Comparative Analysis of the Performance Testing Results of the Backtracking and Genetics Algorithm in Solving Sudoku Games

Abstract

Games that hone thinking skills and logical accuracy have recently been very popular. One of them is the game Sudoku. Sudoku is a game that hones logic through puzzles arranged in rows and columns. Sudoku is also defined as a puzzle game that aims to arrange several numbers in a grid from one to nine on a grid consisting of 9x9 squares. The concept of this Sudoku game is to enter numbers into the rows and columns provided. The rule of this game is that the numbers arranged on the board cannot be the same in every row, column, and 3x3 square in the grid. In another sense, each number entered must appear once in each row and column. When running Sudoku, several numbers are already instructions for players to fill in the next boxes. The number of clues at the beginning of the game determines the difficulty level players face. The fewer clues, the more difficult the Sudoku is to solve. This study aims to compare how to solve Sudoku using genetic algorithms, backtracking, and the completion time needed. The tests' results show that the genetic and backtracking algorithms can solve Sudoku games quickly. Still, the backtracking algorithm has the advantage of being relatively shorter, and the process is not so complicated that the backtracking algorithm can be an alternative solution to solving Sudoku logic games.