Bicycle Software

Misc. Downloads

Machinehead Su Doko Program

Rules | Controls | System Requirements | Download

Machinehead SuDoko is a Su Doko puzzle game program for Windows.

The Rules

The object of the came is to fill the 9 x 9 grid. The grid must be filled in accordance with the following rules:

1. Each horizontal row contains unique integers from one to nine.
2. Each vertical column contains unique integers from one to nine.
3. Each 3 x 3 block contains unique integers from one to nine.

Program Controls

The New Puzzle Button

When you click the new puzzle button the program generates a new puzzle for you to solve. The puzzle grids are generated using random numbers. I'm not sure exactly how many different valid grids are possible, but its a very large number. Certainly bigger than the large number of Machinehead Software registered users, but probably not as large as Bill Gates personal wealth.

Filling In The Values

Filling in the empty cells is easy. Just drag the appropriately numbered button and drop it into an empty cell. To erase a value drag and drop the blank button from the left hand side of the top row of buttons onto the cell you want to blank out.

The Show me XX Cells Combo

The value 'XX' you set in this drop down list refers to the number of grid cells that will be revealed in bold characters when a new puzzle solution is generated. You can't change these values except by generating a new puzzle. The position of these grid cells is also completely random so the actual difficulty will still vary for any given difficulty value. But bigger difficulty numbers will reveal more cells and will consequently tend to be easier to solve than if you use a smaller value.

The Question mark (?) Button

If you want to reveal the expected value for a blank cell, drag the questionmark button (? ) onto the cell. Its cheating of course but who cares.

The Hint Button

Clicking the hint button is another way of cheating. It may reveal only one empty cell, many empty cells, or it might even complete the entire grid for you.

If any of the values you have dragged into the grid disagree with the expected solution then these will be corrected. Otherwise any cells for which only one value doesn't already appear in the current row, column and block are filled in from left to right and top to bottom. Possibly creating some new cells that satisfy this criteria and will be filled by another click of the hint button. If no cells satisfy the criteria then a single value from the previously generated solution is shown.

Working from left to right and top to bottom The Tooltip Hint Checkbox

Another way of cheating, but it saves some time. With this ticked you get a tooltip for each empty cell when the mouse is over this cell. The tooltip shows the values that could fit in the cell. If only one digit is shown then this is the only possible correct value for the cell. Otherwise any of the digits are possible, although only one is probably correct.

The Test Grid Button

The test grid button simply tests the grid to determine if all the values entered so far conform to the three rules above. This doesn't necessarily mean that all the values are correct (unless the grid is complete) because an incorrect but legal value can mean that it becomes impossible to fill some of the remaining empty cells. If the grid is invalid Sudoko gives you the row and column number of the first invalid value found.

The Show Solution Button

If you have totally given up on trying to solve the puzzle this button shows you the completed solution. Its worth clicking this after you have completed the grid because there can be more than one solution. So if some numbers change you know that you have found a different solution that is also valid.

Alpha Or Traditional Style Su Doko

Alpha Sudoko is just like traditional Sudoko except instead of integers 1 to 9 it uses letters A to I. You can toggle between Alpha and traditional at any time by clicking on the appropriate option.