner as done in Auto.
Cells and characters that are coloured are grouped into Markup Sets. When there is more than one set available the top right button is changed to an action icon (box with an up-arrow) that scrolls through the existing sets.
Deletes the current set.
Same as Play.
undo last cell change.
Fill Cell Possibles (*)
Fills in all possibles in all cells in the Play scene using Auto's calculations and any possibles deleted during play. Use when you don't want to fill in the possibles manually. This syncs Auto and Play which is required to make sense of Hints results since Hints uses Auto's possibles. (Note: you can also keep Auto and Play synced manually).
Checkpoint History (*)
Shows where checkpoints are/were set.
Save Game
Saves the game. Undo data is deleted.
Revert to Original
Restarts the game from the beginning. All changes are lost.
Reset Game
Deletes all changes except cells solved correctly and recalculates Auto possibles. Play scene possibles must be re-entered. Use this option as an alternative to starting over again when mistakes in solving cells result in too many errors to fix.
Copy Game ...
Copies either:
- Just the game string or:
- All solved cells or:
- All cells, all possibles and UNDO records
to the pasteboard. Can be used with the Paste from Clipboard option of the Other Ways to Play option of Play a Rated Game. It can also be used to send games in progress via email or text to other players who must then copy the exact game text and paste it using Paste from Clipboard.
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Do/Don't Display Possibles in Play
Shows/hides unsolved cells possibles.
Same as setting Always Display to 0,
Turn Verify Warning OFF/ON
Disables or enables the warning that several cells are incorrect. Cells in error are highlighted till corrected.
Swipe to Highlight: Start at Any Cell
Swipe to Highlight: Start in First Cell
Starts row highlighting in any column or requires starting in the first column of the row. To highlight a row swipe swipe right starting in column 1 (by default) or change it to allow swipe to start in any column of the row. Start at any cell means switching between Play and Auto is by swiping Left only.
Change Sudoku Symbol Set
Changes symbol set from its current setting (default is '123456789') to:
ABCDEFGHI
abcdefghi
#%^*+=>?!
RSTUVWXYZ
123456789
Add/Remove Markup to/from Swipe
Adds or removes Markup from the swipe rotation.
(*) - Not shown in Auto
Saves the game and exits. Undo data is deleted. The list of saved games is displayed on exit.
Saves the game temporarily and exits. The list of saved games is displayed on exit. Keep means that all undo data back to the last time the game was saved is kept.
Exits the game without saving changes made since the last save. The list of saved games is displayed on exit.
Saves the original, unchanged game as it was at the start of play. The list of saved games is displayed on exit.
Deletes the game and exits. The list of saved games is displayed on exit.
When in Markup switches view to Play. When viewing the solution switches view back to Play or Auto.
Stops the Hints program that is currently active and enables normal play. Auto cells cannot be edited while Hints is active. Play cells can be edited with Hints active but may cause Hints to stop due to changes to cell possibles.
The Auto view is reached by swiping right from Play or left from Markup. Auto always has all of its possibles filled in, because they are calculated based on the currently solved cells and adjusted according to possibles that you add and then eliminate in Play and Markup.
Changes in Auto scene are not automatically made in Play/Markup but Play/Markup changes ARE made in Auto as follows:
Possibles added and then subsequently deleted from a cell in Play are deleted in Auto.
Possibles added in Play are added in Auto only if they were deleted in a prior move.
A cell solved in Play is also solved in Auto.
Cells cannot be solved in the Auto scene.
Changes made in Auto, such as those made with the Update button, must be made manually in Play or done using the Fill Cell Possibles option of the Edit button.
Displays the results of Hints programs that find possibles to delete. The current program's name replaces "Hints": Nxn, blkLinePt, Colours, Medusa, etc. in the middle bottom button and the next program's name appears in the left button. If the program has additional hints to show, the middle button name has a + added.
The right button is Update (processes deletions). Possibles to delete are coloured red. Information about the routine will be displayed when a cell with deletions is tapped. Cells that satisfy the routine's logic may be highlighted and significant digits coloured. Swiping left to Play will show the cells that make up the hint and the name of the routine but no other information (same as pressing Hints in the Play scene).
Pressing Stop (top left) ends Hints. Swiping left returns to the Play view. Swiping right shows the Markup view.
Tapping a cell with red coloured characters brings up a screen with a description of the Hints program's findings and the following options:
Show Additional Hints Information
Displays detailed information about the current Hints program.
Trace Group Elements
Briefly highlights each element of the Hints program in the order that they were added.
Shows the solution to the puzzle. Press the Play button (top or bottom) to go back.