A Brief History of Sudoku
Sudoku is one of the most addictive number puzzle games to hit the puzzle world. Millions of people from all walks of like have caught up with the Sudoku puzzle game in every form and version that exists today. People can play this by themselves, or against another person in a timed game.
So you have to ask… what is this Sudoku game anyway?
Sudoku was invented in 1979 by a 74-year old retired architect named Howard Garnes, who was also a freelance puzzle maker. It was a puzzle that had a grid that was partially filled with numbers. The solver had to fill in the rest of the squares with the right combination of numbers. The game first appeared on the New York publication Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games under the name Number Place.
Number Place was introduced in Japan in April 1984 by the Nikoli company in its paper, the Monthly Nikolist. Kaji Maki, Nikoli’s president, named the game “Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru”, meaning the number must be single, or the number must occur only once. Later, the name was abbreviated to Sudoku. In 1986, two innovations to the game were introduced by Nikoli:
a) a maximum of 32 numbers will be given in each puzzle; and
b) the numbers were distributed in rotationally balanced squares.
These innovations made Sudoku very popular with puzzle solvers. Though Sudoku is currently published in almost all mainstream publications in Japan, like the Asahi Shimbun, Nikoli has the copyright to the name Sudoku.
Due to the similarity of the logic behind Sudoku and the legendary Rubik’s Cube, Sudoku was dubbed as “The 21st Century Rubik’s Cube”.
The first computer version of Sudoku was Digit Hunt, created by Loadstar/Softdisk Publishing and released on the Commodore 64 console platform in 1989.
Another running version that still exists is Single Number, which was created by Yoshimitsu Kanai. Single Number is a computerized puzzle generator that first appeared in 1995 for the Apple Macintosh PC platform. A PDA version appeared in 1996, and the most recent version for the Mac OS-X appeared just last 2005.
Dell Magazines still publishes Number Place. But it has added two new Sudoku magazines, Original Sudoku, which highlights the original version of Number Place, and Extreme Sudoku, which is a more difficult version of the original game. Kappa publications prints the Nikoli Sudoku as Squared Away in GAMES Magazine. Various American newspapers like The Boston Globe, The Examiner, The New York Post, and USA Today also print daily puzzles of Squared Away.
Though Sudoku was very popular in Japan and the USA before, Europe virtually had no idea that the game existed. But thanks to a retired Hong Kong judge, Wayne Gould, Europe would also catch the Sudoku fever.
Gould saw a partially completed Sudoku puzzle in a Japanese bookstore in 1997. He bought the book, and created a computer program that could generate puzzles quickly and easily, developing it over 6 years in Pappocom, his software company. Then, he promoted Sudoku to the British newspaper, The Times, with knowledge regarding its history of publishing puzzles. On November 12, 2004, the first Su Doku puzzle was introduced to the Britons. Pappocom’s puzzles are being printed daily by The Times since that day.
Various British versions of Sudoku then started popping up. There was Codenumber, The Daily Mail’s version, which was derived from Michael Mepham’s puzzles, and first printed on January 19, 2005. 5 Sudoku puzzles were first printed by The Daily Telegraph of Sydney last May 20, 2005. And when the British Telegraph introduced Sudoku daily on its front pages, starting last February 23, 2005, other British newspapers started to take real interest in the game. Due to the popularity of the game, The Times published the first Sudoku book to gain its edge over competitors. Due to its popularity, Sudoku was dubbed as 2005’s “fastest growing puzzle in the world”.
Sudoku conquered not only the print media, but also broadcast and electronic media! Channel 4 introduced the first TV Sudoku game last July 2005 when it included daily Sudoku puzzles in its Teletext service. The Radio Times, BBC’s program guide, started featuring Super Sudoku, a weekly puzzle game last August 2, 2005. Dutch mobile phone company Mobile Excellence International also released the first mobile phone version of Sudoku last September 2005 in Europe.
Sky One also produced the first Sudoku TV show, Sudoku Live, which started airing last July 1, 2005. Hosted by Carol Vorderman, Sudoku Live featured 9 teams composed of 9 players per team, representing different geographical regions, that had to solve the show’s puzzle. Each team had a celebrity member and 8 ordinary citizens. While the studio version was being played, home viewers had their own interactive version to play with.
CBS started the broadcasting stories regarding Sudoku, including on the Early Show last summer 2005, and on the CBS Evening News last October 26, 2005.
The US TV series HOUSE M.D. also showed Dr. House solving a Sudoku puzzle during the December 13, 2005 episode. Due to its addictive nature, Sudoku was banned on the set due to the cast constantly playing it.
Now, the Internet is teeming with millions of Sudoku versions, both online and offline, free and purchasable. With the billions of unique puzzles generated by computer programs, 2 to 4 websites will not bore a Sudoku addict for a quite a long time.
