Ajs Worked Example

The player uses the green box at the top to enter a new puzzle number and the puzzle is displayed. She then uses the menu to set the hint mode to "most effective". The player then right clicks on the hint button and the program applies the Exclusion Rule exhaustively and so clears many candidates. As this is just for demonstration purposes she then completes the puzzle using only the hint option: left-clicking to select and then apply each hint, but right-clicking whenever an answer is set.

Akari Worked Example

The player uses the green box at the top to enter a new puzzle number and the puzzle is displayed. She marks the diagonals of the cells containing 3s with the "+" symbols (right mouse click) to note they are blocked from being bulbs. Then she adds bulbs (left mouse click) to four cells in succession, their rows and columns lighting up accordingly. She continues to mark cells as blocked or to add bulbs, occasionally clicking on the thumb in the Toolbar to check for mistakes. Eventually this reveals a mistake in top row: the thumb turns down and the incorrect cell is coloured red. She clicks again on the thumb and the program clears the error. She makes more progress and then resorts to using the hint button. This marks a cell which, given the current state of the board, can be solved. However, rather that work out their solution she simply clicks the hint button again and the program fills in the answers for her. Finally she clicks on the sad smiley to reveal the solution.

Arrowsudoku Worked Example

The player uses the green box at the top to enter a new puzzle number and the puzzle is displayed. She then uses the menu to set the hint mode to "most effective". The player then right clicks on the hint button and the program applies the Exclusion Rule exhaustively and so clears many candidates. As this is just for demonstration purposes she then completes the puzzle using only the hint option: left-clicking to select and then apply each hint, but right-clicking whenever an answer is set.

Binary Worked Example

A video from binary showing a hesitant player making liberal use of the hint button and still managing to make errors.

Boggle Worked Example

The player starts a game in which the cells are not shaded. She starts entering words using the mouse (left click to select a letter, right click to end a word and middle click to delete a letter). As the words are entered the counter to the right of the sad smiley increases accordingly. After only 5 words she gives up and uses the sad smiley icon to show the solution which shows she got 1.3% of 380 possible words. Next she uses the menu to request that the cells are shaded to show how many words originate from them (their colour will fade to white by the time all the words which start from them are entered). She then clicks the game icon and looks at the generated puzzles, rejecting two of them and then settling on the third. She has a few spelling problems and then gets the solution to end the game.

Bridges Worked Example

A video from Bridges showing a simple puzzle being solved. The player tries to deduce which bridge can be added as the next logical step. She adds bridges with left mouse clicks. At one stage she is unsure if the last added bridge is correct and so clicks on the hand icon in the toolbar, which turns down and highlights the last bridge as being wrong. A further click removes the incorrect bridge. Later she resorts to using the hint button (the wand icon) to suggest the next move.

Codeword Worked Example

The player starts a game and moves the cursor around in the number rows causing the corresponding cells in the codeword to light up. Eventually she thinks she spots a pattern which could correspond to the letter "E" and so she clicks on the number row and the letter row to set the number to "E". Next she decides which number corresponds to "I" and guesses that one of the words is "PICTURE". Having set the number for "T" she realises this is probably wrong and undoes it by right-clicking on the "T". Then she thinks she recognises a patter of "A"s and guesses that "PICTURE" is instead "PICKAXE" and proceeds accordingly. Finally she clicks the sad smiley icon to request the solution and so end the game.

Fillomino Worked Example

A video from fillomino. The puzzle is selected by entering its number into the box and typing "Enter". The 6s in the bottom right hand corner are obvious and the player fills in the cells by right clicking on the corresponding candidate values (left click deletes a candidate, middle button restores). Filling in the 7 encloses the 5s, so they become clear. The 7 is easy, but she is lucky with the 2. More 7s and 6s, interrupted by a quick click on the thumb to check for errors, but then under the strain of performing for the camera confidence is lost, errors occur, and she checks for mistakes using the thumb button. It shows an error by the thumb turning down and the incorrect cell is coloured red. Another click on the thumb and the error is corrected. A bit more progress and then a resort to the hint button which clears many candidates using algorithm 0. Another error and finally the clock flashes to signify the games has been finished correctly.

