How to play faster?

[wcaclimbing]

I'd like to think I'm pretty good at sudoku, but I'm losing pretty consistently to players who finish in less than half the time I do.
Do any of you have advice on how I could solve it faster? Is it down to just learning the rules better, or what?

[WaterlooMathie]

You could try thinking several steps ahead... like you would if you were to play speed chess.

You could also use the number pad on the side of your keyboard instead of the numbers that are above the letters on your keyboard. It makes entering in the numbers a lot more efficient and should make you less likely to input the wrong number by accident.

[lancehoch]

I would definitely take his advice.

My best advice would be to try not to use the pencil marks (more than one number in a cell) unless absolutely necessary. It takes a lot of time to go back and delete the extra numbers. Another strategy that I used to use, but realized was slow was looking at each number by itself. Now I go box by box or row by row and look at what is missing.

[gim_01]

My best advice would be to try not to use the pencil marks (more than one number in a cell) unless absolutely necessary

I find this 'pencil mark' technique only really usful if you have 2 cells that can only be two different numbers.

[wcaclimbing]

RIght now I'm going with checking everywhere to see if a 1 can go anywhere, then a 2, then a 3, ....
And filling in boxes and lines if they are almost full.

Its still slow, but at least I'm not coming in last every time.

How does that Waterloo guy go so fast? He can finish in under a minute and my best time is six...
His expert time is twice as good as my best Easy time...

[wacicha]

I don't know about that. I think what wc is saying is there may be some firefox apps out there . I have had a few beat me in under 2 and 3 minutes. Maybe I can see the 3 minutes but not under 2 minutes.

[wcaclimbing]

Lets say 1/2 of the squares are empty.
If we take Waterloo's best time, that means he is able to solve a box every 1.5 seconds.
I just don't understand how someone could be so amazingly fast.

[lancehoch]

Lets say 1/2 of the squares are empty.
If we take Waterloo's best time, that means he is able to solve a box every 1.5 seconds.
I just don't understand how someone could be so amazingly fast.

My guess is that he is thinking at least three squares ahead.

[imturok]

Lets say 1/2 of the squares are empty.
If we take Waterloo's best time, that means he is able to solve a box every 1.5 seconds.
I just don't understand how someone could be so amazingly fast.

It takes me more than 1.5 seconds to : point at the square, click the mouse, look for the number on the keyboard, and then click the number.

[imturok]

I'd like to think I'm pretty good at sudoku, but I'm losing pretty consistently to players who finish in less than half the time I do.
Do any of you have advice on how I could solve it faster? Is it down to just learning the rules better, or what?

Play more often, Practice makes perfect.

[imturok]

Lets say 1/2 of the squares are empty.
If we take Waterloo's best time, that means he is able to solve a box every 1.5 seconds.
I just don't understand how someone could be so amazingly fast.

Maybe he/she/it is a BOT.

[lancehoch]

Maybe he/she/it is a BOT.

No, there was a Cheating & Abuse thread created to look at this user specifically. The site owner has confirmed that the user is manually solving all of the puzzles. I have also played this user two or three times and can say that from the way the progress bar increases, it does look to be a person and not a program/bot/solver.

[gim_01]

How fast a player is at this game has alot to do with natural ability. From the age of three onwards the brain starts to develop at an extreamly fast rate. Everyones brain develops slightly diffrenetly in a way that makes them unique. This uniqeness makes everyones brain does something that is better than the avearge person (maybe people thou don't know what their natural talent is).

What you are basically experiencing in here with those really, really fast players is that their brain is naturally wired up in a way that makes that person able to sift through the information on a sudoku card and decode it quicker than the average person.

Since this is a speed game this natural ability give a much higher advantage than the average 'turn based' online game. I fell this sort of thing can cause problems somewhere down the line where many players could practise for hours and still never be as fast as those who are 'wired' for such a game.

I think some kind of handicap system to even out the scoreboard should be considered so that while the top players won't loose their position but at least they can be challenged better than they can just now.

[gauravkorde]

Guys the fastest player in classic sudoku on this planet can solve an easy one in as less as 37 seconds!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p4M9XV0lPY

These are his not-so-fast plays!!

[gauravkorde]

so he (aka jaku111) has joined this site....!! hmm