Welcome to sudokutool.
sudokutool is free software. Please see the file COPYING for details. For building and installation instructions please see the INSTALL file. Welcome to sudokutool.
STARTING THE GAME
Linux: Type
sudokutool
Windows - click the sudokutool icon in the sudokutool folder
OBJECT OF THE GAME
PLAYING THE GAME
Manual Setup:
The game starts in initialization mode. In this mode, you are setting up the a puzzle that you got from a newspaper, online, ... You are manually setting up the puzzle.
To select a location, click a square with the left mouse button and type in the number you want to place 1-9, or 0 or space to remove a value you placed there previously. You can also change other values by simply typing a new number.
When you have the puzzle set up the way you want, click the Start Game button to start playing.
Random Game:
To have a game randomly generated for you, click the Setup New Game button. A new window pops up asking you to select either "Manual" or "Random". Select "random" and a new game will appear.
PLAYING THE GAME
You may place a value in any square that is not part of the initial puzzle just as you would place any value described in Manual Setup. The value will be placed in the given location only if there is not the same value in either the same row, column, or the 3x3 group that the square resides in.
You can tell which values are possible for each location by the check boxes or "pencil marks" in each square without a value.
CHECK BOXES
The check boxes represent which values are available for any position. The values represent the numbers 1-9. A filled in blue check box means that the value can be placed at that location, and an outline box in black means that the value cannot be placed at that location. The check boxes correspond to the numbers in the following order
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
The check boxes can be toggled on and off using the right mouse button. Once a check box is toggled off, that number can no longer be placed at that location. Check boxes can be toggled on only if that particular value will not cause a conflict.
REVERT POINTS
The "Set Revert Point" and "Revert Board" buttons act as a save game. When you click "Set Revert Point" button, the state of the board is saved. After changing the board as much or little as you want, you can click "Revert Board" to rever the board back to the state when you clicked "Set Revert Point". You can make as many revert points as you wish, they will be reverted to in the reverse order in which you set them.
Revert board does not change the timer back to the time in which you set the point, it is meant only as a tool to help you solve the puzzle. These points are useful for when you want to save the game to experiment with different options on the board but are unsure of whether you will keep the changes or not.
NOTE: When you click "Revert Board", that revert point is lost. You must select "Set Revert Point" again if you wish to revert to this point.
SAVE/LOAD GAME
Their are 5 possible games you can save. This is an arbitrary number, but that is how it is. When you save a game, all the revert points, timer, and board state are saved into a file and can be reloaded.
To save a game, click the "Save Game" button and select either game 1-5. To reload a game, click the "Load Game" button and select the same game you saved under.
NOTE: Future versions may or may not improve this.
RESET
The "Reset" button clears the board of all plays you made without resetting the timer. If you win the game and then click reset, the timer will be reset and it will be like starting the same game over again.
QUITTING
Click the "Quit Game" button.