Since sometime around Xmas last year, I’ve been playing a little online game (almost) every single day. That game is PokeDoku – something of a twist on sudoku, where you fill in a grid with pokémon instead of numbers. It’s also only a 3×3 grid instead of sudoku’s traditional 9×9. It’s perfect for poop breaks!
How it works is along the top and left sides are six conditions. You have to select a pokémon for each cell that matches the two conditions that intersect on that cell. For example, in the top-left corner of the screenshot below, you’d need to choose a pokémon that is ice-type and can learn the move earthquake. Avalugg was an easy choice there: it’s obviously ice-type and is a big behemoth so it was a pretty safe bet that it could learn earthquake. Galarian Mr. Mime in the top-right corner, on the other hand, was a lucky guess since I knew it’s an ice-type but wasn’t sure if it has a secondary typing (it is in fact ice/psychic).
The screenshot above is actually a perfect example because it uses one of almost every kind of condition; though there are also conditions for each region, as well as starters, mega evolutions, and gigantamax forms. Technically you could also say it doesn’t show “mythical” or “ultra beast” or “paradox” either, but let’s be honest: those are all just different ways of saying “legendary.”
Part of the enjoyment is just winning the game each day, but another fun aspect is that it keeps track of how many days in a row you’ve won. I think my best streak is seven? Both because sometimes I get tripped up by a tough puzzle, and because sometimes I forget to play and miss a day.
For the most part, it’s pretty simple, and someone like me has little to no problem successfully filling in the grid each day. Except on the days where a move is a condition… I think there are only three moves in the condition pool (earthquake, shadow ball, and flamethrower), and while each of them can be learned by a ton of pokémon, it’s a little bit trickier. I imagine that those days ruin the streaks of anyone who isn’t at least into pokémon as much as I am (slightly more than a casual fan).
I guess there’s also some sort of scoring mechanism where you’re awarded points based on how commonly each of your guesses has been used by other players. Personally, I have no idea how the scoring system works, and I’ve paid no attention to it. But I’m sure it’s a huge driver for some players! Good for them!
What’s really got me hooked right now is the collection aspect. That’s right: there’s even more to this simple puzzle than meets the eye! The first time you (correctly) guess a pokémon as an answer, it gets logged in your PokeDoku dex. This includes all alternate formes, regional variants, mega evolutions, gigantamax forms, and probably some other gimmicky thing that I’m forgetting about. So the dex currently tops out at a whopping 1255 pokémon! It’s a lot of work to catch ’em all!
When you start playing, your dex is going to start filling in very quickly. On most days, a victory will net you nine new pokémon. But as your dex fills in, your options for each set of conditions start to dwindle. I’m currently at 991/1255, and I feel lucky if I can use two or three new pokémon each day (today was exceptionally lucky with eight new entries). It also doesn’t help that some conditions like to show up more often than others. Like, “legendary” or “mythical” seem to show up nearly every day, but I’ve been trying to go through the dex in order as much as possible and still have 11 Kanto pokémon that I just haven’t seen an opportunity to use. But that’s part of the fun! I actually don’t look forward to the day when my dex is complete, because that’ll strip out a huge layer of strategy from that point on. I might even stop playing until the next generation is released.
Anyway, that’s all I need to say about that for now. If you know anything about Pokémon, I’d happily recommend you play PokeDoku! It’s a fun little game that shouldn’t take more than five minutes to play and has several addictive features to keep you coming back each day. If you’re not a Pokémon fan, well, this is absolutely not a game for you.