Book Description
Su Doku For Dummies offers more puzzles than any other book available.
This pocket-sized guide to the biggest craze for Summer 2005 features:
* Easy to follow illustrated instructions
* Guidance on how to play the game and different strategies to tackle the puzzles
* 240 addictive new puzzles from basic to fiendish
This guide is perfect for newcomers to Su Doku as well as experienced Su Doku players looking to improve their game and addicts who just can't get enough new puzzles!!!
Su Doku (or Sudoku) has been dubbed the Rubik's Cube of the 21st century, it’s a cryptic and highly addictive puzzle that involves inserting numbers in a 9x9 grid and making sure that every row and every column and every 3x3 box within the bigger grid contains all the digits from one to nine.
All it takes is the ability to identify the numerals 1-9, a sense for logic, a methodical cast of mind and a large measure of application to boot. You can get better and quicker, if you put your mind to it. And there is no predicting who will excel: you can be a disaster at maths and a whiz at Su Doku!
Customer Reviews:
There's no substitute for experience!!.......2007-05-08
The explanations in the book are typical for "Dummies" books, where illustrations of methods accompany written instructions. Both are fairly easily understood even when logic, to me anyway, is a distant "second language." There are 80 "easy" puzzles that help develop skill with solving techniques; they get harder as you go along. Following these are 100 "tricky" puzzles that hone your skills to the point, theoretically, you can solve any Su Doku puzzle. To prove it, the book throws in 40 "tough" puzzles and 20 "diabolical" puzzles. I'm still working through the tricky puzzles and can't even imagine trying to solve the other two categories. Su Doku is entertaining and good exercise for the mind, especially as we grow older. "Dummies" is a good teacher and guide.
Lots of practice puzzles not much instruction.......2007-01-15
I thought this book would provide more tactics on solving but it really has lots of practice puzzles at 3 levels -- from easy to difficult.
Some serious flaws for a Sudoku Book (for Dummies).......2006-11-25
Allow me to explain how messed up are the levels of difficulty of the puzzles in this book.
There are computer programs that let you enter any Sudoku puzzle and then can tell you how hard the puzzle is by classifying it into certain levels of difficulty. A friend of mine who is very good at Sudoku got one such software, and that one uses the following difficulty levels: 1) Very Easy, 2) Easy, 3) Medium, and 4) Hard. There is a separate special level of difficulty called "Very Hard - Unfair", but that's reserved for Sudoku puzzles that require guessing / trial and error.
Sudoku puzzle number 3 in this book, supposedly an "entry level" puzzle according to the book, is ranked as "Medium" by the software mentioned above. Who considers a level of difficulty 3 out of 4 an "entry level"? And I do think these kinds of software have extremely powerful solving engines, making them capable of accurate assessments on the levels of difficulty of any puzzle.
This messed up level of difficulty in such an early exercise can be extremely discouraging for newbies, and on the other hand, in my opinion it is a sympton of little care and very poor editing when putting this book together.
Page 35 of the book (Spanish version) talks about one of the alleged "Beyond the obvious" strategies, a so called "Rule of the three numbers in three cells", or in more standardized terminology found online, the "Hidden Triples" strategy. In my opinion the strategy is very poorly exemplified and explained in the book. Any webpage describing it is much more enlightening and clear. And there are numerous other strategies very carefully explained in several online sources, which are not even mentioned in this book (not even in the Sudoku for Dummies vol 2).
The book has no alphabetical index at the end by the way, so you can't search for strategy names directly, or for key words, and there is a good reason for that: the book has really very little textual information. An alphabetical index would be ridiculous with so few entries. There is only a few pages of text at the beginning, 37 out of 342 pages, Spanish version again. Those text pages basically describe the only rule of Sudoku with some diagrams, and them attempt to explain very few basic solving strategies plus the poorly explained hidden triples. From the 37 first pages remove the first 12 which are mostly contents, intro, etc. So basically, 25 pages of text, in a small format book (7x5 inches). The bulk of the book is just exercises, and their solutions.
This book in general does not match the typical comprehensiveness I've seen in many For Dummies books.
What other reviewer indicates is also true, the paper this book was made of is pretty bad, doesn't stand erasing too well.
