Daily Sudoku Gadget
Features include
- Save and resume automatically
- Advanced keyboard shortcuts
- Support for pencil marks
- Beautiful yet powerful interface
- Invalid number highlighting
- Powerful hint system
- No plugins required
- An exciting new puzzle each day
- Totally free
The daily sudoku gadget is a special, trimmed-down version of Komoroske.com's Online Sudoku application. Each day, you'll be presented with a new puzzle to complete. Any time you visit the gadget during the day, you'll magically be presented with the puzzle exactly as you left it. But if you open the gadget after midnight, you'll switch to the puzzle for the next day... so work quickly!
Although the gadget looks kind of dinky, it still borrows a lot of the powerful features from the full version of Online Sudoku. There are keyboard shortcuts galore, a powerful hint system (hit the 'h' key to get one), and of course invalid marks or numbers will be highlighted in red. The powerful keyboard shortcuts are the gadget's killer (if hard to discover) feature. Once you come to master them, you'll never go back to pen-and-paper sudoku.
If you like the daily sudoku gadget, chances are you'll love the full-featured (but still free!) online application. The full version's features include:
- Beautiful, Easy-to-Use Interface We promise, you've never seen an interface this simple and easy-to-use for a computer-based sudoku game—much less an online game.
- Keyboard Shortcuts Never before has playing sudoku on a computer been so easy! Dozens of powerful keyboard shortcuts make it almost as intuitive as playing with pen and paper—an in a web-browser, no less.
- Powerful Marks System A problem with most computer sudoku games is that their marks are too darned hard to use easily. Online Sudoku makes it easier than you ever thought possible.
- Hundreds of Puzzles With hundreds of puzzles to play in four difficulty levels, you'll never run out.
- Input Custom Puzzles Want to play a real-world puzzle in the application? No problem—with the built in custom mode, it couldn't be easier to enter a puzzle you've seen elsewhere and be playing it within seconds!
- Save Your Progress Automatically save your progress across multiple sessions. A sophisticated auto-save ensures that you'll never lose your progress again.
- Play on a Plane or in a Car Because this game is web-based, you'd think you wouldn't be able to take it with you on a long trip. Wrong. Online Sudoku features a powerful offline mode that can queue up to 20 puzzles for playing when you're in the air or on the road.
- Play it Anywhere Because Online Sudoku is web-based, you can fire it up on any computer that has access to the internet.
- Share Puzzles With Friends You can easily generate links for your friends to your puzzle with all of your current progress, or to the a blank version of the puzzle you're working on. See who can solve the puzzle the fastest!
- Hall of Fame Registered users have the chance of showing up on the top scores list, letting everyone else know just how awesome they are at sudoku.
- Undo/Redo Multiple Levels Hit the 'u' key to undo, the 'r' key to redo. Online Sudoku lets you undo/redo to your heart's content.
- Sophisticated Hint Feature Never again will you get stuck on a hard puzzle. Online Sudoku's sophisticated hint feature can help out with almost any puzzle and—what's better—it'll let you know the logic behind the hint it's giving you.
- It's FREE Most computer-based sudoku games worth their salt want you to pony up money to download and play. Online Sudoku is 100% free—and has more features than a lot of the other computer-based sudoku games combined!
Give it a try at www.komoroske.com/sudoku/.
Keyboard shortcuts
Although it doesn't look like it, the gadget actually supports a whole bunch of extremely useful keyboard shortcuts. They might seem a bit intimidating at first, but it's totally worth your time and effort to master them. Be warned, however: some browsers don't allow some of the normal shortcuts so they have their own, special shortcuts. Be sure to check the 'Variants' column if you're using Internet Explorer, Safari, or Opera.
