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SudokuPlay Help

Game SelectionWindow

 

SudokuPlay opens in the “Game Selection” window. Each row represents a game. Tap a game/row to play it. There is  a “Name” column, a difficulty “Level” column (1 is easiest, 10 the hardest. Level 0 games are not rated), a "Status" column showing the current status of the game ("New", "Saved", "Kept") and a "Played" column showing when the game was last played..

 

The “Solution” bottom button displays the solution (the “Play” top button resumes playing). The list of games can be sorted by any of the columns by tapping the column heading. The list is sorted in “Played” date order (descending) at start up.

 

Each game has three versions of the "Play" window: “Manual” mode (green and grey squares) is in the middle and is where the game is played unassisted. Swipe right for “Auto” mode or left for “Markup”. Reverse the swipe to go back. Tap the “Help” bottom button to go to the “Help” page of the SudokuPlay web site.

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Play Window- Manual Mode

 

In Manual (or Auto) mode, change a cell by tapping it to bring up the pink text box. Tap again inside the text box to bring up the keyboard. In Manual, you control the contents of each cell. Enter the digits you have determined are possibles for the cell, in any order. In Auto the possibles are calculated and displayed automatically. You can only delete possibles in Auto mode. When finished, tap outside of the text box to close it. 

 

A cell is solved when it is down to one possible (displayed using the large font). If the possible is already the solution for another cell in the same unit as the just-solved cell the two cells will be colour-highlighted to show that a conflict exists.

 

If you fill any cells incorrectly then eventually a cell will end up with no possibles possible. You must then reverse some changes until the incorrectly solved cell is either corrected or given multiple possibles. You can reverse changes using the “Save” button “Undo Last Change” option.

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Play Window- Auto Mode

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From Manual mode, swiping right brings up Auto mode (blue and grey squares). In Auto, the possibles for each cell are calculated and updated as additional cells are solved. 

 

You can only delete possibles from cells in Auto mode, or restore possibles you previously deleted. Added possibles that aren’t valid will be deleted automatically.

 

To the right of the “Solution” bottom button is a variable button either named “Reducer” (if there are no strategies found than can reduce the number of possibles) or named for a Reducer strategy such as “NxN”, “blockLinePt”, “Colours”, “Medusa”, “SwordFish”, “JellyFish”, “yWing”, “xWing” or “xyChain” if the strategy was found to reduce possibles in some cells. 

 

Play will be suspended if a “Reducer” strategy is started by selecting its button. The button title will be the name of the next available strategy. The header/title line of the window changes colour for each strategy and shows its status.

 

Press the button to see the results displayed directly in the game by highlighted cells and/or possibles in some cells.

The cells that make up a strategy are called Elements. Each element’s significant digits are coloured and some strategies also highlight the cells. Possibles that can be deleted are coloured red or, if already coloured as part of an element, marked with a strike-through. (You can expand the window with the pinch gesture to see the highlights.) If a strategy has more than one set of elements, the top-right action button (“box with up-arrow”) scrolls through the existing sets. 

 

Cells that are reduced to a single possible by solving other cells or by Reducer routines are not considered solved until the edit box is displayed, tapped and closed. Until then the possible will be displayed in the small font used for possibles. This is to prevent the game from playing itself. 

 

Tapping a cell with a deletion candidate will bring up an explanation of why that cell’s possibles can be reduced. The “Update” bottom-button will process the deletions. No manual updates are allowed until you leave the Reducer and return to Play by pressing the “Play” top-left button.

Text box editing tips:

  • Erase all possibles by pressing the circled-x.

  • Update possibles in place by pressing and holding the box till a small text bubble showing the cursor appears; move the cursor and release where you want to make a change.

  • If a cell is erased accidentally, before closing the edit box, tap it to bring up the edit menu and select “Paste”. The last Manual contents of the cell are pasted in. If there are no Manual contents, the Auto contents are used.

  • Cells already filled in at the start of the game are the “givens” and are coloured blue. If one is accidentally changed, undo or check the solution and enter it manually.

 
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Play Window: Save Button
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Save

Saves the game. All Undo data is erased.

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Undo to Checkpoint (Manual only)

You can undo the last cell update by tapping the “Save” top-button and selecting “Undo”. The "Undo to Checkpoint" feature allows a player to make a guess at a cell's value and to undo all subsequent moves if the guess was wrong. To set a cell as a checkpoint, long tap it and replace the contents with the guess (cell displayed in a script font). If the guess is wrong a message indicating that no possibles exist for a cell, is eventually displayed. Undo the last change to remove the message and then select“Undo to Checkpoint”. All changes back to the creation of the latest checkpoint, are undone. To view guesses made tap the “Checkpoint History” option. The list has the most recent guesses at the top.

