Usha returned from another training session in Bangkok with a bunch of games which included The Sudoku Puzzle Game from Funville Games. I was delighted. On at seeing a Funville title not currently on Indian retail shelves. And more so when I read the play rules.
Multi-player Sudoku sounded wonderful. The booklet features 100 puzzles across three levels of difficulty. We set up the set number pieces on the fold out puzzle board, carefully replicating the puzzle we selected from the book. Playing alternately with black number pieces we competed to complete entire lines, to rack up the 45 points each line offered. With the added pressure of playing against a sand timer, there is a joint goal to solve the entire puzzle as quickly as possible. And individual goals to complete as many lines as possible, to end with the highest score.
Just as I thought we were making a rather good team effort of it, a fatal flaw in game design became apparent! What happens when one player places a number piece incorrectly on a turn?
Most likely, it had been my doing since Usha is the Sudoku fiend. We weren’t sure in which turn the error happened. Undoing a messed up Sudoku attempt in the morning’s paper involves much agony, frustrated erasing, and starting over. In 2-player Sudoku, being tripped up by a silly error, presumably by the opponent, is maddening. And it’s no fun notching a win that way!
The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com [1]
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