Sudoku Neo: Daily Puzzle

Understand your next Killer move: full logical explanations, cage sums and candidates before and after—before placing a digit.

Sudoku Neo scores how you solve, not how fast you type.

Most sudoku apps rank players by finishing time. Sudoku Neo awards points for the shape of a solve: closing a digit family across the board, finishing a 3×3 box without a mistake, the order you close them in, and how much work the puzzle actually left you. The formula is published below, carries a version number, and is computed identically on every device - so the daily ranking is reproducible, not a black box.

DAILY CLASSIC AND KILLER, THE SAME FOR EVERYONE

Each UTC day brings four Classic and five Killer challenges, one per difficulty. Everyone gets the same built-in boards, playable offline, with one local attempt per board. Each mode and difficulty has its own recurring Game Center leaderboard; each mode has its own streak. Wins enter the ranking; losses stay local. Pending scores retry while that day's ranking is active.

Missed a day? The archive keeps every past challenge playable - the same boards everyone else got. Archive results count toward your statistics, best score and best time, but never reach the leaderboard and never extend your streak: a streak means showing up on the day.

KILLER SUDOKU

Choose Classic or Killer on the new home screen. Killer has cages with sums and no givens: 1250 verified, uniquely solvable boards, 250 per level from Beginner to Expert. Beginner offers small cages and a gentler start. Hints explain cage combinations and the rule of 45. Separate statistics, rules for both modes and cage-aware auto-notes are built in.

After a free-play loss, you may finish for practice without points. The loss stays recorded; practice is not saved when you close it. Daily puzzles remain one attempt only.

HINTS THAT TEACH

KILLER LOGICAL EXPLANATIONS Logical hints show a full proof of the digit: cage sums, the rule of 45, feasible combinations and candidate eliminations before and after, with cell coordinates. Read the summary or expand the complete chain before placing the digit. If no logical move is found, an answer reveal is labelled separately—it is not a proof.

HOW SCORING WORKS

• +40 points for each correctly filled cell. • Closing all nine copies of a digit awards a bonus for the work it took, the order you closed it in, and focused time. • Completing a 3×3 box awards a speed bonus, plus a clean-box bonus if it holds no mistake. • A digit and a box closed with one move award a combo. Winning adds a final pace bonus. • Mistakes escalate: −150, −350, −600 - the third ends the game. Each revealed hint costs −100. • The total is multiplied by difficulty, including daily boards: Beginner ×1.00, Easy ×1.00, Medium ×1.15, Hard ×1.35, Expert ×1.60.

The formula is stored with a version number, so an update never rewrites results you already earned. Current scoring version: 2.

BUILT FOR FOCUSED PLAY

• Classic: four levels; Killer: five. Built-in rules. • Notes, auto-notes, locked digits, pause, sound and haptics • Three colour themes, VoiceOver labels, Dynamic Type, Reduce Motion • Full interface in English, Russian, Japanese, German, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Italian and Hindi - including every hint explanation • Play offline without a separate game account

FAIR MONETIZATION

Free to play. Interstitial ads appear only at breaks between games, never during a puzzle. Two hints per game are free; extra hints can be unlocked with an optional rewarded ad. One non-consumable purchase removes all advertising permanently.