Sudoku

Help For Su-do-ku

Introduction

Welcome to the network Su-do-ku server. The rules of Su-do-ku are below. The commands are the same for all pbmserv games.

Rules of Su-do-ku

This is not your Newspaper's Su-do-ku

Standard Su-do-ku is a single player puzzle. The normal grid is a 9x9 array of cells subdivided into 9 3x3 supercells.


          - 6 -|1 - 4|- 5 -  
          - - 8|3 - 5|6 - -  
          2 - -|- - -|- - 1  
          -----+-----+-----
          8 - -|4 - 7|- - 6  
          - - 6|- - -|3 - -  
          7 - -|9 - 1|- - 4  
          -----+-----+-----
          5 - -|- - -|- - 2  
          - - 7|2 - 6|9 - -  
          - 4 -|5 - 8|- 7 -  

         Figure 1 -- Typical Su-do-ku Puzzle

The object of a su-do-ku puzzle is to place the numbers 1-9 on the grid in such a way as each column, row and supercell contains all of the numbers 1-9 with no repeats.

Object of the Game is Different

On a su-do-ku grid, players take turns adding digits to the board in an attempt to be the last player to be able to make a valid move. If a cell becomes "dead" (due to the fact that all of the possible digits are already in use in that row+column+supercell) no piece can be played there.

Challenge Options

sudoku challenge [-size=XxY] [-showdeadcells|-hidedeadcells] userid1 userid2 [ ... userid6]

starts a new game between 2 to 6 players (userid1, userid2, ... userid6).

The -size parameter sets the dimensions of a supercell. the default is 3x3. valid values range from 2x2 to 6x6 to 7x5

if the total number of cells in a supercell is less than 10 (2x2, 2x3, 2x4, 3x3) the digits in the cell will be 1..n (where n is the number of cells in the supercell)

if the total number of cells in a supercell is 10 or more (2x5, 2x6, 3x4, 3x5, etc.) the digits in the cell will be 0..9 and the letters A..n-1 (where n is the number of cells in the supercell and A=10, B=11, C=12, etc.)


          A B C D E F  
       1  - 6 -|1 - 4  1
       2  - - 2|3 - 5  2
          -----+-----
       3  2 - -|- - 1  3
       4  3 - -|4 - 6  4
          -----+-----
       5  - - 6|- - -  5
       6  1 - -|6 - 3  6
          A B C D E F  

         Figure 2 -- Typical '-size=3x2' Su-do-ku grid

The -showdeadcells parameter (the default) causes dead cells to no longer be displayed with the '-'. They cease to be.

The -hidedeadcells parameter causes dead cells to be displayed normally (with the '-').

Movement Rules

A su-do-ku move consists of 2 parts. The row/column of the position where the digit is to be placed, and the digit to place there. e.g. "B3-5" would put a 5 in column B, row 3.