How to Play

Tap an empty square, then tap a number from the row underneath to place it. Tapping the same number again clears the square. Every row, every column and every 3×3 box must end up holding 1 to 9 exactly once. NOTES switches the pad to pencil marks so you can jot the candidates for a square without committing; ERASE clears it. HINT fills one square correctly and you get three per board. A wrong number turns red and counts as a mistake — nothing ends the game, but mistakes and hints both cost points. On a keyboard, the arrow keys move the selection, 1–9 place, Backspace erases and N toggles notes.

Tips

• Start by cross-hatching rather than staring at empty squares: pick a digit, find the rows and columns that already contain it, and mentally strike them out. Any box left with a single square that is not struck out has to take that digit. This one technique solves most of an Easy board on its own, and it is far faster than checking squares one at a time.
• Use NOTES the moment scanning stops producing answers. Pencil in every candidate for the squares you are unsure about, then look for two things: a square with only one candidate left, and a digit that appears as a candidate in only one square of a row, column or box. The second one is easy to miss because the square usually still shows several other candidates.
• If two squares in the same unit both show exactly the same pair of candidates, those two digits are locked into those two squares — you do not know which goes where, but you can strike both digits from every other square in that unit. That single deduction is usually what breaks a Hard board open, and it is why pencil marks are worth the taps.
• Score is banked box by box rather than only at the end, so a board you abandon halfway still records what you earned. Each completed 3×3 box pays, finishing pays a bonus plus whatever is left of a ten-minute clock, and the whole total is multiplied by difficulty — Hard is worth 2.4× Easy. Mistakes and hints are flat deductions, so guessing digits to see what sticks will always cost more than it pays.

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