This is one fun place. I used to only play Sudoku on Brain Age, but this is way better than their puzzles now haha. Thanks for showing me this cool place, Jay!

Aah, evil brain-frying sudoku. Great concept for a game, but I gave up after getting whupped a few times. Just can't compete with the speed :P

I swear it was working fine just before I posted the review, but now the site is down now that the review is up. I'm guessing because of a surge in traffic to the site. Let's hope it gets resolved soon.

it seems to be working again...

Yay! In that case, I guess I have time for one more... ;)

Hehe nudity in the avatars, just to point that out. Fun, though!

I thought I was goodat Sudoku (having known about it several years before it became widely known) but as soon as I start this game my brain completely blocks out.

haha, I just beat the pants off of Marc, the webmaster of that game! My score is now 996! (I think this is because when I clicked done nothing happened, so I kept clicking it and my score went up everytime... Ended up having to exit the program)

oh, I see it is unavailable again...

Typo:

"Created my Marc Belmont, this browser-based multiplayer version of the popular puzzle game that offers a new experience for those that prefer a more competitive challenge."

I think you mean "by Marc Belmont", not "my Marc Belmont". :)

LOL. Of course. Cheers for that, Maura! =)

I like it, but there are a lot of people who just quit when they see they're losing.

I don't have that problem, LOL, as I am usually the one that loses. I play to the end to give the other the satisfaction of winning (and because I just like to play.) =)

Maybe you should try a more difficult puzzle, Eliza?

Gosh. Like I need another addiction. Nice find.

Heehee, there's a cloud avatar!

GRRR. the gameplay is messed up for me. i can't type into the boxes.

I wish this game would let you hit DONE just to check even if the other person drops out. Not that I'm often the one winning...

Hi View - I agree. Often times I want to keep playing even if someone dropped (since I spent all that time solving the puzzle, might as well finish it).

Also, it should award you points if you complete it after your opponent dropped. (minor)

I tend to write a lot of little numbers in the boxes as I go, which tends to frighten people and they often drop while playing against me.

I'm thinking that the opponent's progress indicator may not be such a good thing after all.

WOOO i own <:)
the only thing that sucks though ..
is when you type a # into box A ..
and then you click box B ..
you REALLY have to click it and pay attention ..
or you might insert a totally different number into box A which will screw up your whole game :(
it happened to me, and i had to start over.

"An additional feature called "sticky keys" will insert the last number you types into a cell just by clicking it."

typo! i think you meant "typed" not "types". :)

----------------------------------------

btw. the colour thing REALLY helps :D
you can go so much faster.

Oye, thanks Sylvia! I must have been in a hurry to get that review up earlier.

About the issue you mentioned, if you check the setting that allows multiple numbers in a cell, then it won't replace the previous number you type, it will add the new number to it. That will help identify mistakes you might make. =)

Great game Jay my problem is everyone keeps quiting on me

lazyone - yes, unfortunately that seems to be the problem I'm having, too.

Since it's new, maybe it's because there are many who are just now trying it out and won't commit to playing a whole game through(?)

I suspect, as I mentioned above, that the progress indicator causes some to believe they have lost and then give up before the game is over.

What is everyones average time to finish an easy game?

About 6 minutes for me

i really should be sleeping for my final tomorrow, but this is so addicting!

something's wrong with the game :/
i finished the puzzle, and i tried clicking the done button over and over again.
for some reason .. it kept raising my score as i kept clicking .. for example. i had like .. 240 .. when i clicked it once it went to 241 .. and i kept clicking .. now im at 978.
hahha a great way to cheat?

I would love playing this if I could get an opponenet that would STAY! This is soooo aggravating. I think I was able to finish my first game and since then they've all dropped out. And it's not always when they see me pulling ahead or anything; they just up and leave. Awesome concept and fun game though (when it gets rollin).

Hmmm...I finally got connected to another player and started a game, but now I've finished and none of their boxes have pink'd since two minutes into the game. They're not responding to chat, and I'm not altogether sure the game hasn't glitched on me.

...does this mean the person left or has frozen or is stuck? arg...

I think I just got one that's impossible to solve. "Easy" and 17:30 in and the position of the placed 5's and 7's don't allow proper answers in the center boxes.

Wow. Forty minutes in and three "clears" later, I finally got a solution. I don't know if it was the CORRECT one, since my partner stopped responding and the boxes stopped pinking long ago, but it looks ok to me, even though I couldn't check it. It didn't say anything was wrong when I clicked "done"...but nothing else happened, either.

I would've erased the last comment, but I can't. Oops! Whatever that puzzle was, it was NOT easy. Now I'm afraid to attempt the harder ones.

This would be fun if people didn't just drop out as soon as you're about to beat them...

Well, I got the same problem. I finished and the Done button was not working.
Actualy it was working. It was increasing my score each time I pressed it. :P

I got now around 1000 points :D

Anyway, great game, but it still has some bugs to be fixed and it still need some features to be added.

