When Nikita and Karsten Engelbrecht looked for a beautiful and approachable version of Sudoku, they couldn’t find one. So the self-described “digital nomad” husband-and-wife team, decided to make one of their own. The result, after considerable effort, is Sudoku Master Edition, a minimalist, elegant, and fun take on the numbers puzzler that’s sure to please anyone who likes challenge and style in equal measure.
“From day one we tried to follow Apple's design principles, so the game is simple, intuitive, and crafted with the user in mind,” says Hoolatron Studios’ creative director Nikita Engelbrecht. “It started with the small details, like being able to select from a variety of curated fonts and colors, all the way down to advanced features like Zen Mode, which removes all distractions.”
The upstart developer couple hasn’t mucked around with Sudoku’s proven formula, so you still fill a 9x9 grid with columns, rows, and clusters that feature every digit between 1 and 9. But the game includes a fashionable play grid and an ambient soundtrack composed by German-based musician Earlyguard. There are also 26 selectable fonts, a variety of colors, grid differentiators, and our personal favorite, a dark mode. There’s even a fantastic feature for iPad Pro players.
“Players can use the Apple Pencil to fill in the grids with their own handwriting,” explains Nikita. “On top of that, there's a full-featured notepad on the right half of the screen for users to jot down ideas, sketches, and doodles.”
Hoolatron’s first game, built exclusively for iPad and iPhone, wows with layers of great design on top of the classic puzzle experience. The team hopes you’ll love its modern presentation as much as you love Sudoku.
“Now you can have that relaxing pen and paper experience and leave one more book at home,” says Nikita.