game-solver

Do you want to remove sudoko from your life? Look no further.

Run the web app

This package has evolved over 1-day to include a Flask App for more detailed visual feedback. To run the app, first get set-up with the dependencies (see below), then run

python -m gsolver.app.main

and browse to

127.0.0.1:5000

. The puzzle located at gsolver/sudoku_puzzle.txt will be populated on loading the window. Hit the "Solve" button to see either the full solution or the partial solution if "unsolveable" with the current game-solver.

Current solver state: COMPLETE

Apart from the most simple puzzles, sudoku cannot be solved by just eliminating possible cell values based on values that already exist in intersecting rows, columns, and blocks.

For example, consider this partial solution, paying particular attention to row 5 (1-indexed):

. We see that there are multiple cells where the number "4" might be placed in row 5, but if we instead consider which rows, columns, or blocks require a "4", then we see that the right most center block only has one option where a "4" can be placed, leading us to this solution:

.

So far, after a weekend of testing (and one particularly difficult newspaper soduko puzzle), the puzzle has been solved using this alternating strategy:

1. Remove intersecting values from the solution space
2. Accept solutions that only appear once in the solution space for a row, column, or block

Originally the problem was formulated in such a way that we might get to do some linear algebra, but no real luck there. There is always the hope for a vectorization refactor.

Dependencies

To get started

1. Create a virtual environment

python3 -m venv gslvr

2. Activate the virtual environment

source gslvr/bin/activate

3. Install all the required packages in the virtual environment

pip install -r requirements.txt

When finished working with game-solver, you can deactivate the venv with

deactivate