A Sudoku Program SourGumdrop

SourGumdrop is a Sudoku playing program that can help players learn techniques for solving puzzles. A typical screendump is shown below.

A Kakuro Program SourGumdropK

SourGumdropK is a Kakuro/Cross sum program with a wide range of hint methods and pop-ups to show the combination lists for all sums. A typical screen dump is shown below.

A Sokoban Program Sourkoban

Sourkoban is a Sokoban playing program that can show animations of the solutions for all of its built-in maps and which remembers your solution for all puzzles. It also contains a graphical map editor/creator. A typical screen dump is shown below.

Licensing and source code

The programs are written in the Python language and are distributed as source code under the GNU General Public License. This means that you can redistribute them and/or modify them as long as you include the source code.

Do not worry that the programs are distributed as source code: Python programs are interpreted as they run so no compilation is required. Installation couldn't be easier: just download the source file and the programs are ready to run (assuming you have the Python libraries and interpreter installed).

The web site includes notes about the source code and the algorithms used by SourGumdrop and SourGumdropK.

Tips on solving Sudoku puzzles

These pages explain the methods for solving Sudoku puzzles and displayed as hints by SourGumdrop including: Simple filter, Singles, Hidden singles, Hidden pairs, Hidden triples, Locked candidates 1, Locked candidates 2, Naked pairs, Naked triples, Naked quads. Xwing, Swordfish and Jellyfish

Tips on solving Kakuro puzzles

These pages explain the methods for solving Kakuro puzzles and displayed as hints by SourGumdropK.

Learn how to solve Sokoban problems

This page describes a way of using Sourkoban to learn how to solve Sokoban maps.

Comments and feedback

This website exists to make the programs available, to act as a source of information to help people learn how to solve the puzzles, and to enable others to contribute ideas and suggestions on improving both the programs and the website. So, please send your comments: provide the stimulus to improve the programs and help to make them better for yourself and others. To increase awareness of SourGumdrop please link to sourgumdrop.org.uk from your site.
The email address for comments is:
rodg (the usual curly AT symbol) sourgumdrop DOT org DOT uk

Downloads

The programs are available as free downloads. All the programs run on XP and Linux but only Sourkoban works on the Macintosh. Information about obtaining the programs and the source code is in the Downloads section.

Site Map

This site map page contains links to every section of the SourGumdrop Game Source site and so can be used as an overview or a quick way to find the page you want.

News

August 21st 2008

Noticed that Gordon Royle now has 47793 17 clue Sudoku puzzles so redid my statistical analysis.

July 31st 2008

Reorganised the website and switched to using zip files for downloads. The zip files contain the source code and an icon file for each program. A single page now handles all downloads but the original download pages have been left on the site to satisfy external links. PAD files are now available in the ./pad directory. All program version numbers upped to 1.0. Thanks to kls for the pretty new banner and the gumdrops.

July 2nd 2008

Sourkoban v0.04 released. Bug fix: undo, redo did not update the move counter. In fixing this I removed the count of the number of pushes.

May 30th 2008

Sourkoban v0.01, a Sokoban program released.

April 20th 2008

SourGumdropK v0.02 released. Added the cell count and the sum to the pop-up menus which provide the row and column combination lists. Added configuration options.

April 16th 2008

SourGumdrop v0.64 released. Search strategy selection not working. Fixed.

April 10th 2008

SourGumdropK v0.01, a Kakuro program based on SourGumdrop released.

April 3rd 2008

Version v0.63 released. The default hint search strategy is now "simplest hint". The main change this release is embarrassing. While working on SourGumdropK, a Kakuro program, based on SourGumdrop, I noticed that the SourGumdrop puzzles had, at some stage, lost their difficulty ratings. This has been rectified. Please note that the prefered contact email name has now changed to rodg.

January 30th 2008

Version v0.62 released. Norman Hall requested the ability to group algorithms and to have a hint search strategy to find the simplest hint. He also wanted more control over the amount of information displayed about hints. His encouragement also got me round to adding the ability to save and read partially completed puzzles with their candidates. The "?" button in the Toolbar can now be used to execute hints (i.e. delete the candidates found) which means I can now click through a whole puzzle without moving my mouse - useful for testing! This latter change is not reflected in some screendumps used in the website. All these additions have been made and the documentation updated accordingly.

January 1st 2008

Ian Millington The R'n'D Guy pointed out that my locked candidate 1 figure was ill chosen so I've replaced it. Thanks.

December 8th 2007

Added a Frequently asked questions (FAQ) to the website.

October 18th 2007

I recently submitted the program to The Linux Game Tome and noticed a surge of Linux downloads so I've updated the documentation about how to set up SourGumdrop on Linux. Also changed the cascading style sheet to improve the look of the web site.

May 19th 2007

SourGumdrop v0.60 released. Sudoku16 and Sudoku4 now possible: ie 16x16 and 4x4 grids. See: Alternative grid sizes

May 13th 2007

SourGumdrop v0.54 released. Since v0.5 I have tidied up the configuration code, fixed a bug in which the wrong causes were shown for hidden triples, and another in the directed guessing solver. Added the option to colour candidates using the middle mouse button. Thanks to all those reporting bugs. None known at present.

April 30th 2007

SourGumdrop v0.5 released. This is a complete rewrite of the program. New features: simpler, cleaner default look, but with a new configuration option which enables users to alter almost every component of the interface; new hint levels including the ability to show the candidates which form the pattern; simpler menu arrangements; timer; bug found and fixed in swordfish and jellyfish.

February 12th 2007

SourGumdrop v0.4 released. Hidden triples was too restrictive - fixed. New option which allows the user to set scores for algorithms and to calculate puzzle difficulty. New puzzle entry window. Additional puzzle file format handled. New set of puzzles. New web pages describing the new features and giving statistics on an analysis of 36628 puzzles with only 17 clues. New versions of most screendumps. Improved descriptions of the solving methods.