Conclusion: NOT recommended. Try other Sudoku books with less faults. And in any case, check the numerous Sudoku resources and compilations of strategies available for free online. This book in my opinion is not worth it. I really regret having purchased it.
Easy puzzles way too difficult.......2006-10-30
I read the full introduction, being new to sudoku. Thought I would have the tools from reading to certainly do the easy puzzles in this book, but found them way too brain-twisting. The puzzles were not a good followup teaching tool as way too difficult. I couldn't believe those puzzles were marked EASY even after reading a lot of these materials.
So I would have to rate this as not a good sudoku book for anyone but more advanced. Just my humble opinion.
Too Difficult For Beginners.......2006-06-24
I still have not solved the first easy puzzle. I plan to burn this book in my backyard with an elaborate ceremony. The very first easy puzzle requires the most advanced techniques to solve. I have not even looked at the others. Give me a few Walmart specials to start with, just to see if I like the hobby to begin with!!!!!
Book Description
Have you worn out all of your pencils mastering ever-changing Sudoku puzzles? Have you stepped up your game to the next level and now seek something a little more demanding? Do you crave the challenge of more cunning, deadly Sudoku?
Extreme Sudoku For Dummies features 236 beyond diabolical puzzles to challenge even the most skilled expert—perfect for anyone who wants to be a true Sudoku master. In this book you will not only discover some amazingly tricky Sudoku puzzles, but also face new challenges in the form of Killer Sudoku, Irregular Sudoku, and other recently developed variations. And you won't need to rely on guesswork—you'll find an easy-to-understand, logical approach that will help you tackle even the most difficult puzzles in the book. Extreme Sudoku For Dummies offers:
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An overview of Sudoku basics
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Variations such as 9 x 9, 12 x 12, 16 x 16, jigsaw, circular, and killer puzzles
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Useful strategies to filter out candidates and solve puzzles, one step at a time
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The lowdown on advanced strategies such as Naked Pairs, Naked Triplets, Hidden Pairs, X-Wing, Y-Wing, and other techniques
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Time completion estimates so that you can use the clock to measure your progress and ability
Along with a wealth of puzzles that will test every Sudoku player's skill, Extreme Sudoku For Dummies provides the tips, tricks, advice, and strategies to help you become a true master of the game.
Book Description
Looking for a new challenge now that you’ve mastered sudoku? Kakuro might be just what you need, and Kakuro For Dummies is a great place to start!
A kakuro puzzle is a grid consisting of interlocking horizontal rows and vertical columns of squares, called blocks. You fill in the empty squares with numbers that match the clues and work both horizontally and vertically. Sound simple? Guess again! Kakuro uses the logic of sudoku plus some basic math skills. But relax—Kakuro For Dummies explains the clues, combinations, fixed values, and candidates—all the pieces of the puzzle.
Like its sudoku counterpart, Kakuro For Dummies includes 240 puzzles from breezy easy to diabolically difficult. It demystifies the process, walking you through completing your first puzzle with illustrations and explanations that show the logic involved. You’ll get your feet wet with more than 100 easy puzzles, sharpen your skills on120 in the medium –to-difficult range, and if you’re brave enough, go head-to-head with nine devilish ones that’ll keep you awake nights.
In no time, you’ll find yourself as addicted to kakuro as you are—or were—to sudoku, and having twice as much fun! You do the math.
Customer Reviews:
Too difficult "easy" level puzzles!.......2006-12-28
I bought this book for my dad since he enjoys sudoku so much and I thought he would like it. However, we (together) were unable to work through several of the easiest puzzles in the book. This would be a great book for someone really up for a kakuro challenge but AWFUL for a beginner. I can work really difficult puzzles from other sources and, no lie, I could not work through several of the easy puzzles. It will turn any beginner off to kakuro. This is certainly no book for dummies. It should be titled: "Kakuro for Geniuses"
Maybe because I started with this book.......2006-05-27
Like many other people I came to Kakuro after learning suduko. This dummies book was the first Kakuro book I used. I found this book just fine. I am still a newbie to the puzzle but I don't find these puzzles anymore difficult then ones in other magazines or books. I also have a perodical type Kakuro book from Dell that has similarly difficult easy puzzles. The only reason why I didn't give this book 5 stars is that the Dell puzzle book has included number combinations so you don't have to guess from scratch how many different number combinations for 23 can fit in a seven box space. All in all not a bad book to start with and like any of the dummies books it only provides one way of doing things and there are many different ways out there.
