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AI Is Bad at Sudoku. It's Even Worse at Showing Its Work

Chatbots are genuinely impressive when you watch them do things they're good at, like writing a basic email or creating weird, futuristic-looking images. But ask generative AI to solve one of those puzzles in the back of a newspaper, and things can quickly go off the rails. That's what researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder found when they challenged large language models to solve sudoku. And not even the standard 9x9 puzzles. An easier 6x6 puzzle was often beyond the capabilities

Introduction to Writing Good Puzzle Hunt Puzzles

Introduction to Writing Good Puzzle Hunt Puzzles Version 1.0 - 2014-02-24 - cleanup, add metapuzzle and solving tools sections Version 0.9 - 2014-02-18 0. About This Document This document is advice for writing puzzles. It is specifically geared toward the MIT Mystery Hunt, though the techniques and ideas will likely be useful in other puzzle-writing. The target audience is those who have participated in one or a few puzzle hunts, but not written a substantial number of puzzles before. I will

LinkedIn’s Mini Sudoku is a clever twist on the classic puzzle

is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. I love sudoku, so I just couldn’t resist checking out LinkedIn’s new Mini Sudoku game that it launched this week. Two puzzles in, I can already tell you that I like it a lot. The rules in Mini Sudoku are quite similar to regular sudoku: you need to fill in all of the blank spots of a puzzle with a number, but a number can’t repeat in a line, row, or box. But the twist with Mi

The Rise of Ritual Features: Why Platforms Are Adding Daily Puzzle Games

Listen to the article in podcast format (Credits: NotebookLM) From LinkedIn’s Pinpoint to The Atlantic’s daily puzzle suite, platforms are turning bite‑size games into powerful habit loops that pull users back every day. This essay explores why they work, when they don’t, and what product teams can learn from the rise of these “ritual features.” LinkedIn started as a professional network and has largely stayed true to that positioning since its launch. So when it introduced games last year, it

Ask AI Why It Sucks at Sudoku. You'll Find Out Something Troubling About Chatbots

Chatbots are genuinely impressive when you watch them do things they're good at, like writing a basic email or creating weird futuristic-looking images. But ask generative AI to solve one of those puzzles in the back of a newspaper, and things can quickly go off the rails. That's what researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder found when they challenged large language models to solve Sudoku. And not even the standard 9x9 puzzles. An easier 6x6 puzzle was often beyond the capabilities of

The 26 best Nintendo Switch games in 2025

Multiplayer: N | Year released: 2023 I can recommend Cocoon to anyone that plays video games, and plenty who don’t. Cocoon is the debut game from Geometric Interactive, a studio founded by former Playdead employees Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid. You play as a beetle, navigating a strange land filled with (and contained within) orbs. The controls are incredibly simple: Move with an analog stick and interact with a single button. The complexity comes from the environment, the narrative from exp

Here's Where to Find Sudoku on Your iPhone Now

Apple introduced its Emoji Game on July 17, otherwise known as World Emoji Day. But when Apple released iOS 18.2 in December, that update brought the popular puzzle game Sudoku to the News app. Everyone can try a few sudoku puzzles free but Apple News Plus subscribers can play new puzzles every day. An Apple News Plus subscription is $13 a month and gives you access to daily sudoku and other puzzles, like Quartiles, as well as stories from publications like the New Yorker and the Wall Street Jo

This New Free Mobile Pokemon Puzzle Game Lets You Weave Digital Plushes

The Pokemon Company unveiled a host of Pokemon content at its Pokemon Presents event on Tuesday. We saw a new trailer for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, a release date for the second season of the Netflix series Pokemon Concierge and a free, new mobile game you can play now, called Pokemon Friends. The latest Pokemon mobile game is a puzzle game where you untangle threads of yarn in order to weave Pokemon plushes for your in-game collection. You can play it now on iOS and Android devices for free, or yo

A Surprise Pokémon Game Just Dropped for Switch and Mobile

The Pokémon Company is releasing a new, unexpected game today: Pokémon Friends, a daily puzzle game you can download now for mobile devices, Switch, and Switch 2. The company revealed the game as part of a Pokémon Direct presentation that included new details on Pokémon Legends: Z-A and a Switch 2 bundle, Pokémon Champions, and more. In Pokémon Friends, players untangle yarn—essentially solving different puzzles, like freeing pokémon from a box or fixing tracks—to make and collect plush toys. O

Pokémon Friends is a cute new daily puzzle game for iPhone

Daily puzzle games are on the rise, including in Apple News+. And another new game just arrived on the App Store that pairs daily puzzles with cuteness and chill vibes: Pokémon Friends is here. Complete puzzles, earn yarn, and make plushies in Pokémon Friends Puzzle games like crosswords, Wordle, and more seek to stimulate the mind while also offering users a fun reason to come back every day. Pokémon Friends is the latest such offering. If you’re at all a fan of Pokémon, the new title is a

Apple News+ launches clever new ‘Emoji Game’ for iOS 18.4 and later

Apple is expanding its collection of Apple News+ Puzzles with yet another new game. This time, Apple is tapping into something we all know and love: emoji. The new Emoji Game was initially announced as part of iOS 26 at WWDC. The game, however, is now rolling out to all iPhone users running iOS 18.4 and later as well as iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4. Apple explains that Emoji Game “challenges players to use a selection of emoji” to fill in the blanks of short phrases with as few moves as possible

Your iPhone Has Sudoku, and Here's Where to Find It

Sudoku is a popular puzzle game that some studies have shown could help the cognitive performance of people over 50 years old. And when Apple released iOS 18.2 in December, that update brought those puzzle games to the News app. Everyone can try a few sudoku puzzles for free, but Apple News Plus subscribers can play new puzzles every day. An Apple News Plus subscription is $13 a month and gives you access to daily sudoku and other puzzles, like Quartiles, as well as stories from publications li

Apple News+ to expand its growing lineup of daily puzzles with Emoji Game

Following yesterday’s WWDC25 keynote announcements, Apple confirmed that it will continue to lean into the daily puzzle trend with the launch of Emoji Game: a lighthearted challenge that tasks players with completing three phrases using emoji. Here’s how it’ll work. Come for the fun, stay for that sweet, sweet subscription revenue Emoji Game is the latest addition to Apple’s growing catalog of News+ Puzzles, which already includes Crossword, Mini Crossword, Quartiles, and Sudoku. Available fr