Developer/Publisher: 99 Games
Genre: Puzzle
Price: $1.99
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: Super! Right up there with cocoa and candy canes.
Pros: Sudoku fans get a fresh spin on the beloved puzzle game.  And there’s even some milk and cookies for non-fans.
Cons: Really little – smaller than snowflakes.  Some elements are difficult to see.

The glow of Christmas lights.  The brightly colored presents.  The Sudoku on your iDevice?!  It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, so the folks at 99 Games have stuck a big red bow on a perennial puzzler.  So is Christmas Sudoku one of Dancer’s favorites, or will it find a lump of coal in its stocking?

I need to say right at the outset, if you’re not a fan of sudoku, there’s a good chance this one isn’t going to change your mind.  Sudoku, as a genre, simply frustrates me to no end.  I’d sooner spend Black Friday at the mall, but my wife is a huge fan. She uses magazines, handheld games, and computer programs to get her Sudoku fix. I turned her loose on this early Christmas present to get her impressions.

It’s quite likely that you know the game of Sudoku is a grid game.  Typically you need to arrange nine numbers in a three by three grid.  Each number can appear only once in each row and once in each column.  My own personal Mrs. Claus said that she got a kick out of replacing the ones and twos with candy canes and presents.  And if it’s not the holiday season – or if you’re more Grinch than Frosty – there is the option to use the standard numbers rather than the icons of the season.  If there was any bah-humbug to this Christmas Sudoku stocking stuffer, it was that the lines separating the gameplay grids were too lite; pretty mild stuff, in my estimation.

There are some nice online and social options.  The Tug A Friend mode allows you play head to head with another iDevice user to see who gets to be the king or queen of Christmas.  The Hug A Friend mode is a great way to send some holiday cheer and promote the game.  This e-mail postcard allows you to design a Christmas tree with cheerful ornaments.  Once you’ve unleashed your inner Martha Stewart, you can e-mail your creation to your friends and family.  My iPod-obsessed 7 year old could have cared less about the Sudoku game, but loved decorating his own tree and mailing it off to grandma.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating:  99 Games make pretty games.  Christmas Sudoku is another one of those gaming feasts for the eyes and ears.  The colors really pop on the presents, candy canes, and ornaments.  The music should put you in the mood for frosted window panes and chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  But if you’d rather listen to your own holiday hits, you can always turn the default tunes off.  You can also tweak the game to your tastes.  In addition to choosing Santa hats or numbers, you can pick a colored theme and difficulty setting.  There’s also options during game play to hint, suggest, or solve a puzzle.

The designers at 99 Games have disappeared into Santa’s workshop, thrown on a fresh coat of paint and some Christmas magic, and come up with a winner.  This iStocking Stuffer is only going to set you back $1.99, less than you’ll likely spend on your egg-nog injected, no-foam, double-tall latte.  So may joy come to you, and a festive Sudoku.  And God bless you, and send you a puzzly new year !