Categories: Technology

A meditative take on sudoku that changes with the weather

The Weather Network can be a very useful website, but that’s mostly true when the weather is bad. So when the company began collaborating with the Hearst-owned puzzle platform Puzzmo, it had a specific goal: to get people coming to the site even when it’s nice out. “Why would you check the weather on a sunny day?” veteran game designer Zach Gage remembers asking himself. Eventually, the Puzzmo team came up with an answer in the form of Weather Memoku, an extremely chill game that combines elements of memory, sudoku, and, well, the weather.

“A very important idea was: can we change checking the weather from being a thing you check off your to-do list, to being a chance to take a moment for yourself?” explains Gage.

The game takes place on a 6 x 6 grid, and the goal is to flip over tiles to find matches, much like in a classic game of memory. The twist is that it also follows the rules of sudoku. This means that each of the six symbols appears in each row and column only once, turning Weather Memoku from a pure guessing game to one with a bit of strategy. It’s also incredibly charming, with symbols that change based on the weather. There are cute little frogs on a rainy day and penguins when it snows out. When you complete the puzzle — which will probably take a minute or two — you’re presented with your score in addition to an hourly weather report. You can also share this, much like your Wordle score.

According to Gage, who previously developed the sudoku app Good Sudoku, Weather Memoku is meant to be an iteration of what he calls “arcade sudoku,” which is basically the standard way of playing without using high-level strategies. Weather Memoku takes the same core gameplay — looking at a grid to figure out where things belong — and streamlines it even further. “Being wrong is part of the game,” Gage explains. “In this game, if you don’t know something and you guess, you can tap anywhere and now you have a new piece of information and your board has changed. It really feels like an interesting evolution of arcade sudoku.”

That streamlined nature is important for what the game is meant to be. Weather Memoku is a fun way to learn a piece of information, but it’s also designed to feel like “a little meditation” that would make you want to keep coming back to the site each day, much like a crossword puzzle or sudoku challenge. “You can have this meditative experience and then when you’re done, you actually have the weather,” says Gage. “You’ve left with a tangible piece of information that’s valuable to you.”

News Today

Share
Published by
News Today

Recent Posts

Kareena Kapoor’s Next Untitled Film With Meghna Gulzar Gets Prithviraj Sukumaran On Board

Kareena Kapoor is working with Raazi director Meghna Gulzar for her next film. The project,…

2 weeks ago

Purdue basketball freshman Daniel Jacobsen injured vs Northern Kentucky

2024-11-09 15:00:03 WEST LAFAYETTE -- Daniel Jacobsen's second game in Purdue basketball's starting lineup lasted…

2 weeks ago

Rashida Jones honors dad Quincy Jones with heartfelt tribute: ‘He was love’

2024-11-09 14:50:03 Rashida Jones is remembering her late father, famed music producer Quincy Jones, in…

2 weeks ago

Nosferatu Screening at Apollo Theatre Shows Student Interest in Experimental Cinema – The Oberlin Review

2024-11-09 14:40:03 A silent German expressionist film about vampires accompanied by Radiohead’s music — what…

2 weeks ago

What Are Adaptogens? Find Out How These 3 Herbs May Help You Tackle Stress Head-On

Let's face it - life can be downright stressful! With everything moving at breakneck speed,…

2 weeks ago

The new Mac Mini takes a small step towards upgradeable storage

Apple’s redesigned Mac Mini M4 has ditched the previous M2 machine’s SSD that was soldered…

2 weeks ago