Follow_123 Worked Example

The player uses the entry box at the top of the program window to enter the number of the puzzle to solve. She then looks to the corners, often good start points, and makes a bit of progress. After a few moves she clicks the thumb to check for errors. OK so far. But then she makes a mistake, and the next time the thumb is clicked errors are shown. A further click and they are removed. Each time an error is made she knows what not to connect. A bit later she requests a hint. The program highlights a 2 vertex in red. This vertex has possible connections to three vertices labelled 3, but of these, the vertex in the same column is only linked to a single 2 vertex, therefore it must be connected to the highlighted 2. She continues, making increasing use of the hint button.

Futoshiki Worked Example

The first thing the player does is to right click on the hint button. This labour saving device removes, from rows and columns, all candidates that are already set as solutions. Then she deletes candidates (right click) and sets candidates (left click) by taking into account the < and > symbols between cells. Occasionally she clicks on the thumb icon to check for errors. Then she right clicks on the hint button which when clearing candidates also sets some answers. Next she uses the hint button several times and finally, after a long and apparently fruitless ponder, she uses the sad smiley to show the solution.

Gol Worked Example

The worked example shows the plotting of pattern 104P177 using red for survived and yellow for born cells; then the user clicks the pause button and changes the born colour to red and uses the pause button to continue plotting. 104P177 repeats after 177 generations.

Hidato Worked Example

A video from hidato showing an example of the simplest form of puzzle being solved. In these puzzles cells only touch orthogonally: left and right and up and down. In this example all answers are set using the left popup menu in the cells and no use is made of the righthand candidate deletion menu. Apologies that some of the popup menus disappear off the bottom of the video recording. The video starts when the player selects puzzle number 998 and clicks the right mouse button on the wand to reduce the numbers of candidates to manageable size. Note the shading of the cells changing to reflect their numbers of remaining candidates. For demonstration purposes only we use the slider so that the cells containing each candidate are lit up in turn. At first the puzzle looks impossible, but then we see that 1 must connect leftwards to 2, otherwise the corner cell would be isolated. Three follows and then we are stuck until we see that 26 can only be connected on its left side to 32 because the right side is too far away. So we fill in 25, then 24 and 23 follow easily. Then 22 must touch 21 and 23. A quick right click on the wand to reduce the candidates. Now we return to 26 and fill in 27 and 20, followed by 28. Then 29, 30 and 31 are easy, and so are 4, 5, 6. A quick click on the hand icon to make sure we've made no mistakes. Then we see that 19 is now obvious, then 35, 33, 7, 8, 9. Nervous click on the hand to make sure we are OK so far, and the rest fall into place. As an encore we reload the puzzle by putting the cursor in the Entry box and hitting Enter, then click on the sad smiley to demonstrate how the program shows the solution as a rainbow coloured animation.

Hitori Worked Example

A video from Hitori showing a puzzle being solved by the worlds most hesitant player. She starts by selecting puzzle 1000. Two places where a cell is sandwiched between identical numbers (algorithm Pairs 0) are quickly spotted and circled. The circled 7 means that another 7 in the same column can be shaded (algorithm Shade Matches) and then surrounded by circled cells (algorithm Encircle Shaded). This leads to another shading. And so she proceeds, occasionally clicking on the thumb to check for mistakes. Later she deliberately tries to make mistakes to demonstrate the error handling, eventually succeeding. Towards the end, to shorten the video, she simply uses the hint button to fill in the cells. This puzzle requires a very limited set of solving techniques but notice the Linkage 0 and Linkage 1 algorithms which become useful towards the end when the grid has filled out.