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Undo Last Change

Manual and Auto cell possibles are separate until there is only one possible. When a cell is solved it is solved in both modes.

 

Separate Undo records are kept for Manual and Auto modes. If the last action was in the other mode, a message will ask you if the change should be processed or ignored.  The two modes can get out of sync when “Undo to Checkpoint” is used and many Auto mode changes have been made and not duplicated in Manual. When processing “Undo to Checkpoint”, all undo records, regardless of the mode they were created in, are processed which may lead to inconsistencies. Either minimize changes in Auto mode when using the checkpoint feature or keep the two modes in sync by applying changes made in one mode to the other. Or, abandon Auto mode and keep playing in Manual only!

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Keep Changes and Undo Data

A temporary save that maintains Undo data in case you want to Undo changes when you resume playing.

Play Window: Done button

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Save Game​

Saves the game. All Undo data is erased.

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Keep Changes & Undo Data​

A temporary save that keeps all Undo data. Use it if you are playing a difficult game and using "Undo to Checkpoint" or doing manual Undo's and want to preserve the Undo data.​​​

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Discard Changes

Exits the game and reverts to the last saved state. All changes made since the last save are lost. Undo data is erased.

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Delete Game​

Exits the game and deletes it.

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Find Solution and Save Game​

If a game was being created by one of the "Import" options "Camera", "Blank Game", "Paste" or "Photo Library" this option indicates that the game needs to be verified before it can be saved. A search for a unique solution will be initiated and, if one is found, a message indicating this is issued and the game is saved. Otherwise a message indicating that  no solution or multiple solutions to the game exists and the game must be changed or deleted.

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Play Window

 

Solution

For a game in the Game Solution list, the Solution button of the Play window shows the solution for the game.

 

If the game has just been created by Paste, Camera, Photo Library or Blank,  the Solution button activates a search for a unique solution to the game. If one cannot be found an explanatory message is displayed. The player can then change the cells that make up the game and try the Solution button again or press "Done" to exit and delete the game. Invalid games (games that have no solution or have multiple solutions) cannot be saved.

 

Markup

The Markup button switches to the Markup window (same as swiping left from Manual).

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Play Window

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Auto Mode variable button names:

- Reducer routines: NxN, blockLinePt, Colours, Medusa, xyChain, SwordFish, JellyFish, xWing, yWing​​​​

​​​​The bottom button to the right of Solution is named for the strategy that it initiates: NxN, blockLinePt, Colours, Medusa, xyChain, SwordFish, JellyFish, xWing, yWing​​​​. If button is named Reducer then no strategy has found possibles to be deleted (press the button once to verify this). The top header of the Play window identifies the strategy being displayed and is coloured a unique colour for each strategy.

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A Reducer strategy display consists of coloured cells (usually yellow or green) and/or coloured possibles. When a strategy is being displayed, the Update, Action (box with up-arrow) and Play buttons are also displayed.

 

Update​

The Update bottom button processes the deletions found by the currently active strategy. Possibles that can be deleted are coloured red or, in the case of an element of the strategy that has already-coloured possibles that can be deleted, a strike-through line is drawn through the digit. Tapping a red or strike-through possible brings up an explanation of why the possible can be deleted. If there are no strategies that have found eliminations of possibles this button will be labeled Reducer.

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Action (box with up-arrow)

The Action button ("box with up-arrow") appears when a Reducer routine is active and has more than one set of elements that can be used to find possibles to delete. Press the button to scroll through the sets and see which possibles can be deleted.

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Play

The "Play" button appears when Reducer results are active and when a solution is being displayed ("Solution" button). Pressing "Play" restores the Play window and normal play can resume. Note: Play can continue in Manual mode while Reducer results are active.

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Play Window
 
Options

The Options bottom button of the Play window has the following actions:

 

  • Manual Mode: "Auto update Possibles (swipe Right)" switches to Auto mode.

       Auto Mode: "Don’t Auto Update Possibles (= swipe left)" switches to Manual mode.

  • "Don’t display possibles in Manual mode" allows the player to suppress the display of possibles in incomplete cells.

