A Sudoku Game for People with Motor Impairments Stéphane Norte DEEI-FCT, University of Algarve Campus de Gambelas 8000-117 Faro, Portugal Fernando G. Lobo DEEI-FCT, University of Algarve Campus de Gambelas 8000-117 Faro, Portugal snorte@ualg.pt ‚obo@ualg.pt ABSTRACT Educational games are a bene cial activity motivating a large number of students in our society. Unfortunately, disabled people have reduced opportunities when using a computer game. We have created a new Sudoku game for people whose motion is impaired, called Sudoku Access. This special interface allows the control of the game by voice and/or a single switch. With this Sudoku puzzle we can help more people to get involved in computer games and contribute to develop logic thinking and concentration in students. Categories and Subject Descriptors K.3.1 [Computers and Education]: Computer uses in Education ”Computer-assisted instruction (CAI); K.4.2 [Computers and Society]: Social Issues ”Assistive technologies for persons with disabilities. General Terms Human Factors world, partly alleviating physical limitations [1]. The Sudoku Access contains an adjusted environment to support di €erent kinds of aids. A person with disabilities can interact with the game using the keyboard, switch control and speech recognition. A user who may only have one or two reliable physical movements may be able to use switches to input information and interact with the game. Speech recognition provides another option for individuals with disabilities. Speech input allows users to control the Sudoku Access by saying numbers. We use the Speech Application Programming Interface (SAPI), an API developed by Microsoft to allow the use of speech recognition and speech synthesis within Windows applications. All the features of the puzzle can be used and con gured without an assistant ™s help. The user can con gure the di ƒculty level, scanning velocity, number of scanning cycles, scanning sound, color, input device, and Sudoku size. All these options can be controlled with a single switch device, microphone or by a standard mouse. A screenshot of the interface is shown in Figure 1. The software is available for free use and can be downloaded from http://w3.ualg.pt/~snorte/SudokuAccess.htm. Keywords Sudoku puzzle, accessibility, speech recognition Sudoku has become an educational tool for school teachers, since it provides an excellent aid to the development of analytical and lateral thinking. In our high school computer science lessons we use the Sudoku puzzle to assist students both in being focused and in developing reasoning skills, since this sort of puzzles helps them improve logic thinking and concentration. The most bene cial aspect is that it teaches children about problem-solving. You only need to bear in mind some information, and set out a strategy to play the game. Most times students ™ major problem in the classroom is lack of con dence. Although computer games have de nitely the potential of modifying the landscape of education, some schools are not yet technically or pedagogically equipped so as to encourage teachers to use these technologies on a regular and sustained basis in order to enhance students ™ learning. Unfortunately, many people with motor disabilities have severe limitations when interacting with the computer. Each person with a disability has its own unique limitation to use computer systems. With a virtual environment we can o €er the possibility to operate in the real Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). ITiCSE ™08, June 30 “July 2, 2008, Madrid, Spain. ACM 978-1-60558-115-6/08/06. Figure 1: The Sudoku Access.

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