Sumaddle 4+

Sumaddle is a great game for fans of number puzzles. I was looking for something that was a little more challenging than sudoku, and this game really delivers. I was more than happy to pay the couple dollars for the extra puzzle sets and the endless puzzle option, and it’s continued to keep me entertained for several months.

My only criticism is that I sometimes get penalized for “using help” even when I haven’t asked for a hint. It seems to happen when I am trying to remove a number from the possible options in a box, and I double tap the number. If I’m too slow, the game thinks I meant to put that number in, it tells me that the number is not a possible option for that row’s sum, and then I get docked points. It can be a bit of a killjoy when you’re proud of finishing a puzzle, and then you get the notification, “Your score would have been higher if you hadn’t used hints.”

Other than that, it’s still a 5-star game, and it will remain a staple on my phone.

Hi preiring and thank you for your great review!

Interested by your comments about difficulties with number elimination using double tap. The double tap does not need to be done quickly, you can actually take as long as you like. So I'm wondering if the problem might be, that you're missing the number altogether with your second tap?

UPDATE: Just to let you know that version 1.29.0 has gone live in the App Store today with some improvements to button sizing. This should make the buttons easier to hit or, more to the point, harder to miss. The change benefits large devices the most (larger iPhones and iPads), hope this includes you and you find the problem happens less. Thanks again for your helpful feedback which is what prompted this change!

Ps. The FAQ at the support site provides more detail about how using the help can impact the scoring, if you're interested. A link to the FAQ can be found by tapping the info icon below the main menu.

One of the best aspects about this game is the hint function! Starting with just telling you whether everything on your board looks correct or if there appears to be an error somewhere (if so, you get the choice of just removing the wrong bits, restarting from scratch, or undoing some of your last moves and seeing if that fixes things), asking for more of a hint tells you what row or column to look at for your next move and shows you the possible combinations of numbers that equal the sum for that column or row, and asking for additional help pencils in the available options for each cell in that row or column, with the option to view an explanation of how you can come to such conclusions. The only downside is there is no option to selectively pencil in notes for yourself beyond whether something is a number or a block. Sometimes I can eliminate certain options for a cell myself, but without being able to selectively pencil in numbers, I can’t keep track of those unless I keep them in my head (difficult to do when I still see those eliminated options penciled in) or write them down on paper. Please add an option to shift between pencil/notes and pen/confirmed modes!

Hello Paise19 and thank you for your positive feedback! I am pleased to let you know that the app does in fact have a pencil mode. Previously, this was only available to Random Play players. However, as of version 1.18 it is now available to all players! This version has gone live in the App Store today. I hope it gives you the functionality you were looking for.

I’m updating the review to 5 stars as the developer reached out to me right away offering help. I checked everything, it’s now all good!!! I’m so relieved. I have reset all my puzzles (a few hundred of them as I purchased a lot), so that I can solve them again without losing points I wasn’t supposed to lose in the first place. Thank you!! Enjoying the game again :)

OLD: I would have happily given this game a 5-star review, but they keep deducting points for something I didn’t even do — I do not use help or hints!!! If I make a mistake, let me find it myself; only deduct points if I actually clicked the “?!” button. It’s ridiculously demotivating, especially if I click something by accident. I have purchased all the extra packages — I like the concept of the game and how it makes me think. But come on, I did not use help if I did’t use the “?!” button!!!

Hi O'Vera. Thanks for your feedback. You are quite right - if you do not use the help then there should be no points penalty. I would be happy to look into the scoring issue if you would be so kind as to send a screenshot of the score and help feedback that gets shown after completing a puzzle. You can do this using the contact form at the support site. The support site also has a FAQ page on help and scoring, which gives more insight into how the scoring works. Links to the contact form and the FAQ can be found if you tap the info symbol below the main menu. EDIT: Thanks for updating your review, much appreciated!