Cagewise

Screenshots

App Info

Killer sudoku is a logic puzzle: fill a 9×9 grid with 1–9 as in sudoku, using the cages (groups of cells outlined with a dotted line, each with a sum) as your clues.

• Every puzzle has exactly one answer, and every puzzle can be solved step by step without guessing.
• There are no lives. A mistake never ends a puzzle, and hints and undo are unlimited. There is no time limit either.
• No sign-up, no login. The first time you open the app, a short tutorial teaches the rules on a small 6×6 board. You can end it any time with Skip.
• The game works offline. The internet is used only for the ad at the bottom, usage statistics and crash reports.
• The language follows your device. English, Korean, Japanese and Chinese (Simplified and Traditional) are supported, and you can also pick one in Settings.

1. Rules

• The board is 9×9, divided by thicker lines into nine boxes of 3×3 cells.
• Every row, column and box holds the numbers 1–9 exactly once.
• A group of cells outlined with a dotted line is a cage. The small number in the cage is its sum: the numbers in the cage must add up to it.
• A cage never holds the same number twice.
• Beginner puzzles start with a few given numbers (shown in bold; they can't be changed). From Easy on there are no given numbers, and you solve with the cage sums alone.
• When every cell matches the answer, the puzzle is solved. There is only one answer, and you never have to guess.
• There are no lives. Placing a wrong number never ends the puzzle.

What a cage shows

• The cage's sum is written in the top-left corner of the cage's topmost cell (the leftmost one if several share the top row).
• When you pick a cell, the other cells in its row, column and box light up softly, and the dotted line of its cage gets thicker and darker.
• When a cage is full and adds up, its dotted line turns solid and a check appears next to the sum. It tells you by shape as well as color.

2. Solving tips

Three ideas, which the tutorial shows on its 6×6 board. Hints name them Cage combinations, Hidden single and Rule of 45.

• A cage with one combination: some cages can reach their sum in only one way, using each number at most once. Two cells that add up to 3 can only hold 1 and 2, two cells that add up to 17 only 8 and 9, three cells that add up to 6 only 1, 2 and 3. You may not know which cell gets which number, but you know which numbers go in those cells, so write them as notes. When a cage has several combinations, a number that is in none of them can't go in the cage (two cells that add up to 6 are 1+5 or 2+4, so no 3 and no 6).
• Hidden single: if a number has only one cell left where it can go in a row, column or box, that cell is that number.
• Rule of 45: the numbers in a row, column or box add up to 1+2+…+9 = 45. If whole cages sit inside one line, subtract their sums from 45 to get the sum of the cells that are left. For example, if cages with sums 20, 13 and 8 lie entirely in a row and one cell is left, that cell is 45 − 20 − 13 − 8 = 4. The tutorial's board is 6×6, where a row adds up to 1+…+6 = 21, so it teaches the "21 rule".

Harder ideas are shown, with their reasons, by hints (chapter 4).

3. Controls

• Tap a cell to pick it, then tap a number button right below the board to place that number.
  • Tapping the same number again on a cell that already holds it erases it.
  • Given numbers can't be changed or erased.
  • Once all nine of a number are on the board, its button is dimmed.
• Number first (in Settings): pick a number first (its button turns filled), then tap cells one after another to place it. Tap the same number button again to deselect it.
• Notes: tap Notes and it turns into Notes on, and the numbers on the buttons get smaller. Now pick a cell and tap numbers to write small candidate numbers in it; tapping the same number again removes it. You can't write notes in a cell that holds a number. Tap Notes on again to turn notes off.
• Placing a number clears the notes in its own cell. With Auto-clear notes on in Settings, it is also removed from the notes of the cells in the same row, column, box and cage.

The buttons at the bottom:

The Restart (↻) button at the right of the top bar:

Next to it, the Quick settings button opens a sheet for changing sounds, vibration, effects and board options (chapter 5) without leaving the game. Tap above the sheet or drag it down to close it. Exit (the door) is at the far right; your puzzle is saved automatically when you leave.

4. Hints

The Hint button tells you what to do next in two steps. Hints are free and unlimited.

• Step 1 highlights where to look (for example 'Find a number that has only one place to go in this row.'). The tag on the bubble is Hint.
• Step 2: tap Hint once more to see the reason and what to do (for example 'This is the only cell in this row where 6 can go.'). A tag names the idea used (Last cell, Naked single, Hidden single, Cage combinations, Rule of 45, Locked candidates, Cage and unit, Pairs and triples, Rule of 45, several units, Innie-outie difference, Cage splitting, Combination fit). The cell to fill shows the number faintly, and candidates to remove are crossed out in red on the board.
• Tap Apply (or tap Hint once more) and the board changes as the hint says. A placement puts the number in; an elimination changes the notes of those cells (cells without notes get the remaining candidates).
• Elimination hints also have a To next number button. It adds all the eliminations up to the next number you can place to your notes at once, and shows that placement hint straight at step 2. One undo reverses it all.
• If a number doesn't match the answer, the hint points to that cell first (tag Fix a mistake, straight at step 2). If there are several, the earliest one placed comes first. Apply erases that cell; it doesn't put in the answer. If every cell is filled but the puzzle isn't solved, something is wrong, so tap Hint.
• With no wrong cells, the hint shows the easiest idea you can use now. Hints work from the numbers on the board only, so a hint is right even if your notes are wrong, and eliminations your notes already show are skipped.
• The number of hints you open shows in the result and in the shared text. Each time you open a hint it counts as one (going to step 2 or applying doesn't count again), and To next number counts one more. While a hint is showing, tapping a cell or number, or using Erase or Undo, closes it.

