[app id=”614338213″]
Takuzu is an iPhone game developed by the French company RCI-JEUX. This is the company’s first game for iPad and iPhone, and it’s a solid freshman offering. If you like Sudoku, this simplified take on number-in-grid games manages to be both more straightforward and more complex than Sudoku.
The basic premise is simple: fill an empty grid with either zeroes or ones. Each column and row must contain the same amount, with no more than two consecutive numbers. You also can’t have any rows or columns that are identical. Basically, it’s like Sudoku on the binary system.
To keep things interesting, there are 5 different grid sizes. On an iPhone, the grids range from 4×4 to 8×8. If you’re playing Takuzu on an iPad, the grids run from 6×6 to 12×12.
As cool as Takuzu is, there are some issues to be aware of. One annoyance during testing was stability issues: I had the game crash on me twice. Another thing that can be tricky is the fact that levels are randomized. This keeps things fresh, but it can also mean that you get an 8×8 grid on your first go-round…which is a bit intense!
One thing that’s sort of neat about Takuzu compared to Sudoku is how much less structured it feels. With Sudoku, there’s really just one solution. In Takuzu, it seems like there could be more than one valid solution. I’m not a math genius, so I’m not totally sure about that. However, Takuzu feels a lot more open-ended than boring old Sudoku, and I like that a lot.
With 3 levels of difficulty and 50 free levels to get you started, Takuzu is great mental exercise. Levels are timed to give the game a sense of urgency, and solutions are easy to come by if you get stuck. If you liked Sudoku, give this new game a spin.
Takuzu is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 6.0 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.