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Rebecca Tomasis

The Sudoku Junior app has been a big hit in our house. It was my six-year-old daughter's introduction to Sudoku and I am delighted at how well she has taken to it.
Sudoku Junior uses pictures to walk children through the puzzles. There is an option to play the traditional numbers version, but my girl went straight for the pictures. And there are plenty of images to choose from.
The pictures are organised into different themes, including country, festivals and animals. Since we are in the middle of the heat of summer, my daughter opted for the Halloween pictures for her first game.
The app starts with a tutorial, which walks both child and supervising parent through the game.
The tutorial is very thorough, and we skipped the last few steps because my daughter was keen to get started. There is an option to skip the tutorial.
We started on the easy level with four squares, which is for four- to 10-year-olds (she is working her way up to the moderate level).
There is an option of games for children over 10 years, so all ages and levels are catered for.
My daughter is a great fan of apps where she can raise pets in hotels, and make silly cats say silly things. But because this is a slightly more educational app, I wasn't sure how she would like it.
I was keen to steer her towards something that required a lot more thinking, and with Sudoku Junior we might just have found it.
The app is easy to use. If a picture is placed in the wrong square, it turns red and emits a soft sound. Some of the pictures, the ghost for example, have funny sound effects that appeal to little ones.
The pictures are easy to select, place, move or delete from a square. One touch does everything. This is great as it leaves little and developing minds free to get on with the game.
My daughter was able to work her way through a series of games without needing me to hold her hand throughout.
It is perfect for those times when you need some peace and quiet, but also need some reassurance that the young ones are engrossed in something more meaningful than watching cartoons or funny videos on YouTube.
The app was so easy to use that after just several turns my daughter was able to choose her own theme, set her own difficulty level and start her own games.
Each game is timed, so older children can try to complete them quicker, and challenge themselves or their friends and siblings.
This might be a little too competitive for siblings, but my daughter enjoyed trying to beat her own time each game.
We downloaded it first to my iPad, but my daughter loved it so much she soon demanded it on her own device. Without the app I might never have thought of introducing her to Sudoku until she was a little older.
Sudoku Junior has been the best introduction to the game.
Sudoku Junior is available from Apple's app store for HK$8


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