Jigsaw Worked Example

A video from jigsaw showing two puzzles being completed. The first an image file and the second a built in pattern. First the board is set to the desired image size, and then the file is read in and automatically scaled to fit the board. Next the board is enlarged to make space for the jigsaw pieces. Then the pieces are created and scattered about the board. Finally the puzzle is solved using the mouse. The same steps are used for the pattern. To save time for the demonstation the puzzles have been broken into the minimum number of pieces.

Jigsawsudoku Worked Example

The player uses the green box at the top to enter a new puzzle number and the puzzle is displayed. She then uses the menu to set the hint mode to "most effective". The player then right clicks on the hint button and the program applies the Exclusion Rule exhaustively and so clears many candidates. As this is just for demonstration purposes she then completes the puzzle using only the hint option: left-clicking to select and then apply each hint, but right-clicking whenever an answer is set.

Kakuro Worked Example

A video from kakuro. To get started the player is looking for rows or columns which have few choices of candidates. Experienced players will know these by heart, but for the beginner each sum has a pop-up showing the possibilities. She finds that the sum 11 only has one combination of digits and so she deletes the others using right clicks. Then she checks for mistakes by clicking on the thumb. Deleting all those candidates is rather tedious so she resorts to using the hint button which will apply the equivalent algorithm first. She gets a bit carried away with using the hint button but eventually starts to think for herself and sets some answers in the bottom left hand corner. Finally she hits the show solution button to finish the game.

Knotty Worked Example

The player selects the next puzzle using a right mouse click. She sees that "YES" is the solution for the top right and sets the letters with middle mouse clicks. An "I" is filled in automatically and "SINEW" is the only possibility down the right edge. "Y" cannot be followed by "T". The 3-letter word across near the bottom right could be "THE" or "TOE" but the crossing word down cannot end "H" so it is deleted. And so it goes.

Marupeke Worked Example

A slow and steady solution with occasionaly checks using the Thumb button.

Masyu Worked Example

A video from masyu showing a puzzle being solved. The player makes good progress but also uses the hint button frequently. At one point several mistakes are made and the player removes the incorrect edges with right mouse clicks. The thumb button is clicked periodically to check for mistakes. Eventually the puzzle is completed and the clock flashes.

Minesweeper Worked Example

A video from minesweeper. The game is started by clicking anywhere in the grid. Minesweeper is all about speed. So we got a pensioner to make the demo. Though slow, she does well: right click to place a flag, left click to reveal a cell. Occasionally she clicks the thumb to check that all the flags are correct. After a while she demonstrates the hint button which marks a cell which can be deduced given the current state of the board, but she clicks again so that the program fills in the answer. A bit later she "demonstrates" what happens if you reveal a mine.

Moonlight Worked Example

A video from moonlight showing the solving of a simple puzzle. The player starts by using the puzzle number box to enter a new puzzle number. She quickly sets the no-choice star on the bottom row and the almost no choice on the row above and recognises that the cloud for the righthand column cannot be between the star and the moon at the top. Next, there cannot be cloud between the star in the right column and the moon to its left. Then she deletes a cloud_open next to a lit side of a moon and star_open which can only be blocked, a cloud_open next to a lit side, a star_open next to an unlit side, and so on. Notice the automatic setting of consequences where appropriate. In the end the puzzle is finished and the clock flashes, then stops.

Numberlink Worked Example

A video from numberlink showing a puzzle being solved. After a good start the player makes a couple of errors which are highlighted when she clicks on the thumb icon. These are removed by right clicks. From then on the player make frequent use of the thumb icon to check if she has made an error. The hint button is also used several times.