Oh, and one more thing.

If you want to play agains me, this is the link of my game

http://www.sudokucombat.com/sudoku.php?type=2&id=46268&rating=0

I think it's only good for one game so first come first searved.

And I will stay till the game is finished :)

I think one of the reasons that it appears people keep quitting is because sometimes if you push backspace to clear a box it triggers back in your browser. This brings you back to the main page. I (not being a programmer) don't know how to fix this, and it's really frustrating when you psh backspace and are booted back to the main page, b/c there is not a way to re-enter the game

My wife loves this game. Now we can finally play against each other to see who is the real master of the game.

i find that there aren't enough people playing the EVIL level..

Hey, after leaving my last comment and seeing once again that you have to verify it, I decided I'd go ahead and get a typekey account so I don't keep wasting your time :P. I tried this game on internet explorer, but just stalled on the searching for opponents parts, but if the game actually interested me I'd go ahead and try it on firefox.

I am glad to hear that everyone is having the same problems I am, I havent been able to press done yet, and have anything happen except my score going up. (I am at 996) Anyway, I think it is a great concept if Marc could fix the bugs:)

Hey whoever was playing as Guest12 go to:

http://www.sudokucombat.com/sudoku.php?type=2&id=64389&rating=1

I told you I would be back, and I promise that I will be able to finish this one!

*sigh* I think it happened again, for the record Guest12, I finished it with 12:34 on the clock. either that or you were just ignoring me to get me back...

Hassle Free. I was there (still am). Maybe a synchronization issue?

This site may be better as a timed game only where you can see where you rank, either hourly, daily, or total.

Now I've actually managed to beat someone, but when I click 'done' it selects the 'done' button, says 'validating solution' or something like that, and nothing happens.

I wish it'd let you finish the solution when you LOSE!

Also, for Jacob and anybody else struggling with "Easy" -- I often find the "Medium" or "Hard" level puzzles, not just on this game but in the newspaper, etc., are "easier" than easy ... I guess because it's easier to start solving and get in a groove when there aren't all those extra numbers in there?

Or perhaps I am just weird. :)

What is the deal with all of these people leaving??

Driving me crazy!!

I have been really amused by the avatars. I like the South Park one its a personal favorite. I was intrigued until i came across an avatar with a nazi swastika on it. I was offended im not a jew but if i was and i was going threw the avatars and saw that i would be in complete aww. Marc dont wanna be mean but i would look in to what i just said and take it out or you'll get lottsa complaints !!!

my name is

post if you wanna take me on !!

I think I'll wait till the digg effect wears off... I couldn't play a decent game with anyone at all :( They keep dropping out.

Site is down again, this time the hosts have put up an error message asking for the site owner to get in touch with them, if anyone's got contact info for Marc they might want to let him know

Another site broken (I guess monthly bandwith limit was exceeded) by Jay :) I guess it wont take long before game developers start to talk like this: "Hey, nice game you have there, lets hope Jay wont find out about it or our server crashes and we need to close down because of huge number of visitors coming from jayisgames".

I am joking of course... Will check back later to see if sudoku combat gets back online.

Augh, having it drop the game is really frustrating. I tried to play against a friend a few times, and it would say that she left the game. Immediately she'd say to me, "Hey, why'd you leave?!" Sometimes the game just kicks people out without question, and while it looks to YOU like your OPPONENT drops the game, it probably looks exactly the same to your opponent. Frustrating, eh?

Which is what happened in that game I was playing against you, Jay. I was either Bixia or Domi, I can't remember what, and halfway through it said you quit the game. I presumed it was a glitch. That part is really frustrating, because I find I can't finish a whole game more than about 1/5 tries.

Bixia - that is likely an issue with the AJAX routines Marc is using with the game, the timeouts he depends to maintain state, and the relative load on the servers and whether it is impacting those function calls.

I imagine he will have to make some changes now that he can do some load testing on it. ;)

Well, it looks like it's back up again... albeit at a different location. Is free.fr a free hosting spot or just a place he has a paid account, I wonder.

Good question, Ted. I sent him an email asking about it. I imagine he quickly burned through his plan with GoDaddy and is in the process of finding a different hosting provider to park the domain.

That means everyone's cookies are gone for the time being.

Ok I had a few bugs with this game (ex: I couldn't type any number unless i was in multiple-number-per-cell mode) but this one was the weirdest: I had to play against myself... And while playing, it told me i left the game... I don't know if that's because I was the only one online at that moment, but anyway... It's a cool game... Even with those bugs...

Typekey is being very annoying b/c every time i wanna post it makes me sign in even though i click " keep me signed in for 2 weeks". very irritating.

Also I noticed no1 responded to the post i made earlier... so im posting it again I dont want him to get away with it...

I have been really amused by the avatars. I like the South Park one its a personal favorite. I was intrigued until i came across an avatar with a nazi swastika on it. I was offended im not a jew but if i was and i was going threw the avatars and saw that i would be in complete aww. Marc dont wanna be mean but i would look in to what i just said and take it out or you'll get lottsa complaints !!!

