Judoku, a Jewish version of Sudoku, has been released as an application for the iPad.

The game uses Jewish symbols such as a Star of David and shofar, or letters of the Hebrew alphabet, in place of numbers. It also includes humorous explanations of the Jewish symbols.

Judoku creator Andrew Charon created a mobile Sudoku app before turning to the Jewish version.

“My whole life people have asked me questions about Judaism, and then it occurred to me, here’s the opportunity to merge both into one fun user experience,” he said.

“I wanted a captivating tool I could use to teach my own children about Judaism. Learning the Torah was competing for their attention against Angry Birds and Justin Bieber tweets. I figured if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. That, and frankly, I really just wanted to create something called Judoku.”

Judoku could be released for other mobile devices such as Apple’s iPhone and iPod, or for the Android and BlackBerry devices, depending on user demand. — jta