Who could’ve thought that a simple number puzzle on paper in 1979 would conquer the world like the common cold?
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Think about the History of Sudoku
Hailed as the Rubik’s Cube of the 21st century, Sudoku is the current rage among number puzzles. It may sound surreal but at an age where bubblegum pop music has successfully reinvented itself as punk rock through the likes of Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan, a puzzle and a number puzzle at that is able to establish itself as a global phenomenon. Sudoku, which is sometimes spelled as Su Doku, is pronounced as soo-doe-koo. It is an abbreviation of the Japanese phrase suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru which means the digits must remain single. Most people are under the wrong impression that sudoku is of Japanese origin when the only thing Japanese about sudoku is the word sudoku.
Nikoli Publishing House Nikoli is the publisher of the leading Japanese puzzle publication Monthly Nikolist. The think tanks of Nikoli noticed an interesting number puzzle called The Number Place published by their American counterparts, Dell Puzzle Magazines. Sudoku made its debut on the pages of Monthly Nikolist in April of the year 1984. It was initially christened Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru by Kaji Maki, Nikoli’s incumbent president at that time. The maiden issue of Sudoku enjoyed modest success. Its success is due in large part to the fact that the Japanese people are inherently puzzle-crazy.
It was not until two significant developments occurred that the puzzle began to really catch fire. First, the name suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru was shortened to sudoku which was easier to remember and to market. Second, Nikoli modified the game by introducing two new rules in 1986: the digits of are to be arranged symmetrically; and the given numbers are not to exceed 30 digits. As of today, there are at least five publishing companies that print monthly magazines solely devoted to the game in Japan. Sudoku is, for all intents and purposes, a brand name; it is not the generic name of the game. It is a lawfully registered mark of the Nikoli Company in Japan. This means that the other publishers of the game in Japan are legally obligated to provide their own brand names for their versions of the popular number puzzle.
Made in Manhattan According to urban legends, sudoku was created by a team of puzzle creators from New York. Another version of the story credits a certain Howard Gerns, a retired architect and puzzle enthusiast, as the true father of the modern sudoku. Although the legends conflict and give credit to different inventors, they coincide on two important details:
Sudoku was first published in 1979 by Dell Puzzle Magazines under the title The Number Place; and
Gerns and the team of puzzle creators were both inspired by the Latin Square of Leonhard Euler. Sudoku: The Old Testament Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician, presented a paper entitled De Quadratis Magicis before the St. Petersburg Academy in 1776. Euler demonstrated that a magic square can be created through the use of 9, 16, 25 or 36 cells. He imposed conditions on the value of his number variables to bring about the creation of his magic square. His magic square evolved into the Latin square in his later papers.
The versions of Gerns and the team of puzzlers differ from Euler in two ways: First, Euler’s Latin square does not have a regional restriction; and Second, Euler neither created nor did he intend to create a puzzle. On the other hand, Gerns and the team saw the potential of a hit puzzle in Euler’s works and proceeded to create the grandfather of modern day sudoki with this specific frame of mind. No Fool’s Gould Wayne Gould, a retired judge based in Hong Kong, chanced upon a sudoku puzzle in a Tokyo bookstore in 1997; Gould could not help but gravitate towards the blank squares of the puzzle. He felt compelled to create a digital version of the puzzle and worked on the sudoku computer program from 1997 to 2003.
In 2004, he found himself pitching an unknown puzzle called Su Doku to The Times of Britain. The results were overwhelming; within a few days, other newspapers began printing their own versions of the game. The popularity of the game snowballed and spilled over to Australia and New Zealand. By 2005, it had earned the moniker the fastest growing puzzle in the world. What Goes Around, Comes Around American newspapers caught wind of the sensation created by sudoku in Britain and the rest of the world, and found themselves jumping on the sudoku bandwagon. The New York Post published its own version of sudoku in April of 2005; this marked the homecoming and belated public acceptance of a New York native who went unnoticed in its own backyard since its birth for more than 20 years.
Within a few days sudoku made its presence felt throughout the country when major dailies such as USA Today and The Daily News began replacing their usual crosswords with the number game. The appeal of modern sudoku appears to be infinite and without boundaries. As a number puzzle, it does not make use of letters from any particular language; thus easily dispensing with the language barrier factor. Publications numbering in hundreds of thousands, from magazines to newspapers and digests, solely devoted to the game are testaments to the puzzle’s popularity and profitability. The numerous websites that offer digital versions of the game, for free or for fee, guarantees the game’s continuous development and improvement; it also provides a platform most accessible to the younger population.