| Shortcut | Description | Variants |
|---|---|---|
| Number-Key | Enters the given number into the currently selected space. | |
| 0 or Backspace | Clears the number from the selected space. | Safari: use 0, Opera: use 0 |
| Ctrl + Number-Key | Toggles the given mark in the currently selected space. | |
| Ctrl + 0, Ctrl + Backspace | Clears the currently selected space of all marks. | Opera: use Ctrl + 0 |
| + | Adds all valid marks to the current space. | |
| – | Removes all invalid marks from the current space. | |
| Ctrl + +, Ctrl + = | Fills every space with all valid marks. | IE7: use Alt + + or Alt + = |
| Ctrl + – | Clears every space of all invalid marks. | IE7: use Alt + – |
| Ctrl + X | Clears every space of all marks. | Safari: use Shift + X |
| P | Toggles pause. While paused, the timer doesn't advance. (The timer is not visible in the gadget.) | |
| H | Shows a puzzle hint to help you complete tough puzzles. | |
| N | Shows what penalties have been assessed so far. | |
| B | Toggles branch mode (an advanced solver tool for guessing in tough puzzles). | |
| U | Undoes the last operation. | |
| R | Redoes the last operation. | |
| Arrow Keys | Selects the next space in that direction. | |
| Ctrl + Arrow Keys | Selects the next unfilled space in that direction. | Opera: use Shift + Arrow Keys |
Installation instructions
Installation is easy and only needs to be completed once. To begin, click this link, or the one at the top of the page that says 'Install Daily Sudoku Calendar Widget'. A new window will be opened that will take you to your Google Calendar, or ask you to sign in if necessary. A small window will pop up asking you if you want to add the calendar. Click 'Yes, add this calendar' and the Daily Sudoku gadget will be installed.
How do I access the gadget?
Once installed (see the question above), accessing the gadget is easy. A small sudoku icon will show up for the current day. Click that icon to open the gadget. Click the X in the title bar to close it. Remember that the Daily Sudoku icon will only show up on today's date.
How do I uninstall the gadget?
Uninstalling is very easy. In your Google Calendar, click the link on the left of the page that says 'Manage Calendars'. Under the 'Other Calendars' heading, locating the 'Daily Sudoku' item and click the trash icon. A dialog window will pop up asking you to confirm that you wish to remove the calendar. Hit the 'Remove' button, and you're done!
How do I save my progress?
The gadget automatically saves every second or two when you make changes, and automatically reloads all of your progress when you open the gadget back up. You don't have to do a thing!
I lost all of my progress from yesterday! What gives?
The Daily Sudoku gadget features a single puzzle each day. If you visit the page after midnight, you'll be automatically presented with the new day's puzzle—and your previous progress will be discarded. If you want to save the state of your puzzle for longer than a day, click the 'Open in Full Version' link at the bottom of the gadget, and save it in the full version of the application.
Does the gadget store any information about me?
The Daily Sudoku gadget does not store any personal information whatsoever (nor does it have access to such information). Anonymous usage statistics are collected every time you solve the puzzle or load the gadget.
Can I install this gadget in my iGoogle page?
The Daily Sudoku gadget was designed primarily for inclusion in Google Calendar, but it's a normal gadget so it will work on iGoogle, as well. You can install it by clicking this link. Installing the Daily Sudoku gadget in iGoogle is not officially supported at the moment, so you may encounter a few small bugs.
How does the gadget differ from the full version?
The gadget lacks most of the user interface from the full version—but that's not all. It also lacks the hall of fame feature, the ability to log-in from anywhere, offline mode, the ability to load new puzzles without refreshing the page, custom mode, the helpful status bar, the ability to share puzzles, and the ability to change the game options. The gadget is designed to be a light diversion; the full application is designed to be the ultimate sudoku solution.
How much does it cost?
Nothing! Both the gadget and the full application are not only free but also, importantly, free of ads. Creating and maintaining Online Sudoku is merely a hobby of mine. I love programming and I love sudoku, so combining the two just made sense.
Where did you get the puzzles?
The puzzles were created using the excellent open source QQWing generator. There are hundreds for each level of difficulty.