A comparative study of three sudoku input methods for touch displays

Abstract

Sudoku is a popular recreational game which is claimed to have positive health effects. It can be played using paper or electronically using computers. Only very few studies have explored Sudoku interaction methods. We therefore designed a controlled within-groups experiment involving N = 18 participants to empirically compare three Sudoku interaction methods implemented in a popular Sudoku smartphone app. Our results show that the participants entered digits faster when they selected the location first, followed by selecting the input digit, compared to selecting the digit first followed by selecting the cell location. Participants also preferred selecting cell first over selecting input digit first. No effects of error rates were found.