Announcing Sudecku

I'm thrilled to finally share something I've been working on for months. Sudecku ⊕ is a game that combines the timeless logic of Sudoku with the strategic depth of deck-building.

My wife and I enjoy playing Sudoku together, but she recently discovered the world of advanced puzzle variants through the Cracking the Cryptic YouTube channel. Watching Simon and Mark tackle these incredible spin-offs with killer cages, thermometers, arrows, and countless other rule variations was genuinely exciting. Each variant added fascinating new layers of logical thinking to the standard 9×9 grid.

The idea of Sudecku came up randomly, but initally it was very basic. I thought it'd be interesting to play Sudoku with playing cards and have some way to cheat by using power cards that are sort of like Uno's action cards. The rest was the result of constant tweaking and testing while developing the game.

My wife gets a lot of credit for game play testing and coming up with ideas for how to make the game play fun and challenging. The name "Sudecku" is her idea as well! Honestly, the name is a major reason why I kept working on it, because it felt like a shame to waste such a good name.

What makes me most proud isn't just the mechanics, it's how the game feels. Whether you're a Sudoku veteran or someone who's never touched a logic puzzle, every puzzle offers those satisfying "aha!" moments. The strategic layer adds depth without overwhelming the core puzzle-solving joy that makes Sudoku so addictive.

This is technically my first personal iOS app. Writing Sudecku, I got to learn some Swift and some SpriteKit. I wrote earlier this month about some of what I learned.

There's something deeply satisfying about seeing months of Swift code come together into fluid gameplay, especially when you're building something you genuinely want to play yourself.

You can check it out on the App Store or learn more on the game's website.

This has been a true passion project, I'd love to hear what you think! Feel free to reach out with any comments.