Spindoku: A Fun Tweak to a Classic Puzzle

I enjoy puzzle games and brain teasers, but I have to admit that I find Sudoku mind numbing. For the first square, I am engaged, probably because any new puzzle is, well, new. But for me, any subsequent square is just more of the same. That is ridiculous, of course, but there is just something about the large volume of numbers that I do not find appealing.

Well, Spindoku takes traditional Sudoku puzzles and tweaks them to appeal to gamers like me. Instead of working out every number in every row and column to fill blank spaces, all I need to do is rotate a few clusters of numbers (or colors, or symbols, or letters) to find the solution. The game chooses which clusters will spin; all you have to do is decide how many rotations are needed. Sounds simple, right?

Spindoku is simple – to understand. But with more than 10,000 puzzle boards, four game modes, and five skill levels, almost no one will find it too simple to play. A new challenge is a simple setting change away. Is Easy too easy? The skill levels go past Expert all the way to Psychotic.

A few simple features in Spindoku enhance the game experience. The music (composed by Kevin MacLeod) is dramatic, evocative of an adventure movie (and is easily toggled off). Each puzzle comes with a par rating, a minimum number of spins required to solve the puzzle. You can make more spins, but that will decrease your score. And of course, if there is a score there must be a stats page for you to track your progress.

Spindoku is a fun, light puzzler that I can pick up anywhere – playground, elevator, coffee shop – and scale to meet any skill challenge I need.