ditto, ditto, ditto.......2006-04-18
This should be titled, "Kakuro to make you feel like a dummy!" The "easy" ones are harder than the "Beware! Very Challenging" puzzles in the Will Shortz book. The puzzles are so small that I had to rip out the pages and enlarge them on a copier so I had room to work and didn't go blind. Almost any other book has to be better than this one.
amen to previous review--too difficult!.......2006-04-04
I thought the "dummies" title was just marketing, but this book is out to make the customer feel like one. I've been on a kakuro binge lately, and have enjoyed doing the moderately hard level puzzles in other books, but in this one, I couldn't even do the easiest level.
Bad mismatch between introduction and puzzles.......2006-03-18
This is a straightforward book: a short chapter on how to play Kakuro, and 240 puzzles to solve. The introduction gives a nice overview of how Kakuro works, and the basic steps to take in solving a puzzle.
Unfortunately, there is a large disparity between the skills the intro gives you, and the skills needed to complete the puzzles that make up the rest of the book. This gap is about the size of the Grand Canyon - I have attempted dozens of the "easy" puzzles in /Kakuro For Dummies/, and I have only solved 4. Only 2 of those were without looking in the solutions to find out where I had messed up part-way.
I'm fairly certain I am not a moron - I can solve many Kakuro puzzles from other sources. I'm not great at it, but I can do it. As a "For Dummies" book, I find this one very disappointing. All it will do is discourage you from a very enjoyable puzzle game.
I really, really wanted to give this book a favorable review, but I just cannot. Even the easiest puzzles early in the book can be downright perplexing, and some of them are simply unsolvable given the very basic guide at the start. To put it simply, you *cannot* solve the majority of the puzzles in this book using *only* this book.
Note to the "Dummies" publishers for a future revision:
* Include much easier puzzles to start! The majority of the so-called "easy" puzzles are impossible to solve with the meager understanding this book offers.
* Add a section with more advanced techniques for solving larger, harder puzzles.
Bottom line: If you already know how to do Kakuro and want a huge selection of challenging puzzles, buy this book. If you are just starting out, look elsewhere unless you are looking for massive frustration.
Book Description
Sudoku For Dummies, Volume 2 will offer 240 original and addictive puzzles including
new circular and 16 x 16 puzzles to add new dimensions to game play and keep the most avid Sudoku fan entertained. Of the 240 puzzles, 220 are the popular 9x9 puzzles, 10 are 16 x 16, and 10 are circular puzzles. Within each of these categories there are Easy, Tricky, Tough and Diabolical puzzle ratings; and each puzzle is clearly identified with the rating.
More than just a listing of puzzles, Sudoku For Dummies, Volume 2 features a chapter explaining
how to solve puzzles and the strategies involved. Additionally, readers receive all puzzle solutions in the back of the book. Finally, Sudoku For Dummies, Volume 2 includes a brief history of Sudoku (or Su Doku) for those interested. Descriptions of the newer types of puzzles are listed below.
Circular Sudoku (10 included: 3 Easy, 3 Tricky, 2 Tough, and 2 Diabolical)
The rules are similar to the normal 9x9 Sudoku but with some important differences. The puzzle is circular for a start, with 8 concentric rings. Each ring must contain the numbers 1-8 and each segment running into the centre of the circle and through to the opposite side of the circle must contain the numbers 1 - 8 and or course there can be no duplicate numbers.
16 x 16 Sudoku (10 included: 3
Easy, 3 Tricky, 2 Tough, and 2 Diabolical)
The grid is larger at 16 x 16 and solvers must fit the letters A-F into the grid alongside the numbers 0-9. 16 x 16 Sudoku are more difficult, take more time and are more infuriating than the normal puzzles - but just as addictive!
