Don’t be surprised if this Monopoly-sudoku mash-up leaves you puzzled in more ways than one
Price: $4 / £4
Version: 0.1.9
Size: 430.4 MB
Seller: Marmalade Game Studio Limited
Platform: iPhone and iPad
Monopoly is a classic board game. Sudoku puzzles are frustratingly fun. Put them together and what do you get? Sadly, the answer is a stilted mash-up that may leave you scratching your head for all the wrong reasons.
The classic Japanese puzzle of sudoku has been the focus of a number of iOS games – most notably including the recent (and excellent) Good Sudoku. Monopoly Sudoku aims to take the classic math game in a new direction – namely, down the famous streets of Old Kent Road and The Strand. When you first launch Monopoly Sudoku, you’re presented with a puzzle in the form of Whitechapel Road. Monopoly fans will recognize this as a cheaper brown-colored tile in the board game, and as such, this is a “friendly” (read: easy) puzzle for players to complete.
The main interface.
Usefully, Monopoly Sudoku helps users towards completing sudoku puzzles through an auto-notes feature, where potential solutions are automatically notated in individual squares. For hardcore sudoku fans, this feature can be disabled in the app’s settings – though it should help newbies out. Puzzles also feature time limits and your completion time helps determine a leadership board for each puzzle in the game.
Completing puzzles.
You can also play against others in a multiplayer mode – the app can automatically assign you a random opponent, or you can meet up with friends in the app. This can make for a lot of sudoku fun.
What’s difficult to figure out, however, are the links with the Monopoly game we all know and love. Part of the reason for this is that the Monopoly board itself plays a minor part in Monopoly Sudoku – each day, players get the chance of rolling a dice and moving along the board in order to unlock reward multipliers, tokens, and avatars, but that’s all.
The Monopoly board.
And while Monopoly houses do feature in the game, these are awarded when you complete a puzzle and simply go towards leveling-up (that’s right: your level, in the app, is represented by a hotel – more houses equals a higher level).
Add to that a user interface which feels a little clunky and ill-designed on some devices (like the iPhone X), and what you’re left with is a pretty underwhelming app. When you hear the words “Monopoly” and “sudoku” in the same sentence, you may be unsure what to expect. Turns out it’s a solid Sudoku puzzler with some Monopoly-branded window dressing.
Earn houses.
That said, the puzzles themselves are fine and there’s an impressive range of then. Certainly plenty for sudoku fans to sink their teeth into. But when you compare Monopoly Sudoku with some of the other titles on the App Store – Good Sudoku included – there are better options out there for sudoku novices and masters alike.