Question
How do I play Gamehouse Sudoku?
Answer
Object:
Place numbers 1 through 9 on the game board so that each number occurs exactly once in each row, column and 3x3 grid. The numbers can appear in any order, diagonals are not considered, and there is no math involved.
Setup:
Your initial game board will consist of several numbers that are already placed. Those numbers cannot be changed. There is exactly one correct solution and it is always solvable using the logic rules discussed below. Following these logic rules you should never need to "guess" or look ahead to solve the puzzle. However, solving the puzzle can take quite a long time.
How to Place Numbers:
Make sure the PLACING mode is selected on the right (that is the default state). Select a number from the column on the left and click on any position in the grid to place that number. You can put a number in an empty cell or replace the contents of any cell EXCEPT for the initial numbers which cannot be changed.
If a number shows up as WHITE it means that it is currently a valid placement, but it does NOT mean it necessarily is the correct number for the final solution. If a number shows up in RED it means it is currently in conflict with another number on the board, which will also turn RED. A YELLOW number is one of the initial numbers which cannot be changed.
To clear a number you just accidentally placed you can either click a second time, or select the eraser in the lower left of the game and then click on the cell.
Using the TEST Numbers:
You can place multiple, small numbers in each cell as a way of remember which numbers can or cannot be placed there. They are usually used to show all of the possible numbers that may be placed in a cell.
To place these numbers, select the number on the left. If you are in PLACING mode you can use your RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON to add or remove that number. The first time you do this a small number will show up in the cell. Using this technique you can put all 9 possible numbers in the cell. If the number is already shown, it will be removed. Another technique is to switch to TESTING mode by clicking the TEST button in the upper right corner. You can then left click to toggle on or off a test number and right click to place the large number.
Strategy:
The best approach for solving most puzzles is to start off by turning on all of the TEST numbers that work in each cell. It is often easiest to start with the number 1, go through each empty cell and determine if a 1 could go in that position, and if so RIGHT CLICK to turn on that test number. Afterwards, if any ROW, COLUMN or 3x3 grid only has one possible position for the number 1 (which you should be able to see by quickly scanning) LEFT CLICK to select that number permanently. Whenever you place a number permanently, go through and remove any test numbers in the same row, column and 3x3 grid.
Repeat that process for all numbers up through 9.
When you are finished, you will usually find a few cases where there is only 1 possible number. Place the appropriate number in that spot. Every time you place a number be sure to remove the test numbers from cells in the same row, column and 3x3 grid.
Once you follow that process for a while you may eventually get to where every cell shows more than one possibility. You then need to apply additional logic rules for eliminating possibilities.
Logic Rules:
In any cell where all but one number cannot be placed because of a conflict in the same row, column or 3x3 grid, that cell must contain the one number that can be placed.
For any number which can only legally occupy a single cell within a row, column or 3x3 grid, that number must be placed in that cell location.
In any 3x3 grid, a certain number may only be possible in a couple cells. If all the possible cells are in the same ROW (or COLUMN), then that number cannot exist anywhere else in that ROW (or COLUMN) and can be removed as a possibility outside of that 3x3 grid.
The inverse to the previous rule: In any ROW (or COLUMN), a certain number may only be possible in cells that are all in the same 3x3 grid. In that case, that number can be removed as a possibility anywhere else in that 3x3 grid.
If any 2 cells in the same ROW, COLUMN or 3x3 grid have exactly the same 2 possible numbers, then those numbers cannot be possible anywhere within the same ROW, COLUMN or 3x3 grid that both of those cells occupy. For example, if there are 4 empty cells in a certain row, and the possibilities for the 4 are respectively (1,2), (2,3,4), (1,2), and (1,3,4) this can be simplified to: (1,2), (3,4), (1,2), (3,4).
The previous rule can be extended to 3 or more cells, except that the 3 cells do not need to have the EXACT same possibilities, only that between the 3 cells there are only 3 possibilities. For example, 5 cells with respective possibilities of: (1,2), (2,3), (1,3), (1,3,4,5), (2,4,5) can be reduced to: (1,2), (2,3), (1,3), (4,5), (4,5) because the first 3 cells can only be the values of 1, 2 or 3.
All puzzles are solvable using the above logic rules. However, for difficulty setting of 1, only the first rule is required. For difficulty of 2 only the first 2 rules are required, etc. However, in all cases you may still use all of the rules and they can be beneficial.
Scoring:
Scoring is based on the time it takes you to complete the puzzle and your level of difficulty. 1 minute is added to your final completion time for each descending level of difficulty. So, difficulty level 10 has no time added to your final time, while difficulty level 1 adds 9 minutes (540 seconds). Using the AutoHinting feature (by pressing the A key) will add 1 minute to your time.
AutoHinting:
Press the 'A' key on your keyboard to automatically fill in the test numbers based on the numbers that have been placed. As you play, the test numbers will automatically turn off, but they will not be automatically added as necessary (so you can remove them based on your own use of the logic rules). Every time you press the 'A' key 1 minute is added to your time and all of the test numbers are reset.
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