Super Sudoku X and Alphabet Soup

Variations of Sudoku appear weekly in newspapers across the country. The game has players looking for new challenges constantly. Two of the most popular variations to date are Super Sudoku X and Alphabet Soup.

Super Sudoku X is a common variation. In this variation it calls for additional restrictions to be placed on the placement of numbers. This is, of course, beyond the usual row, column, and region requirements.

This extra restriction takes the form of an extra "dimension" within the game. Again this is one of the ways in which player strive to create a more challenging game. In this new challenge the most common extra placement is for the numbers in the main diagonals of the grid to also be unique. This throws a monkey wrench into the traditional game by making the player rethink his position.

With the introduction of another dimension there are digits in use with the same relative location within their respective regions. Sound complicated? It is and it makes the player go around the traditional play and cut a new path in order to obtain victory. These puzzles are printed in color; however that doesn't make it any easier.

Some game creators add other restrictions that often are mathematical. For instance they can require that the numbers in delineated segments of the grid and require that they have to have specific sums or products.

Alphabetical variations make the game even more interesting. This form of the game uses letters rather than numbers. There is no huge difference in this variation of the puzzle; it is still played the same way as the regular versions of Sudoku. Like all of the variation of Sudoku players have attempted to modify it along the way. Game constructors try to create this form of the game with the formation of a word reading along a main diagonal line once the puzzle is solved. Some see figuring out the word before the puzzle is actually solved as a tip of sorts. However many gamers do not see this as a true form of the game because then the game can not solved entirely by logic, because it requires the player to determine the embedded words.
Both of these variations are newer than some of the standards. Gamers are constantly reforming this much loved game. There are currently even newer variations of these two games in the works now.