62 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now, THIS is what active content SHOULD be!, December 10, 2010
This review is from: Wordoku Unbound #1 (Kindle Edition)
I've been looking for a puzzle book to use with my Kindle for a while now, and what I've found are things that seem to be designed for an iPad or PC and moved to the Kindle platform. Most of these were game applications that weren't terribly easy to use - a Kindle is designed for reading and some basic text input; it's not a gaming platform. I think the worst was a Sudoku book that required you to actually print the pages in order to work the puzzles. This book is what I was hoping THAT one would be.
Wordoku is a nice twist on Sudoku - using letters instead of numbers makes a lot of sense with the Kindle keypad. This makes solving the puzzles feel completely natural, just like using a pencil in a game magazine (except you'll never lose your pencil).
When I first downloaded the book and selected a puzzle, I found it was a little too easy. I was a little worried about that, but after reading the introduction I realized that the difficulty level could be adjusted to three levels and defaults to 'Easy.' I adjusted the level, and it's now perfect for me.
I see this is #1 - I'm looking forward to others in this same series. Maybe some standard Sudoku as well?
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally a book that's better on the Kindle than in real life, December 11, 2010
This review is from: Wordoku Unbound #1 (Kindle Edition)
I like my Kindle, but to this point have mostly seen it as a novelty. I like the feel of a physical book in my hands, and haven't felt the need to walk around town with dozens of books at my fingertips (I'm generally not reading more than one at a time). It's a nice product, but I've never felt that reading a book on a Kindle was better in any significant way.
After downloading this yesterday, I'm changing my tune. This is very different. For the first time, I've got a book that's far superior on a Kindle than it would ever be in "real life". Apparently, puzzle books are perfect for this format. The puzzles themselves are well-crafted - a lot better than what I typically find in puzzle books (most of which are filled with computer-generated factory dreck). But that's not really my point. It's that *solving* them in this format is so much more satisfying.
For starters, the book is dynamic. There are 100 puzzles, but I'm not locked into the "factory setting" difficulty levels. They're not all easy, medium or hard - nor are they evenly distributed. They're whatever I want them to be. I kept them on easy at first, until I got the hang of the format, and then ramped them up to medium (which were plenty tough enough for me, so I didn't try the hard setting).
Solving is smooth. The interface is intuitive, and switching between taking notes and filling in answers is easy enough that I figured out how to do it without referring to the instructions. There is also a robust "undo" function that makes use of the back button - clever.
Clearing a finished puzzle out so that someone else in your house can give it a go is just one click, and that's definitely something I've never done after filling out a paper grid. In fact, you can triple the number of puzzles you're getting here, by solving a page on a given difficulty level, clearing it out and trying it again with a different setting. I'm fairly certain that's impossible with a physical puzzle book.
So, I think I've finally found my "killer app" - a book that is truly superior on a Kindle. Looking forward to seeing what other other types of puzzle books Puzzazz has coming down the pike.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very well crafted puzzle collection, December 12, 2010
This review is from: Wordoku Unbound #1 (Kindle Edition)
Wordoku Unbound #1 is a finely honed implementation of a book of Sudoku-like puzzles for the Kindle. The puzzle play is a lot like Sudoku, but you use letters from a word or phrase instead of numbers. The user interface is very smooth -- it is obviously designed by people who are serious about their puzzles and know what is going to feel good for people who will be using the interface obsessively, as puzzle solvers like to do. It's pleasing to the eye, easy to learn even without reading the instructions, and is also sophisticated enough for advanced users. That's not easy to achieve. It also makes excellent use of the Kindle's unique mix of capabilities. I'm looking forward to more kinds of puzzles for the Kindle from Puzzazz.
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