I've been playing for several years on my Android phones. I play all four levels. My personal challenges are to complete the Extreme and Hard levels without any time constraints (although I'd estimate an average of 5 minutes on the Extreme and 3.5 minutes on the Medium), complete the Medium level in under 2 minutes, and complete the Easy level in under 1 minute. I'd guess that I play this game 30 times daily. The "History" on my phone, now 2 years old, shows the following range of the top 10 times for each level:
0:38 - 0:43 - Easy
0:57 - 1:05 - Medium
1:20 - 1:36 - Hard
1:33 - 1:50 - Extreme
This is all to suggest only that I am an experienced player.
Most of those Extreme best times probably were, in reality, a Medium-skill puzzle, given the high number of pre-filled squares. Today, however, the difficulty scale for all four levels shifted upwards. I can't finish a Medium puzzle in less than 4 minutes; normally I can complete those always within 2.5 minutes. The one Extreme puzzle I completed today without any helps (hints or validation checks), took about 9 minutes.
What I've noticed is that the number of pre-filled squares has dropped dramatically today. Where I might see five numbers pre-filled on 4 squares (for example, the numbers 2, 3, 6, 8, & 9 are pre-filled 4 times) on a Medium puzzle, today, I'd be lucky to see one number pre-filled on 4 squares. The same "anomaly" occurs on all 4 levels.
If my personal history with this game is any guide, this "anomaly" will last a day or two, then return to normal. I've never tracked the dates when this happens, but a WAG would be once every 5 weeks.
If you are an experienced player, have you noticed this? It isn't subtle, and I've wondered at times if the developers are doing social experiments on us. 
|
