Sudoku University

Sudoku University

Released Oct 2026

A Sudoku trainer that shows its working. Every hint walks through the argument step by step across 25+ techniques, with SE-compatible difficulty ratings and real Snyder notation built in — a first on Steam. Thousands of hand-tested puzzles from Novice to Master.

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Released · Awaiting evaluation

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Steam $5.39 $5.99 −10%
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Media

Details

Publisher
Driftwood Forge
Achievements
48
Platform
Windows
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player

About this game

Sudoku University is a solver, trainer, and generator built around a single idea: a hint should teach you the argument, not just point at a cell.

Every hint unfolds in stages. First the premise. Then the marks it depends on. Then the region it lives in. Then the eliminations. And finally the full argument in plain English. Take a hint whenever you want, skip straight to the answer whenever you want — the engine walks the same steps whether it's helping you find a Naked Single or working through a Two-String Kite.

The full technique ladder


  • Novice — Full House, Naked Single, Hidden Single
  • Easy — Locked Candidates, Naked Pair, Hidden Pair
  • Medium — Naked and Hidden Triples & Quads, X-Wing, Simple Coloring
  • Hard — Swordfish, Jellyfish, XY-Wing, XYZ-Wing, W-Wing, Skyscraper, 2-String Kite, Empty Rectangle, Unique Rectangle Types 1 and 2, BUG+1
  • Expert — X-Chain, XY-Chain, Multi-Coloring
  • Master — puzzles that need every one of the above

Community-standard difficulty ratings


Every puzzle is rated on a scale compatible with the community-standard Sudoku Explainer (SE) scale, calibrated against a corpus of hundreds of SE-graded puzzles. A 6.5 here means what a 6.5 means everywhere else.

Puzzles are generated by our own engine — 180-degree rotationally symmetric, guaranteed uniquely solvable, and rated across a bank of thousands.

Real Snyder notation, built in — a first on Steam


Snyder is the notation serious solvers actually use on paper. Only mark a candidate when it can go in exactly two positions in its box; promote more candidates as placements narrow the grid. Every other Sudoku game on Steam ships only manual pencil marks or full auto-candidates — neither does the Snyder-specific work for you. Sudoku University is the first Steam title to build it in as a proper first-class mode, with automatic promotion and recompute hooked into every move.

Manual and Auto modes are here too, plus a manual candidate colourer and a chain-line overlay for working out X-Chains and coloring networks by hand. Compose mode lets you type in any puzzle from a book, magazine, or photo and hand it to the solver.

Made for people who actually enjoy the technique


No lives. No timers. No ads. No accounts. No telemetry. Just Sudoku, the way you'd study it.

Built by Driftwood Forge in Darwin, Australia.
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