  • "Revert to Original Game" (Loads the original, unchanged game.)

  • "Copy Game" presents options to copy either the original, unchanged game, the current game with all completed cells, or the current game plus all Manual mode possibles,  as a string to the General Pasteboard of the iPhone.

  • "Fill Cell Possibles Once" copies the calculated cell contents from Auto mode to Manual mode. Only allowed once per play. Will overwrite Manual data if it exists.​

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Game Selection Window
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The Game Selection window is the first window displayed when SudokuPlay is initialized.

In addition to the list of games to be played, the following buttons and options can be accessed.

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"+" button:​

To fetch a new, rated game from iCloud (or from local storage if pre-fetched games for the selected difficulty level exist) press the "+" button (upper right). If using iCloud has not been authorized, a message is issued and an option to allow iCloud is made available. Once iCloud has been authorized, a message asking you to "Specify difficulty (1-10)" is issued. Type in the desired difficulty level and press "OK".

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Rated games can be obtained from iCloud if an internet connection is active. A small amount of data will be used if the connection is through the cell network instead of WiFi. â€‹

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Game difficulty levels are 1 & 2 for Easy, 3 & 4 Medium, 5 & 6 Difficult, 7 & 8 Very Difficult  and 9 & 10 Unsolvable. The two sub levels require the same set of strategies to solve but the lower number is a bit easier. Games are named to show the difficulty level, for example “Game7DL1” is game number 7 for difficulty level 1.

 

iCloud is accessed only when there are no rated games at the desired difficulty level in local storage.The app will download 10  games at the current difficulty level which results in approximately 1,500 bytes of data downloaded to the local storage of your device.

 

Cellular Data is used to fetch games from iCloud if there is no WiFi connection. If Cellular Data is used the download counts against your data usage. 

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Import button:​

Press the Import bottom button and select an option to create a new game.:

  • Get Rated Game (same as “+” button). 

  • Generate New Game creates a new, unrated game.

  • Blank Game to fill in a game manually.

  • Camera to take a picture of a paper copy of a game.

  • Photo Library to copy a game from a screen shot.

  • Paste to paste a game copied to the paste board.

 

Rename button:

The “Rename” bottom button renames the currently selected game and/or sets its difficulty level. This can also be done by long tapping the game row.

 

Defaults button:

The “Defaults” bottom button allows the player to change:

  • The default difficulty level for rated games.

  • The maximum number of games that can be saved in Game Selection list. 

  • The target number of solved cells ("givens") that game generation uses, which affects the time required to generate a game. 

  • The expansion factor for expanding the game window (using "pinch" gesture).

  • The setting of “useiCloud” (yes/no) that controls whether rated games can be downloaded from iCloud when an internet connection is active.

 

Utilities ("hammer button):

The bottom hammer-symbol button has some maintenance options:

  • Delete games in Game Selection list. 

  • Delete games in Rated games storage (pre-fetched from iCloud). 

  • Rated games counters can be reset if a player has trouble fetching rated games even though a network connection exists.

  • All messages suppressed by selecting “Do Not Show This Message Again” can be restored.

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Game Selection Window
 
Import button:
 
Camera

Use the  “Import” bottom-button of the “Game Selection” window and then the “Camera”option, to take a picture of a Sudoku game and have the app attempt to recognize the cell values using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). Currently this only works with puzzles that use black cell borders and black digits.

 

There are green coloured guidelines in the camera window that show where the puzzle should be located. Position the camera so that the top of the puzzle is near the top of the camera window and the left border of the puzzle is close to the left guideline. The bottom border of the puzzle should be a bit above the bottom guideline. IMPORTANT: Tilt and rotate the phone until the puzzle’s border lines are approximately parallel to the bottom and left guidelines

 

Note: The guidelines have not been calibrated for all iPhones. If you encounter persistent failures to find the puzzle or most of the cells’ values, try lining up the picture outside or inside of the bottom guidelines.

 

Try to eliminate shadows and bright spots on the target’s surface. Make sure there is adequate light available but avoid direct light that might cause glare. 

 

Press the camera trigger button to take the picture and press “Use Photo” after taking the picture (or “Retake” to try again). Note: after taking the picture the guidelines are no longer relevant.

 

If the OCR process could not find the puzzle’s borders, a message is presented saying so. Cancel the OCR or read the additional information. You can try again, making sure that the puzzles top and left edges are parallel to the guidelines.