My name is

if anyone wants to challenge me post and ill add you to my friends and we will battle it out ;)

a response to lyman:

While most people immediately think of the Nazis when they see a swastika now-a-days, it was (and still is) a common symbol in many cultures long before the Nazis.

You can learn more about it in the Wikipedia article: Swastika

60 years later, I hope we can begin riding this basic geometric symbol of such stereotyping. Who wants to think about the Nazis anyways?

On a lighter note, all the avatars are absolutely awesome. Just the sheer quantity is impressive, not to mention the quality.

Hey Lyman!
I saw that swastika too and thought the same... It's kinda weird... It really should be removed.
I choosed the Flash's avatar. I really like all the superheroes ones... They're really nice...

If you wanna play my name is still Rose in the game! I'm not that bad... ;)

Hello to Rob from Chicago if you read this!
(Rose from Québec) :)

Lyman, it says at the top of the avatar page that they're provided by bran-man.com so presumably they're a batch and you cannot seperate which ones you have and which ones you don't. As for the swastika, it was a Hindu symbol long before Hitler perverted it, and after looking at the avatar in question I'd say that it's probably meant to represent that rather than nazism

FYI, here's a larger version of the avatar in question: http://www.bran-man.com/style/bran/260.gif

Hopefully that sheds some light on something.

I also believe that you probably could remove some specific avatars from the Bran-man set. The Chinese, Greek, English, Indians, Native Americans and (indeed) Germans used it years before it had anything to do with Nazism. Just a few thoughts.

I'm having a problem with the Done button as well. I'll have every square filled in, and it tells me there are empty ones. It doesn't raise my score to press it, though. Oh, and I've gotten ones impossible to solve solely through logic, as well. Strangely, mine was also based around 5 and 7 (in reference to *Jacob*'s comment). There were no possible answers for the last squares left open without guessing.

Also, I didn't have the problem with people leaving until today... Two people joined and left immediately on me =\

Love this game.
But people keep leaving in the middle of the game :(.
If anyone wants to play with me
this is my name : Pippinbrat

I am interested in confirming the appearance of impossible puzzles in this implementation. Would someone please send me a screenshot of one as proof?

Cheers!

Why do people keep giving their Sudoku names? Is there a function to search for people by name to play against them? I thought the only way was by sending the url of the game.

From Marc's Sudoku Combat blog:

I made a couple of modifications to improve the game and especially fix the "quitters problem".

• A person that leaves in the middle of the game will get a popup warning and lose points

• You can choose the level of your opponent based on the min/max score

• Multiple numbers in a single cell don't appear filled-in to your opponent

Good work, Marc!

Dangit, my work blocked the site. They tend to block any time-wasting games they can. It's sad, because I have so much time I need to waste.

Aww, I feel your pain, Ted.

Have you tried using a proxy service?

ADDICTED!! :)

Sudoku is one of my faaaavorite games. I even have a book in the loo for...those extended stays? Anyway, I have this game as number four in my fave game section on the site and play ir periodically, but tonight/this morning I was just OFF. I've lost 50 points and almost EVERY game!!!! What the heck, I just stare at the half-finished puzzles and see nothing. I wish there was an 'undo tonight' button on the site.

Have you heard of Sudoku Sniper and do you have it available anywhere on this site or on a link. I tried it at dkmsoftware, but it didn't seem to be working well, possibly a beta version. Thanks and keep up the good work, Dave

Great game! even the "Play Alone" feature is better than any play it yourself sudoku on the web

Does anyone know what's happened to sudokucombat.com. Is the site down. suffering from withdrawal symptoms - I haven't played for two days!!!

The site seems to be down just now. Can you use the site?

I can't access the site either. I'm with you on the withdrawal symptoms, Margie!

Wierd -- when I am at home, I have no problems with the site. But at work :-) it takes FOREVER to start up. What could be causing that?

They've changed their site around; you need an account now.

Darned change of ownership.

The new site is http://www.youplay.com/news.php?id=21

According to a news bulletin from the beginning of April:
Sudoku Combat
03-04-2007

Sudoku Combat is currently being redeveloped to make it faster, brighter and more exciting than ever! We've also tightened the rules so there's no way to cheat. This action-packed multiplayer challenge will shortly arrive at YouPlay.com, but take care... Sudoku Combat is extremely addictive!

Wow, the people who play on there now don't fool around. I don't even think the competitions are fair...people finish in under a minute? How is that possible?

Yuck. I hate the new avatars. No soul.

Sorry for the double post, but I've just played a game on the new system on the new site, and... eww. I hate the interface. Something about the flashing cursors when mousing over squares is really distracting. Marc Belmont, congrats on selling your great idea. Too bad the buyers destroyed a good thing.

Anyone else know of a good multiplayer sudoku site?

Why the page is not opening anymore? I click on sudokucombat, but in the last days it is not opening the games. Has anyone else had the same problem?