Review: Sudoku Touch-Screen Handheld Game

I purchased the Sudoku Touch-Screen Handheld Game from Target as a present for my 10 year old son and then discovered that I enjoyed playing with it myself so much that I bought one of my own. The product is an electronic version of the popular Sudoku puzzles and is small enough that it can be easily transported. It sells for $14.99 at Target.

For those of you who do not know, Sudoku is a puzzle that is played on a grid of 9x9 squares. The idea is to fill in all of the squares with numbers so that each column, row, and block of nine squares uses each number 1 through 9 only once. Some of the squares are already filled in with numbers. The difficulty level determines how many are filled in, so an easier puzzle has many squares pre-filled while a harder one has less.

Sudoku is usually played on paper. You can find books of the puzzles or do the ones in the newspaper. I am so addicted that I went through these books quite quickly. I really like the handheld game because it comes loaded with one million puzzles. That should last me awhile! A neat feature is that you can import the daily puzzles from the newspaper and internet if you ever need more.

The game as an LCD touch screen and comes with a stylus for writing numbers. The screen is backlit which makes it perfect for playing in the dark (something that's hard to do with the paper version). It has a timer so it will shut itself off if you like to play while falling asleep. Two AAA batteries power the game and they come included when you purchase it.

I like playing Sudoku on the handheld because it is easier to change my answers when I make a mistake than it is on paper. This game comes with me almost everywhere I go. It is great for times when I find myself bored when waiting in a line or for an appointment. My son and I like to bring them in the car and airplane as entertainment during long trips. I am glad that he likes to play this game because it is a little more challenging for his brain than most of the other video games out there.

I am very pleased with the way this product has held up. We have had ours for about a year and a half now and they both still work and look like new. They are also still using the same batteries that they came with which is a plus since batteries are expensive. This is a good toy to pick up if you are looking for a good way to kill time.