Building yet another Sudoku Game (Part 1)

The title might be a little misleading: I haven’t actually built a Sudoku app yet. But if you search the web or the app stores, you’ll find countless Sudoku games—all built around the same core concept. You can’t really change the rules and still call it Sudoku. And that’s fine, because changing the rules isn’t my goal. My goal is to build a simple, classic Sudoku app and release it into an already crowded market. Why bother?

Because I love the game.
I’ve been playing Sudoku on and off for more than 20 years. There were nights I’d go to bed, only to spend two more hours chasing down the next number. Something about the hunt lights up my brain, at least with mid to hard puzzles. But once the difficulty crosses a certain point—and solutions become painfully slow or require advanced techniques—I tend to lose interest. That’s where I think most Sudoku apps fall short. They offer a range of “difficulties,” but rarely go deeper into actual solving strategies (like locked pairs, XY-wings, or skyscrapers). Without that, players who want to improve hit a wall and eventually burn out.

That’s one reason I want to build this. But there’s another: Sudoku is timeless.
Yes, the market is saturated. Yes, it’s hard to stand out. But Sudoku is an evergreen game. It’s been around for about 40 years and, like chess, it isn’t going anywhere. That means there’s long-term value in building something—even if it starts small. I can spend years improving it, learning from players, and slowly growing a community around it.

And honestly, that’s the real key. Most people look at saturated markets—whether it’s Sudoku, habit trackers, calorie trackers, or typing apps—and walk away. But a few creators stick with their products, keep improving them, and eventually succeed. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make something worthwhile. You just need to build something people actually want, then keep making it better. Not 100% better all at once—just 10%, or 5%, or even 1% at a time.

(in the next parts I talk about researching existing apps, choosing a tech stack, finding a freelancer and iterating through development)