# How do you play Colombian Sudoku? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [May 26, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089 "2024-05-26T12:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/1 "2024-05-26T12:26:04Z")
@puzzlegal, or anybody who knows, how the heck do you work a Colombian Sudoku? I don’t understand the instructions. > > The dots outside the board on the right indicate how many cells in the corresponding column or row of that board contain precisely the same digit as is to be found in the same cell on the board on the left. In the linked example, the number 6 appears in the left grid 2 rows down, 2 columns across. The right grid has the number 5 in the same place. It has 3 dots above and 3 dots to the right. Does that mean there’s 3 columns and 3 rows that contain the number 6? That’s contrary to regular Sudoku rules, where every cell in 6’s row and column have to be different numbers. What does the number 5 mean, if anything? ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/2 "2024-05-26T13:46:39Z")
I haven’t played, but the left seems to be regular 1-6 sudoku and the right extra info to help you solve it. If there are two dots above a column, two of the squares in that column will match in the left and right grids exactly. If there are three dots next to a row, three of the squares will match in that row in the left and right grids exactly. And so forth ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/3 "2024-05-26T14:24:33Z")
I haven’t played, either. The “puzzle” in my name refers to mechanical puzzles, like the one in my avatar. But i agree with Folly. It’s just sudoku. But instead of using 1-9, it uses 1-6. And instead of having 3x3 boxes provide an extra constraint, it has a grid to the side that provides a constraint. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/4 "2024-05-26T15:41:31Z")
Yep, i didn’t describe that the left can’t have the 3x3 boxes constraint because that requires nine numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/5 "2024-05-26T17:55:54Z")
This month’s issue of GAMES magazine has these puzzles. I remembered that puzzlegal works/ed for them, so that’s why I pinged her. Thanks for the help! ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/6 "2024-05-26T20:31:06Z")
In terms of how to solve it, I would probably start with the rows and columns that have no dots, since you can eliminate all of those possibilities from the puzzle on the left. Then also note that the second column from the right (4,5,3,2,1,6) has three correct numbers we know that the 2 and 6 are wrong, since all of the numbers in those two rows are wrong. Also the 5 is wrong, because we can see from the number filled on of the left puzzle, there is a 6 where that should be. So we know that the 4, 3, and 1 must be right. etc. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/7 "2024-05-26T21:12:21Z")
> [@Folly](#): > > Yep, i didn’t describe that the left can’t have the 3x3 boxes constraint because that requires nine numbers. Or any perfect square. And there are 6x6 sudoku variants that have six 2x3 boxes. > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > This month’s issue of GAMES magazine has these puzzles. Wait, GAMES magazine is still publishing? I thought they went under decades ago! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2024, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/8 "2024-05-26T21:19:54Z")
Oh, right, also, [Moderating] Since this is talking about the game, not playing it here in the thread itself, this goes in the Game Room, not Thread Games. Moving. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2024, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/9 "2024-05-27T04:44:29Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > I remembered that puzzlegal works/ed for them, so that’s why I pinged her. Huh? No i don’t. I do know people who do stuff like that, but not me. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/10 "2024-05-27T13:45:05Z")
OK, somebody else on this board did, and I assumed it was you because of your username. Sawry. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-play-colombian-sudoku/1002089/11 "2024-05-27T16:29:41Z")
This was a fun puzzle. But I had to solve it with paper and pencil. (How twentieth century.) Does anyone know of an interactive version that you can play directly on your computer?