SUDOKU BEARS

Sudoku Bears

Sudoku Bears is a cozy reimagining of Sudoku where six adorable bears take the place of traditional numbers. Instead of filling a grid with digits, players place different bear characters into the correct spaces, making the puzzle feel more welcoming and less intimidating, especially for casual players.

Inspiration

The idea came from an unexpected place—my young son's trousers. They had cute cartoon animal characters printed all over them, and I thought they would make perfect puzzle pieces. That simple observation sparked the idea: what if Sudoku wasn't about numbers at all, but about adorable bears that people could instantly recognize?

From there, Sudoku Bears was born.

How I Built It

The project was built using Phaser running inside Reddit Devvit. I designed the game with a portrait mobile-first layout so it feels natural to play directly inside a Reddit post.

The game features:

Daily puzzles shared with everyone. Time-based challenges. Daily leaderboards. Streak tracking to encourage players to return every day. A simple tap-to-place interface designed for quick play.

The artwork follows a hand-drawn notebook aesthetic to create a relaxing and cozy experience that matches the casual nature of the game.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges was simplifying Sudoku while keeping it satisfying. Traditional Sudoku can feel overwhelming, so I experimented with smaller puzzles and replacing numbers with memorable bear characters to make the rules easier to understand.

Another challenge was adapting the interface to work comfortably within Reddit posts while keeping the gameplay clean and intuitive on mobile devices.

What I Learned

This project taught me how to integrate Phaser with Reddit Devvit and how to design games specifically for community platforms instead of standalone websites. I also learned how important daily challenges, leaderboards, and short gameplay sessions are for encouraging players to come back and play again.

Why Reddit

Reddit communities thrive on shared experiences. Sudoku Bears gives everyone the same daily puzzle, allowing players to compare completion times, compete on leaderboards, and return each day to improve their ranking. My goal was to create a game that feels at home inside a Reddit community rather than simply embedding a game into a post.

Built With

• phaser.js