If you’re like me, there will come a time when the weather gets warmer, a nice breeze blowing, and the taste for a good cup of coffee settles in your mouth. You leave the house and stroll down to your favorite café/restaurant, where you know most customers by first name. You see that your favorite booth is open while a friendly waiter brings you coffee before you even ask. You smile, get comfortable, and pull out your newspaper or puzzle book to find the Sudoku puzzle that begs to be solved.
Who knows what else you might order? Your brain just wants to exercise and stretch its muscles. With pen or pencil in hand, you’re off. Yeah, the satisfaction you get from solving it in a timely manner is all warm and fuzzy.
Now try solving the same puzzle against someone playing on the same game board, only their tile numbers are a different color from your tiles. It’s no longer about how quickly you can solve the game, for there are no erasures, no redoes. Should you place the wrong number tile down, you’re challenged by your opponent sitting across from you. If your opponent can show you’ve placed the wrong number tile down, you must remove it. However, they forfeit their turn if you can prove your move was correct. You’re now playing Duo Coup – Sudoku for Two, where the player with the most colored tiles wins at the game's end. You can use any published Sudoku puzzle or even create one from scratch.
Some players will miss the chance to challenge their opponent, and the game will “crash.” Still, you play as far as the puzzle will allow. The first player minuses one tile from their score – allowing for a tie game.
Yes, the approach is different. You might want to place tiles in a seemingly wrong spot to urge your opponent to challenge the move when you already have a logical explanation. You’ll have a scribble sheet to plan your moves. One may find their games crash often because people don’t like challenging or questioning other players’ actions. But when challenged, a player learns the art of logically explaining why they made a move. Even a challenge must show why a move is logically wrong.
I actually designed the game to have people engage in conversations about the actions they take instead of getting angry at each other. Hopefully, players will come to learn about making false assumptions and the ability to explain their actions logically.
Strangely enough, Duo Coup can still provide a level of satisfaction. It's not the same as a solo game, but a new level of satisfaction and personal insight. We hope you’ll take the chance to enjoy something different, something new.
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