Nurikabe Worked Example

A video from nurikabe showing a puzzle being solved. Whites from different clues cannot touch which means that completed whites must be surrounded by blacks and that clues touching diagonally must have black cells on the opposing diagonal. The player quickly deals with the initial cases of these two simple consequences: left-click for white, right-click for black. Next, if a white can only extend one way that must be the way, so the 6 in the top left is extended. But then the adjacent black will be isolated if it is not extended too. Then the player sees the potential formation of a block of 4 black cells which can only be prevented by extending the nearby 3. Shortly after the player clicks the thumb to check that she has not made any mistakes. Potentially isolated blacks are extended, then whites. She then pauses and notices two easy blacks that could have been set at the start, and this opens up a new area. Another block of 4 blacks is prevented at the bottom of the grid. The thumb is clicked; the 5 extended. A bit later she cannot see how to proceed and so clicks on the wand which results in a hint 14 being displayed: another potential block of 4 blacks. A further click on the wand and the white cell is added. This has to form part of the white of size 6. Then she notices that however the 5 in the top row is completed it must use the cell in the next row so she sets it white. A few more moves and she is done.

Othello Worked Example

A video from othello. The player uses the menu to set the game type to "Human v Machine", chooses to play White and sets the White algorithm to ab-weighted-diff and depth to 5, and then checks that the Machine algorithm is Random. Then she clicks the button to start the game and the clock shows 30.00. The machine is playing Black and so has first turn. Notice that the square the machine has chosen is highlighted briefly (Move Pause seconds) before the move is made and the disks flipped. Then it is the player's turn and the clock starts counting down. Notice that only the squares with legal moves are highlighted. The player makes her move and the clock pauses. Play continues until she decides to use the hint button. She accepts the hint by clicking again on the hint button. The machine moves and she uses the hint button again, but this time decides to ignore it and make her own choice. Play continues and she sees an opportunity to occupy a corner square (occupying corners and edges is about the extent of her tactical knowledge). Eventually, with a little more help from the hint button (using ab-weighted-diff, with depth 5) she wins 53 - 11.

Ripple Worked Example

A video from ripple showing a puzzle being solved. The player selects puzzle number 689 and immediately applies a right-click to the hint button (wand) to remove all the trivial candidates. She makes good progress removing candidates and setting answers, but later starts to use the hint button. She deliberately makes mistakes to illustrate how errors are displayed and dealt with.

Scrabbler Worked Example

A video from scrabbler. The player starts the game and is allotted her letters. She sees the clock is ticking so it is her turn to go. She enters "PINE" into the white box, types "Enter" and the colour stays white so she knows it is an acceptable word. She positions the cursor above the central square and right clicks. The words is placed and she quickly stops her clock by clicking on the clock icon. The program instantly places a word from the official scrabble dictionary (which only experts will recognise!), and it is the players turn again. She enter "LION". A bit later she decides she does not like her current letters and so for her turn clicks on the arrows denoting swap and enter "IIU". The program swaps them and she clicks the clock icon. After a few more turns she clicks on the sad smiley, signalling the program to take over her moves in addition to its own. It instantly finishes the game and displays the finished board.

Shakashaka Worked Example

A video from shakashaka. The player starts by using the puzzle number box to enter a new puzzle number. An experienced player, she quickly fills in triangles and empty cells around the edge, and those next to the diagonal 3 and 4 clues. Next she matches the side of an emerging rectangle before asking for a hint. This is rather obvious, but does enable her to make further progress. Notice her occasional use of the thumb button to check for mistakes. Eventually this reveals she has placed two incorrect triangles which she clears with a further click on the thumb. Another error is found later when she requests a hint, but as the boxes appear she can make progress by matching sides, so finally she adds the last triangle and the clock flashes to signal the end of the game.

Shikaku Worked Example

A video from Shikaku showing the easiest 10x10 puzzle being solved with the grey scale shading switched on. The player selects puzzle number 300 and spots immediately that the 2 clue in the top right is the only one which can reach the corner cell and that a 6 clue can only have a single rectangle. Notice the operations required. Later the player fills in a complete solution for an 8 clue and then uses the thumb icon to check if it is correct. It isn't, and the program colours two incorrect cells black. A further click on the thumb corrects the errors. Further on the player uses the hint button to request a clue. Note throughout how the shading changes as the number of possible solutions diminishes.

