Naturelich Games

The Sudoku Game (Winning Moves)
This game is playable by up to four players and contains 100 original Sudoku puzzles (with a difficulty between Novice and Samurai). As a first step, players have to agree upon a difficulty level. Each player receives a Sudoku sheet in a different color and has to solve the puzzle. Players score points for each number they put down correctly. The player with the most points (after one or several turns) wins the game. Several variants are available. In the Ichiban variant, the player who solves the puzzle first has to shout Sudoku and the turn ends. In the Taimu variant, the turn ends after a pre-determined amount of time has passed. The Hinto variant (this is probably not Japanese, I guess) gives players the option to get a little help from the solution book. Of course this comes with a point loss. The game may also be played as a solo game. In this case, the Tokei variant is played against the clock, while the Bureen allows you to repeatedly solve puzzles. The game has already been released, but I have not played it (so far).

Challenge Sudoku (Venice Connection)
This box contains a board and 81 tiles to be used for solving the puzzle. These tiles have a different color to allow for an easier assignment into groups. In addition 330 smaller tiles are provided to help players solve the puzzle and to keep track of scores. The game allows for two additional variants (next to classic Sudoku):
Challenge Sudoku is playable for 2-4 players. The tiles need to be put face down onto the board. The player then start to uncover the tiles. If the tile matches the standard Sudoku rules, the player scores points. Otherwise the tile is taken to hand and a hole is left on the board. Players can score bonus points if a tile taken to hand fits into these holes.
Solitaire Sudoku: This variant is a one player variant of Challenge Sudoku. The aim of the game is to avoid having three identical tiles in his hand. The fewer tiles remain in the players hand at the end of the game, the better.

To me, this sounds like an interesting variation of the Sudoku theme. It seems to encourage some kind of backward thinking...

Su-dok-tive by Jeff Widderich (Chess International)
The game title is a play on words (if I am not mistaken) and probably relates to the seductiveness of Sudoku. This two-player game, however, is only remotely related to the original Sudoku. It contains black and white tiles which are marked with dots and/or lines which make unique symbols. The players alternately place one tile onto the board but each row and each 3x3 square contain each symbol only ones. The player completing a row or square scores one point, the player with the most tiles in this row (or square) scores two points. And: who would've guessed: the player with the most points wins. I believe this is a very unique 2-player variant of the game which sounds interesting as well. Apparently, the back sides of the tiles show regular numbers as well, which will enable a regular Sudoku game.

SuDoKu by Reiner Knizia (Kosmos Verlag)
The game title is spelled a little bit differently with capital letters in between. Since the game is designed by Rainer Knizia, I have to presume that some new game elements have been added. More information is currently not available.

Sudoku - Das Brettspiel (Ravensburger)
This game is scheduled for an October release and allows 1-4 players. The game box cover shows a washable board and appropriate pens. Standard Sudoku - only washable not clickable. May be something for travelling children...

Sudoku by noris
noris offers two separate games: one single-player variant (100 puzzles) and one multiplayer variant (with 150+ puzzles). Both are pretty standard Sudoku.

Naturelich my opinion
Some of these games (which play with the Sudoku theme) certainly sound somewhat interesting. Maybe, I'll give them a try at Essen. I don't see Sudoku as a major board game thing, rather a marketing gag and an opportunity for companies to earn money (and produce "real" board games). Especially the noris and Ravensburger editions sound pretty dull and unexciting to me. Those two seem to add very little value and I don't see any reason to buy them, except for people having no internet connection (who would not read this anyway).

Whether the Knizia-Sudoku brings something more interesting remains to be seen. So far, I was not able to find any hints about gameplay. To me, both Su-dok-tive and Challenge Sudoku seem to be a worthy try for Sudoku-fans. If you are not a fan, you may want to try the original, then get addicted and afterwards come back to the boardgames. At least, this is what game publishers want us to do...

Note: If you understand German, you can also read the Spielbox special on Sudoku at Essen 2005.