Pencilmark
Sudoku that teaches. Every hint names the technique — you learn the method, not the answer.
Pencilmark is a puzzle game. It costs $5 once — a one-time purchase, not a subscription. You can play it in the browser today. iOS, Android and Steam are planned.
Premium sudoku for people who want to get better. Every hint names the technique and points at the cells that matter — without giving away the answer.
Most sudoku apps hand you puzzles. Pencilmark hands you a coach.
Get stuck and ask for a hint — Pencilmark names the technique (Naked Single, Hidden Single, X-Wing, XY-Wing, Forcing Chains), highlights the cells that matter, and explains the pattern. The answer stays where it belongs: in your head.
Six difficulty tiers from Easy to Evil. 1,200 puzzles plus a daily challenge that changes character with the weekday — Monday Warmup, Symmetric Saturday, Sunday Showdown. Five of the six tiers are certified solvable by pure logic; no guessing required.
Real help when you need it: the Dead End coach finds your earliest wrong placement and offers to rewind. Technique mastery tracks across sessions — solo-solve an X-Wing puzzle and the badge unlocks for good.
Designed for every screen and every input: phone portrait, tablet landscape, Steam Deck, desktop. Touch, mouse, keyboard, gamepad — fully remappable. Eight themes including three colorblind variants (protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia). Localized into 16 languages.
No ads. No microtransactions. No energy timers. One purchase, every future update, on every device you sign in on.
What’s included
- 9 solving techniques, named and taught
- Daily Challenge with weekday themes
- Cloud saves across every device
- Steam Deck, controller, keyboard ready
- 16 languages, 8 themes (3 colorblind)
Why I made it
I wanted sudoku hints that work like a good teacher looking over your shoulder — every one names the technique it's using and points at the cells, so the next time you find it yourself instead of being handed the answer. It's for people who want to get better at the puzzle, not just get through it.
Pencilmark is covered by Our Promise: no microtransactions, free updates forever. Refundable for 14 days — just email hello@inlet.games.