Sudoku has even gone mobile as companies race to create sudoku games specifically for mobile phone users. Sudoku is a game of logic that challenges the young and old alike. In fact, studies on the mental benefits of regularly playing sudoku have been conducted; and the results have been positive so far. From the fastest growing puzzle in the world, sudoku has evolved into the most contagious puzzle virus the world has seen in years. Go and play sudoku.
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Solving A Sudoku – The Various Levels Involved
Sudoku is a very interesting and addicting number puzzle played in almost all parts and sections of the globe. It is an exciting and very thrilling game. But at times, Sudoku can be tricky and very difficult.
The objective of the game is to fill in all numbers from one to nine in each and every cell in the given grid. Numbers should not repeat in any column, row or three x three block.
How to start solving a Sudoku puzzle? The following steps will help a player to solve any sudoku easy or difficult.
Easy Sudoku
1. be careful while solving the puzzle. Now that you already know duplication of numbers isn’t allowed, you can use it as a hint for considering other numbers. Always remember, more difficult the given Sudoku, harder it will be to start.
2. While solving any easy Sudoku, you should first prioritize your search for possibilities. They are the numbers which are possible in the column, row or block. So if you know the possible numbers, it will be easier to choose whichever number is suitable for a particular cell.
3. Start your work from number one till you are on your way towards number nine. Since you already filled in some numbers, this will be your clue to search for other numbers to be filled.
4. If you become confused, you can go back and make sure to have a look at every number you have filled in already. This will surely help you to know if there is any number you have missed. Once everything gets settled, you can go on with the puzzle and try to complete it. If you still can’t find the problem, label each three x three box with numbers which can possibly go into the box. Example, if an empty box is left. Fill it with possible numbers to see the result of your action.
5. It is advisable to begin your play in a magazine or newspaper. There are magazines or newspapers, which have sudoku. Easy puzzles usually come out during either Monday or Tuesday. The difficult ones come out the days that follow.
Hard Sudoku
1. Start with number 1. Use the same logic used by you in the easy version to complete every empty block, column and row with all possible numbers. Put possibilities if necessary. They’ll help you at a later stage if you have 2 or 3 choices for each cell but can’t remember them all.
2. If two cells in any row, column or block is one of the two numbers, remove the other possibilities using it. Example, if in a three x three block, four empty cells are there, you have established: cell A and cell B can be one, two, three, four; cell C and cell D can be three or four, you’ll know cell A and cell B can never have three or four as they already have one or two. Cell C and cell D should be three or four. This information can be quite helpful to complete other boxes given.
3. A hard Sudoku will consume more time. It can even take few days to complete, but they can provide players more fun, contentment and enjoyment after they have solved the puzzle. It is just the same as an easy Sudoku – both of them will give you very less clues to start with. The best technique of solving the hard version is to know the possible digits which can go into each box. In case you have two numbers for a single 3 x 3 box, column or row, decide which number should fill each of the locations. Though this may be confusing, when you apply it, you’ll realize that it is simple and quite useful.
4. Visit the net. There are lots of sites that provide puzzles – easy to hard. Practice some of the sample puzzles and prepare for a more complicated puzzle.
Follow these steps to solve the Sudoku and find out that however difficult it may seem, in the end, you will feel incomparably excited and have fun.
Related Sudoku Resources
Solving A Sudoku – The Various Levels Involved
Sudoku is a very interesting and addicting number puzzle played in almost all parts and sections of the globe. It is an exciting and very thrilling game. But at times, Sudoku can be tricky and very difficult.
The objective of the game is to fill in all numbers from one to nine in each and every cell in the given grid. Numbers should not repeat in any column, row or three x three block.
How to start solving a Sudoku puzzle? The following steps will help a player to solve any sudoku easy or difficult.
Easy Sudoku
1. be careful while solving the puzzle. Now that you already know duplication of numbers isn’t allowed, you can use it as a hint for considering other numbers. Always remember, more difficult the given Sudoku, harder it will be to start.
2. While solving any easy Sudoku, you should first prioritize your search for possibilities. They are the numbers which are possible in the column, row or block. So if you know the possible numbers, it will be easier to choose whichever number is suitable for a particular cell.
3. Start your work from number one till you are on your way towards number nine. Since you already filled in some numbers, this will be your clue to search for other numbers to be filled.
4. If you become confused, you can go back and make sure to have a look at every number you have filled in already. This will surely help you to know if there is any number you have missed. Once everything gets settled, you can go on with the puzzle and try to complete it. If you still can’t find the problem, label each three x three box with numbers which can possibly go into the box. Example, if an empty box is left. Fill it with possible numbers to see the result of your action.
5. It is advisable to begin your play in a magazine or newspaper. There are magazines or newspapers, which have sudoku. Easy puzzles usually come out during either Monday or Tuesday. The difficult ones come out the days that follow.