5. Assists and board options

Turn them on or off under Board & input and Assists in Settings. During a game, change them right away with Quick settings.

• Show rule conflicts (on at first): marks numbers that break a rule right away: the same number twice in a row, column, box or cage, or a cage over its sum (a cage that already reaches its sum with cells still empty counts as over). The cell turns red and the number is underlined, and for a cage whose sum is off, the sum turns red too. If a number you place breaks a rule you also get a short sound and vibration (when Sound effects and Vibration are on). It doesn't look at the answer, so a wrong number that doesn't break a rule yet isn't marked.
• Cage combination helper (on at first): when you pick a cell, the strip above the board shows that cage's sum and cell count, and every combination of numbers that makes the sum. Combinations that can't work given the numbers on the board are dimmed and struck through. Tap a combination and its numbers are added as notes to every empty cell of the picked cage (existing notes stay, and for each cell, numbers already placed in its row, column, box or cage are left out). One undo reverses it. It filters using only the numbers on the board, so it doesn't solve the puzzle for you.
• Show mistakes (off at first): marks a number that differs from the answer right away, the same way (a red cell and an underlined number).
• Auto-clear notes (on at first): placing a number removes it from the notes of the cells in the same row, column, box and cage. One undo brings it all back.
• Highlight same numbers (on at first): lights up the number in the picked cell (in Number first, the number you picked) across the board and the notes.
• Large numbers (off at first): draws the numbers on the board bigger.

6. Modes

Classic — pick a level, no timer

• On the home screen, choose a level with the tabs (1–6) at the top of the Classic card and tap Play. If you have a puzzle in progress, the button says Continue. Below the tabs you see the level's name (Beginner, Easy, Medium, Hard, Expert, Master), and Beginner is the one we suggest first.
• All levels are open from the start. The higher the level, the harder the ideas you need. The dots (●) and the name at the top of the game screen show the puzzle's level.
• Puzzles come at random from the ones you haven't solved yet.
• The board preview on the card shows only the shape of the current puzzle's cages and the cells you've filled; numbers and sums are hidden. The line below shows how many puzzles you've solved at that level and your best time.
• The time isn't shown while you play. When you solve a puzzle, the result card shows your time, your best time (with a New best stamp when you set a new one), the number of puzzles solved and the hints you used. Next puzzle takes you to the next puzzle of the same level.
• Puzzles in progress are saved automatically. Leave, or even restart the app, and you carry on where you left off on each level, undo history included. The clock doesn't run while you're away. If you leave without placing a number or note, the puzzle starts fresh next time (time and hints too).

Daily — today's puzzle

• One 9×9 puzzle each day. Easy, Medium and Hard take turns, and the number and level show at the top of the game screen (for example #12 · Hard). Everyone in the world gets the same puzzle on the same day (by your device's date). A new Daily opens at midnight on your device's clock.
• There's no time limit; the time you've spent is shown at the top. You can use hints, and the number you used is kept in the result.
• Within the day, you can leave and come back. Restart this puzzle keeps counting your time and hints. When the day changes, yesterday's unfinished puzzle disappears and the new one opens.
• Your streak grows with each day you solve the Daily and breaks if you miss a day. With no lives and unlimited hints, there is no failing.
• The Daily card on the home screen shows this week's seven days, with a check on the days you solved. Tap the card to solve today's puzzle, or to see the result if you already have.
• The result screen shows the Daily number, your time, hints, current and longest streak, and the time until the next Daily. Send your result with Share. For example:

Cagewise Daily #12 ✅ 18:41
1 hint
🔥 5-day streak

#12 is the Daily number, followed by your time (minutes:seconds). The second line shows the hints you used ('No hints' if none) and the third your streak (shown from two days on). The first line is the same in every language. Launch day is #1 and the number goes up by one each day, so the same number means the same puzzle.

7. Records

Open them with the trophy button at the top right of the home screen. It shows how many puzzles you've solved.

• At the top: Puzzles solved (Classic and Daily) in total, and the numbers for Classic and Daily
• Classic: for each level, puzzles Solved, Best time and Average time. Levels with nothing solved yet are dimmed, with '—' for the times.
• Daily: Current streak, Longest streak and Days solved. The calendar below (use the arrows on either side to change month) marks the days you solved with a check, and today has a copper ring.

8. Settings

Open them with the gear at the top right of the home screen. There are four groups. During a game, the Quick settings button changes the first three right away.

Sound & effects

Board & input

Assists

General

9. Ads and your records

• A single banner ad sits at the very bottom of the screen. During the tutorial the ad is removed and only its space is kept. The game works without the internet; the internet is used only for the ad, usage statistics and crash reports.
• There are no in-app purchases.
• Your records and settings are stored on your device. If your device's Google backup (Android automatic backup) is on, they are included in the backup, so you can carry on after switching devices. Uninstalling the app deletes the records on the device.
• For details, see the Privacy Policy.

10. Contact