Inside Social Games

Challenge Sudoku from Zynga is an aptly named puzzle game that seeks to take the mind-bending numbers game and make it even more stressful by introducing a time element. I’ll bill the developers for my coffee intake.

Sudoku, if you’ve been living under a rock the last five years, is a numbers puzzle that has you fill in digits 1-9 in a grid pattern so that you don’t repeat a number in any rows. It’s harder than it looks, and I’m not giving it a proper explanation, but it’s hard. OK?

The “challenge” aspect of the game is that you can compete against up to four of your friends on Facebook. Since it’s timed, you don’t actually have to play at the same time. Wrong answers deduct points, right answers add them. Like Scrabulous (ahem, Scrabble), you can play multiple games with your friends at once (since most matches consist of three rounds, you can play different rounds for each match at your leisure).

The problem with the social aspect, and challenging your friends, is getting your friends to actually play with you. While Scrabble is easy for most, the barrier to entry with Sudoku is a little higher. The developers seem eager to want feedback and create a new viral game, but right now this isn’t quite there. Adding chat, message boards, and the ability to jump in and play anybody would greatly enhance the game play.

Game play: 8

Development: 3

Predictability: 10