How to play Ekkon
Ekkon is a daily number puzzle. Everyone gets the same board, and you have three attempts. It takes a couple of minutes once it clicks.
The board
Every number from 1 to the board size appears once in each row and once in each column. So far it resembles Sudoku. The difference is that the board starts completely empty. Nothing is given away. Everything you learn, you buy.
The echo
You select a square and send an echo. The square answers with how many of its neighbours are higher than itself. It never reveals its own number.
A square in the middle has four neighbours, an edge square three, a corner square only two. An answer of «0» means no neighbour is higher — the square is the largest of them. A «3» from an edge square means all its neighbours are higher, so the square is the smallest.
Where it pays to look
The more neighbours a square has, the more its answer tells you. One echo in the middle roughly halves the number of possible solutions; one echo in a corner removes far fewer.
This is the opposite of the Sudoku instinct, where you hunt for the square with the fewest options. The number you get is luck. Where you look is the skill.
Par
Every echo costs. Your score is the number of echoes measured against par — the number good play needs. Solve a board with par 10 in seven echoes and it reads «3 under par». Fewer echoes is better.
The signal lamp
You can fill in a board that agrees with everything you know and still be wrong: several solutions can fit the same echoes. The lamp under the board tells you how many still fit. When it turns green, your echoes point to a single solution, and you can answer with certainty.
The lamp also tells you how many squares you can settle right now. If it says no square can be settled yet, you are missing information, not eyesight. One more echo is what helps.
Three attempts
«Am I done?» checks your board. If something is wrong it costs 3 echoes on your score, and the echoes that disagree are marked in red. The button stays locked while too many solutions still fit — you cannot answer before you know something. After three misses the solution is shown and the day is over.
Help along the way
If you are stuck, you can buy help. Having a solvable square pointed out costs the same as one echo, and is free when the answer is that no square can be settled yet. Having it filled in costs the same as a miss.
Practice
Next to today's board sits Practice. Same rules, no limit on attempts, and a new board whenever you want. That is where you learn.
No account
Ekkon needs no sign-up. Everything you play stays in your own browser.