Skyscrapers Worked Example

A video from skyscrapers showing a slow solution to a 4 x 4 puzzle, with a bit of finger trouble towards the end: it's important to use the correct mouse button! The puzzle is selected by entering its number into the box and typing "Enter". The player immediately sees that the strip with clue 1 must have a 4 in the first position to block the rest of the strip. She then deletes the other 4s in the two strips. The strips with clue 3 cannot have the two highest values in the first position, so they get deleted next. The player clicks on the thumb icon to check that no errors have been made so far, and then has a long think. At last there is some action when it becomes obvious that the third position in a strip must contain a 4. Then the finger trouble starts. I'm sure the player meant to set the solution as 3, but by clicking the wrong mouse button she deletes the 3 and is so shocked when her error check brings up a red, that she forgets what she was thinking. To recover her wits she uses the hint button and eventually gets a 3 in the first position. A bit later we see a hidden single used to set a 4 in a clueless strip. Later still there's a long pointless pause follwed by more finger trouble. Where do we find these people! At least she demonstrates how deleted candidates can be resurrected; and we should be grateful it was only 4 x 4.

Sokoban Worked Example

A video from sokoban. The user chooses puzzle 0. She then places the cursor where she wants the man to move to and clicks. The man finds his way there and she clicks the arrow key to move the man and he shoves the case one square. She continues to do this until the case is in the designated position. Next she selects another puzzle and clicks on the lefthand "Show solution". This solution is built into the program for all its 600 standard puzzles. The program shows an animation of the built in solution. The other "Show solution" button is for the solutions found by the player:once they have solved a puzzle the program remembers their best solution and will replay it when this button is clicked.

Sudoku Worked Example

A video from sudoku. The puzzle is selected by entering its number into the box and typing "Enter". The player then right clicks on the hint button and the program applies the Exclusion Rule exhaustively and so clears many candidates. She then spots a series of Hidden Single cases, each time checking using the thumb and applying the Exclusion Rule exhaustively by right clicking on the hint button. Eventually she demonstrates the use of the hint button a number of times before clicking the sad smiley to show the complete solution.

Suguru Worked Example

A video from suguru showing a puzzle being solved. The player selects puzzle number 801 and immediately applies a right-click to the hint button (wand) to remove all the trivial candidates. She makes good progress removing candidates and setting answers, occasionally clicking on the thumb to check that no errors have been made. At one point a hint is requested and prior to a Hidden Single hint being displayed some cells are filled in automatically.

Sumpuzzle Worked Example

A video from sumpuzzle. The player clicks the calculator icon to generate a new puzzle. She then left clicks on the wand at the end of the bottom row which causes a popup to display the possible combinations of digits which would satisfy the corresponding sum. For example the left hand digit is one of 2, 4, 5, 6, 8. She then right clicks on the same wand and the program deletes all the impossible candidates for the cells in that row. She repeats this process for all the rows. When she does the same for the columns several answers get filled in because they are the only remaining candidates. Finally she starts to think for herself and completes the puzzle by a series of left and right clicks, occasionally checking for errors by clicking on the thumb icon.

Targets Worked Example

A video from Targets. Notice that throughout the game the player occasionally clicks on the thumb icon to check that she has not made any mistakes, First the player uses the Entry box to select a particular puzzle number. Then she sees that a magenta cell touches all the cells in the lime green polyomino. If this magenta cell was a Target the lime green polyomino could not have a non-touching Target. So the magenta cell cannot be a Target. (Algorithm_8). Likewise one of the lime green cells. Next she spots that the lime green and magenta cells occupy only two vertical strips. They must, therefore, provide the Targets for both of those columns and hence all the other polyominoes in those strips can be ruled out. (Algorithm_7). Next she sees the same thing for the blue and yellow polyominoes, meaning that the green polyomino at the bottom cannot have a Target in their two columns; so she sets its last remaining cell to a Target. Notice that the corresponding row and column are automatically filled with dashes, as is the rest of the green polyomino. She then switches off these two auto fill options using the menu. The Target for the bottom row can only be in the corner and she sets that. The lime green polyomino only has cells in one row, so must provide its Target, so she can put Dashes elsewhere in that row.