Hard Sudoku
1. Start with number 1. Use the same logic used by you in the easy version to complete every empty block, column and row with all possible numbers. Put possibilities if necessary. They’ll help you at a later stage if you have 2 or 3 choices for each cell but can’t remember them all.
2. If two cells in any row, column or block is one of the two numbers, remove the other possibilities using it. Example, if in a three x three block, four empty cells are there, you have established: cell A and cell B can be one, two, three, four; cell C and cell D can be three or four, you’ll know cell A and cell B can never have three or four as they already have one or two. Cell C and cell D should be three or four. This information can be quite helpful to complete other boxes given.
3. A hard Sudoku will consume more time. It can even take few days to complete, but they can provide players more fun, contentment and enjoyment after they have solved the puzzle. It is just the same as an easy Sudoku – both of them will give you very less clues to start with. The best technique of solving the hard version is to know the possible digits which can go into each box. In case you have two numbers for a single 3 x 3 box, column or row, decide which number should fill each of the locations. Though this may be confusing, when you apply it, you’ll realize that it is simple and quite useful.
4. Visit the net. There are lots of sites that provide puzzles – easy to hard. Practice some of the sample puzzles and prepare for a more complicated puzzle.
Follow these steps to solve the Sudoku and find out that however difficult it may seem, in the end, you will feel incomparably excited and have fun.
Related Sudoku Resources
Sudoku Made Simple
Playing a puzzle is one of the most popular pastimes in all parts of the world. During breaks or idle hours you can oftentimes see a person busy solving puzzles from newspapers, magazine or books. These are personal moments that can help idle time away and sharpen ones mind.
One of the best played puzzles is the Sudoku. It is an addictive number puzzle game that is taking the United States and the whole world by storm. It has become one of the most famous puzzle games ever created.
It is played using a 9 x 9 grid that is divided into nine equal squares. The objective of the puzzle is to place the numbers from 1 to 9. Each number must appear only once in every row, column and in 3 x 3 squares.
A Sudoku puzzle game usually begins with a set of numbers already given in the puzzle. Depending on the given numbers and the placement of the numbers, this determines the complexity level of this puzzle. The puzzle normally differs from the simple or easy down to the difficult level of play. Sudoku puzzle is solved using logical skills.
If you haven’t tried playing a Sudoku puzzle yet, it is suggested that you begin with the easiest one available. If you want to purchase a puzzle book, the different levels are labeled – whether it is easy, moderately hard or very difficult.
If you want to look for the game in a newspaper, you will usually find the easiest Sudoku puzzle at the start of the week (Monday). By starting with the easy Sudoku, it will help you improve the strategies and techniques you have. In addition, it is not as frustrating as the difficult Sudoku.
How to play the Easy Sudoku?
For beginners, here are steps which can be helpful in solving the easy sudoku. Be sure to follow each step carefully and correctly to have a better chance of solving the puzzle.
1. Upon Solving, think carefully and cleverly. Once you already know that you cannot have two same numbers in each row, column or 3 x 3 boxes, it will be a good help or hint which you can use to get another number in the series. Remember the more difficult the Sudoku is, the lesser chance to start the game easily.
2. In solving an easy Sudoku, the first thing you must keep in mind is to look for the possibilities. Possibilities are the numbers that are possibly just around. Beginning at 1, make an imaginary line on the boxes in the 1’s row and column. When you see that only one box is left in the nine-square block, you will know that it is a possibility.
3. Carefully work on the numbers until the number 9. Since you already placed some of the numbers, this must help you to get other numbers which has more possibilities.
4. If you are trapped, go back but ensure to look at the other numbers. Once that happens, it is assured that you had missed something on the puzzle. That thing is normally where you need to be active again. If on the process you still cannot find the “missing number”, begin by labeling each block with everything which has a chance to be on the box.
5. It would be advisable that you begin a game in the newspaper. Most of the newspapers in the country already have Sudoku puzzle games. Most of the easy puzzle games are out during Monday and Tuesday. While the difficult puzzles are out on the following days.
The basic technique most players use in playing the Easy Sudoku is by going through every number and by trying to place as many numbers as the puzzle permits. You have to observe the numbers on the rows and columns to make sure that there are no same numbers present.
If you are working your way on the numbers 1 to 9, ensure to think about going through the same process again. Then, look at the squares to know the numbers you can use to prevent other numbers from filling in.
Try to train your mind well in looking at the numbers in all 3 x 3 boxes, columns or rows. In this way, you can easily spot the missing numbers which you need in each 3 x 3 boxes, columns or rows.
Lastly, if it is your first time to play the game, be patient. It may be an easy Sudoku but it is not as simple as what you may think. It still requires great logical skills and careful thinking in order to win and complete the puzzle.
