Numzzle Update Log
1. Falling into Killer Sudoku
I visited a friend’s place and spotted a Sudoku book she was working on. “I’m pretty good at this — can I try one?” I went straight for the last page, thinking it looked the most challenging, but got stuck halfway through. There was no eraser or pencil at her place, so I ended up tearing out the page and taking it home.It was so much fun after such a long break that I downloaded a Sudoku app. I was solving the hardest difficulty and landing in the top 99% every time. Eventually I remembered why I had quit — there was nothing left to learn.
So I bragged to Claude about hitting the top 99% in Sudoku, and Claude introduced me to Killer Sudoku. Unlike regular Sudoku, Killer Sudoku adds calculation, so my first puzzle took a whopping 40 minutes and I ranked in the top 30%. I asked Claude for tips on how to tackle it. Following Claude’s advice and practicing hard, my mental arithmetic got faster, I got my time down to about 10 minutes, and climbed up to the top 60%.
And that’s how Killer Sudoku stole two days of my life. 😄
2. Let’s Spark Some Competitive Spirit in Numzzle Players
Playing Killer Sudoku gave me an idea — what if players could see their ranking and feel that competitive drive? I decided to save scores to Firebase and add a score and level display to Numzzle.I tested it with Numzzle Cho (the beginner version):
• Round 1: 100 points → Top 100%
• Round 2: 90 points → Top 50%
• Round 3: 100 points → Top 66%
But “66%” felt like scoring 66 out of 100 — misleading and a little discouraging. So I switched to a score distribution graph instead.
On Round 4, I scored 90 points and the display showed: 100pts: 50%, 90pts: 50% — much more intuitive! I added the score graph to all three versions: Numzzle, Numzzle Jam, and Numzzle Up.
3. Fixed a Bug in Numzzle Up
While testing, I spotted a calculation error in Numzzle Up. The computer was getting easy problems wrong. I mentioned it to Claude, who argued that the computer making mistakes was actually a good thing — it gives players a chance to win.I was half-convinced and let it go for a day. But something felt off, so I went back to Claude with the code.
Numzzle Up is the most advanced version, featuring π and √ cards, which makes it roughly middle school level. And yet, elementary school students boldly take it on — and beam with joy over a score of 40.
The original expression structure looked like this:
1. Single number
2. Two-digit number
3. Three-digit number
4. √ operation
5. Basic operation (2 numbers)
6. Two-digit number + operator + number
7. 3 numbers + 2 operators
8. 4 numbers + 3 operators
We added a new step in between: 6.5. Two-digit number + operator + number + operator + number. The expression combinations are now even more layered and interesting.
I lost two days to Killer Sudoku, but it turned out to be the spark that inspired the Numzzle update.
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