 

If a “High Error Rate” message appears then there are probably too many errors to bother trying to correct them. You can tap “Cancel OCR” and try again after correcting for any obvious problems such as low light or shadows. 

 

If the message is “Some Errors” it may be worth fixing the errors. Press “OK”. Compare the cells in the SudokuPlay game with the original and correct any cells that were missed or identified incorrectly. Cells that were detected but the digit not recognized are coloured yellow. Cells where there should be a digit but it was not detected are not highlighted. Note that ALL cells must be correct. Press the “Solution” button to check the updated puzzle. Repeat the process till a “Solution Found!” Message appears.

 

If the game can’t be fixed, press “Done” and delete the game.

 

Generate New Game

To generate a random game, tap the Import bottom-button then tap “Generate New Game”. A new, unrated game will be generated, usually in one attempt. Occasionally game generation will fail because it took to long to generate a game. If this happens once or twice, try again. If it happens repeatedly, check the failure message for the target number of completed cells for the new game, If it is less than 21, increase it to 21 or more. The fewer completed cells in the game the more tries at generating such a game are required and the longer it takes.

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Photo Library

Photos that already exist in the Photo Library can be selected for Optical Character Recognition. Only black/dark digits and border lines on a light background can be captured.

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After taking the screen shot of the game tap the thumbnail image shown at the bottom of the window to edit the picture. Drag the four image borders to close to the edge of the puzzle's borders, leaving only a thin white space. Then press “Done” and “Save to Photos”.

 

Select “Import” then “Photo Library” and find the image in Photos. Select it. If there are error messages, you can try to correct the imported game, pressing “Solution” to test your changes.

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Blank Game
Games can typed directly into a blank game. After entering the game digits, press the Solution bottom button. If you were copying a valid game and the game was entered correctly a solution will appear. If any digits are wrong or missing, a message will appear indicating that a unique solution could not be found. Check the game again, make corrections and press Solution to test the result.
 

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Paste

Games can be copied from other games in SudokuPlay, or any game written as a string of 81 characters and copied to the default paste board. Games must use digits 1-9 for completed cells and a space, period or zero for empty cells.

 

To copy a SudokuPlay game, in the Play window (Manual or Auto) tap “Options” at the bottom of the screen then “Copy Game”. Then select “Copy Original Game” (copies the unchanged game) or “Copy Current Game” (copies all completed cells) or “Copy All Game Data” (copies completed cells and possibles of not-completed cells).

 

To copy a game written as a string and sent as a text, an email message, etc., select the entire string, press the string till the “Copy” action comes up and press “Copy”. 

 

From the Game Selection window of SudokuPlay, select Import and then Paste. After the paste is finished, tap the Solution bottom button to verify that the game is valid.

Markup Window

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From the Manual mode window (green and grey squares), swipe left to bring up the Markup mode window (orange and grey). If there are existing markup sets, the first one will be displayed. Markup is used to mark cells that make up a strategy for reducing possibles in cells. This does not affect the Manual or Auto modes of the game with the exception of deleted possibles which are processed as a Manual mode action.

 

Tap a cell to bring up the markup data entry window and specify cell highlight colour or cell possibles colours and/or possibles to be deleted from the cell. Use the “Unmark” button in this window to remove markup data for the cell.

 

The “Update” bottom-button will delete any digits marked for deletion. The “Elts’ bottom-button is used to display the order that the elements are in for strategies that are sensitive to that order. You can also change the order of the elements.

 

Use the bottom-buttons to create a new markup set or to delete the current one. Use the top-right action button (box with up-arrow) to scroll through the existing markup sets.

Markup Window

 

New Set, Delete Set, Action button (box with up-arrow)

 

Markup supports six sets of elements and deletion digits. New Set leaves the current set and creates a new one.

 

To scroll through the active sets press the Action button (box with up-arrow).

 

To delete the current set press the Delete Set bottom button.

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Markup Window

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Elts

The Elts button in Markup presents the Ordered Elements message with two actions:

 

  • Trace Elements highlights the elements of the current Markup set in order. The default order is the order in which the elements were created.

  • Press OK to change the order of the elements by tapping each element cell in the desired order. The Stop Elts button is displayed to stop the process of ordering elements.

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Update

The Update bottom button processes the deletion of possibles marked for deletion. The possibles are removed from the Manual mode cell data.

 

Possibles to be deleted are coloured red or, in the case of a possible that is a significant digit of an element (and is coloured) a strikethrough line is drawn through the digit.

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