Coy got this version of Sudoku as a gift. Many days he would not be able to write numbers in little squares. I've never done well at sudoku. This version works fine for us. Colored balls replace numbers -- otherwise the game is the same as the familiar paper version. Lynn mentioned in another thread using this game also. I can kind of guage the state of Coy's cognitive skills for the day when we play this.

I don't think he would sit and play it alone, but it is great to do it together. He has trouble distinguishing a couple of the colors, so I help with that. When he has trouble it is usually in staying focussed. I have to remind hime that "we are working on this row" or "this is the square we are trying to place these colors in." Aside from that he is often pretty quick at figuring out correct placement.

I am trying to get my bipolar brother over to play it with him. He does sudoku at OT, and it would be good to get him out of his apartment once in a while. I have asked Coy if he would mind his BIL coming over to play occassionaly, as a help to BIL. And to my brother I've presented it as a request to help entertain Coy. Both seem agreeable, but it hasn't happened yet.

This isn't for advanced stages, or even for everyone in early stage, obviously, but it is another diversion to consider.

Jeanne,
This really looks interesting, thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention !

Yes, this is the game I mentioned elsewhere. It can be very challenging when you get up to the higher number games. I don't know if you've tried this, but if the harder games are too hard, set the board up with an easy one, and then you can turn the board 90 degrees, so you kind of get 4 games in 1! It can be a very addicting game! Lynn

Yes, we stick to easy ones. We've done the intermediate ones that come with the game, but some are too challenging for Coy to enjoy. We are now playing from a book of easy sudoku.

This is a game I would love! I'll be on the lookout for this. Unfortunately this is way beyond my MIL. Thanks for sharing.

My brother came over at a time when Coy was watching a very important baseball game on tv, so he hasn't played with Coy yet. (Bro has trouble with scheduling concepts.) So he and I played two easy games and one intermediate one. I was surprised at how well Bro did at placing the balls correctly. The problem he had was with discipline. It was very hard for him to wait until more pieces were in place before just guessing at which of two places to put the red ball in. He wears out a lot of erasers when he does the paper version. I can see why OT would use Sudoku and other games to exercise memory and maybe to work on some behaviors such as impulsiveness and concentration, too. (The OT he attends does not deal with dementia.)

I had to order mine on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. Around Christmas Barnes & Noble sometimes will have it in the stores. It's called ColorKu. Some of the higher end toy stores will carry it too, I think, but I couldn't find it locally. Lynn