Book Description
Sudoku For Dummies Volume 3 will offer 240 original and addictive puzzles including
new circular and 16 x 16 puzzles to add new dimensions to game play and keep the most avid Sudoku fan entertained. Of the 240 puzzles, 220 are the popular 9x9 puzzles, 10 are 16 x 16, and 10 are circular puzzles. Within each of these categories there are Easy, Tricky, Tough and Diabolical puzzle ratings; and each puzzle is clearly identified with the rating.
More than just a listing of puzzles, Sudoku For Dummies, Volume 3 features a chapter explaining
how to solve puzzles and the strategies involved. Additionally, readers receive all puzzle solutions in the back of the book. Finally, Sudoku For Dummies, Volume 3 includes a brief history of Sudoku (or Su Doku) for those interested. Descriptions of the puzzles are listed below.
Circular Sudoku (10 included: 3 Easy, 3 Tricky, 2 Tough, and 2 Diabolical)
The rules are similar to the normal 9x9 Sudoku but with some important differences. The puzzle is circular for a start, with 8 concentric rings. Each ring must contain the numbers 1-8 and each segment running into the centre of the circle and through to the opposite side of the circle must contain the numbers 1 - 8 and or course there can be no duplicate numbers!
16 x 16 Sudoku (10 included: 3
Easy, 3 Tricky, 2 Tough, and 2 Diabolical)
The grid is larger at 16 x 16 and solvers must fit the letters A-F into the grid alongside the numbers 0-9. 16 x 16 Sudoku are more difficult, take more time and are more infuriating than the normal puzzles - but just as addictive!
Customer Reviews:
good collection.......2006-06-01
The reason I chose this book over others, is for its variations of sudoku. I was originally introduced to sudoku years ago, in the book "MENSA Math & Logic Puzzles" by Dave Tuller and Michael Rios. Since this was published before sudoku became so popular, it is called by the name "Number Place". In addition to the standard sudoku, the MENSA book has great variations--not all sections are 3x3, but rather irregularly shaped (some like puzzle pieces, but still 9x9 grid). After enjoying those, when sudoku exploded, I got bored with the standard 9x9 grid really fast, so it was great to see a book (this one) with a variation on the original. Here is a warning, though: the 16x16 games take FOREVER and require a lot of patience to do it methodically. (The 9x9 grids have 81 squares, the 16x16 have 256--more than 3x as many squares.)
Sudoku Addict!.......2006-03-24
Well ever since June when I was in a cast and stuck on the couch for a few months I have become an absolute addict to sudoku. The first series of the For Dummies books was the first one I got and so far they have all been consistently great. It is a nice mix of different levels of puzzles. Get all 3!
Mostly Puzzles.......2006-02-21
This is a very very basic beginners book. 28 pages of "how to"
300+ pages of puzzles
Book Description
Featuring easy to follow instructions to help you master Sudoku strategy
Stretch your mind with a range of puzzles, from easy to diabolically difficult!
Complete with puzzle-solving strategies plus OVER 600 PUZZLES, The Big Book of Sudoku For Dummies is the ultimate book for the puzzle fanatic. Whether you're new to Sudoku or a daily puzzle solver, this big book will give you what you want. With over 600 puzzles ranging from the encouragingly easy to the baffling and bewildering, this big book will get newcomers hooked and keep experts entertained.
Discover how to
- Solve the popular 9 x 9 puzzles - 576 included
- Work through the 16 X 16 puzzles - 20 included
- Master the Circular puzzle - 20 included
- Solve puzzles at 4 difficulty levels: Easy, Tricky, Tough, and Diabolical!
Customer Reviews:
Easy is tough, tough is easy.......2007-06-17
The Big Book of Sudoku for Dummies rates its puzzles as Easy, Tricky, Tough, and Diabolical. With enough patience, any sudoku puzzle, even one with only one initial number, can be solved. The Diabolical puzzles in this book, and in Heron's earlier collaboration with Edmund James ("Sudoku for Dummies") are in this category: they are truly (and trivially) diabolical. But whereas in the earlier Dummies book the Easy puzzles were mostly Easy, the Tricky were mostly Tricky, and the Tough were mostly Tough, in this volume, as the previous reviewer notes, these categorical assignments appear to have been made randomly.