The tremendous strain of performing for a worldwide audience suddenly becomes overwhelming, and in a panic, she makes some mistakes which are revealed by use of the thumb button. A second click on this button removes the errors and she is able to quickly fill in the rest and so end her ordeal.

Tetrofit Worked Example

The worked example shows a player solving two puzzles. Notice how the tetrominoes snap into position in the target grid. First the player clicks through several of the built-in puzzles by right-clicking on the diamond shaped icon in the Toolbar, and then she settles on puzzle number 22. She could have selected it directly by entering its number into the Entry Box. The player picks up the Z tetromino (being the most awkward to fit). She holds it in several positions and orientations (right click for each 90 degree rotation) while trying to imagine the possible outcomes from each choice. By the time three tetrominoes are tentatively positioned it looks like she might have painted herself into a corner, but then she sees how to continue. And it is done, and the clock flashes its applause. Next she enters an external puzzle by typing the symbols for the tetrominoes into the Entry Box. This puzzle is finished quite quickly.

Wordladder Worked Example

A video to demonstrate wordladder options. The game starts with an empty ladder. The player clicks on the icon for starting a new game and fills in the missing words. Notice that words can be added to any rung touching a filled rung. The player starts a new game, doesn't like the start word, so clicks again. When happy with the start word, she clicks in the top box until she gets an end word she likes. She tries to enter a word, which though correct, is not accepted because neither adjacent rung is filled. She then enters a word which does not differ from the word above by only one letter, so it too is rejected. She then completes the puzzle. The player then changes the word length and completes another puzzle. She then types "APE" into the top box and hits "Enter" and the program finds another ladder. She types "MAN" into the bottom box and hits "Enter". She clicks on the sad smiley and the program displays the path. She then types "Enter" with the cursor in the top box and the program finds another path. She changes the end word to "COW" and asks for the solution. She types "PIG" into the bottom box then clicks on the "+" symbol to the right of the top word to get a list of all possible next words. She completes the puzzle and starts another. She types "PIG" into the bottom rung and the program finds the path only requires 4 rungs and moves "PIG" up two rungs. She shows the solution.

Wordwheel Worked Example

A video to demonstrate wordwheel options. At the start shading is switched off. The player uses the menu to switch shading on and a new puzzle is selected by entering its number into the box and typing "Enter". Then the player repeatedly types "Enter" while the cursor remains in the box. Notice that though the puzzle number is unchanged the letters in the wheel are scrambled each time so that they are rearranged on the wheel, and when the central letter changes the number of words to be found (shown to the right of the puzzle number box) changes accordingly. Next the player positions the cursor on the centre of the wheel and repeatedly middle-clicks the mouse. Each click scrambles the letter around the wheel, leaving the central letter unchanged. This does not change the number of words to find but by reordering the letters can enable players to see new words to enter.

The player then uses the hint button to help guess the nine-letter word. Each click on the button will position a randomly chosen letter of the word on the board. After a few hints the player gets the word and, putting the cursor in the white box, types the word on the keyboard. It is correct and the program copies it to the listing area and fills in the letters in the hint panel. The player then types a few more words, at one point forgetting that valid words must include the letter at the centre of the wheel. She then enters words by clicking on the wheel. Finally she hits the "Show solution" button and the program puts the remaining words in the listing area along with a summary of the player's performance.

Wordy Worked Example

A video to demonstrate wordy options. The player selects "Absurdle" and sets the word length to 4, then plays the game using mostly the keyboard but also the onscreen display. Having used the same word order before she rapidly forces a result.