As Wikipedia notes, sudokus of different difficulty "satisfy different psychological needs." Don't expect this book to satisfy your psychological needs. When you sit down with a puzzle from this book, you never know if it will take ten minutes or hours.
Big Disappointment.......2006-09-23
I have had reasonably good luck over the years with Dummies books, but this one, as I say, is a big disappointment. The instructions are minimal, and then the author leaves you to more or less "sink or swim" with his array of 600 puzzles. Even the easy ones are quite challenging, especially for a beginner such as myself. If you are new to Sudoku, or if you have gotten into it a bit but are still working to become reasonably competent, I definitely would not recommend this book. Look somewhere else for the guidance you need.
Book Description
Sudoku puzzles have become a worldwide mania for adults, and now the craze is catching on with children, too. The puzzles are a perfect way for kids to develop their logic skills while still having fun. Psychologists have even found that an obsessive game such as Sudoku teaches children how to deal and live with stress.
Kids' Sudoku For Dummies features 200 puzzles for kids as young as 7 or 8 years old, ranging in difficulty from beginner to tricky mind bogglers to diabolical. It provides kid-level, step-by-step instructions on how to play the game and includes easy-to-understand ratings of all puzzles to denote the level of difficulty. The book features:
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Basic sudoku rules explained with graphics and kid-level language
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4 x 4, 6 x 6, and 9 x 9 puzzles of varying difficulty—with no math required
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Simple symbols and letters to help engage kids to play
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Kid-friendly tips and strategies for solving sudoku faster
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Pencil graphics that show kids how easy or difficult each puzzle will be
All over the world, adults and children alike are testing their powers of concentration and their skills in this wildly popular game. Kids' Sudoku For Dummies will get your children involved with this excellent tool for building kids' critical thinking skills—while having lots of fun.
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended.......2007-08-17
This is a great book on Sudoku for kids. The book includes 200 puzzles. The puzzles are of various sizes: 4x4, 6x6, and 9x9. The solutions are at the end of the book. There are five levels of difficulty for the puzzles.
The first 19 pages in this book are dedicated for strategy, hints, rules, or tips. All the puzzles in the book are Classic Sudoku (with numbers). There are no Alphabet Sudoku (with letters) or Symbol Sudoku (with shapes and symbols) like the two books "Kindergarten Sudoku" and "Super Sudoku for Kids".
Average customer rating:
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Sudoku Para Dummies/sodoku for Dummies (Para Dummies)
Andrew Heron
Manufacturer: Grupo Editorial Norma
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ASIN: 9580491291 |
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Extreme Sudoku for Dummies (For Dummies)
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
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ASIN: 0470224045 |
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Noch Mehr Sudoku Fur Dummies
A. Heron , and
Edmund James
Manufacturer: Wiley-VCH
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ASIN: 3527702512 |
Books:
- Sudoku Easy to Hard Presented by Will Shortz, Volume 3: 100 Wordless Crossword Puzzles (Sudoku Easy to Hard)
- Suikoden? IV Official Strategy Guide
- The Big Book of Wordoku Puzzles: Sudoku for Word Lovers (Wordoku)
- The Big Book of Wordoku Puzzles: Sudoku for Word Lovers (Wordoku)
- The Book of Five Rings
- The Mammoth Book of Sudoku: 400 New Puzzles - The Biggest and Best Collection of Sudoku Ever
- The Midnight Club
- The Official Book of Sudoku: Book 2 (Official Book of Sudoku)
- The Original Sudoku Book 2
- The Plane Truth for Golfers
Books Index
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Sudoku Easy Presented by Will Shortz Volume 1: 100 Wordless Crossword Puzzles
Master Sudoku: Step-by-Step Instructions for Players at All Levels
How to Solve Sudoku: A Step-by-Step Guide (52 Brilliant Ideas)
Sudoku Easy to Hard Presented by Will Shortz, Volume 3: 100 Wordless Crossword Puzzles (Sudoku Easy to Hard)
The Book of Sudoku: The Hot New Puzzle Craze (Book of Sudoku)
