What is Sudoku?

From relative obscurity, Sudoku has suddenly become one of the gaming world’s newest sensation. Everybody is going gaga over this simple puzzle. Despite it being far less ‘techie’ than most video games, a lot of people are still crazy over Sudoku.

Sudoku as the name implies came from Japan. The name means number placement puzzle, which in essence, describes the game to the hilt. There are reports however that it originally started in United States, constructed by Howard Garns in the 1970s before coming to the Asian region.

Sudoku is a numbers game that makes use of logic rather than mathematical skills. A Sudoku puzzle is composed of a 9 x 9 grid of cells that has 9 columns, 9 rows and 9 3×3 subgrids. In each subgrid, there are 9 smaller cells where you need to place the numbers. The game, when first seen, can be very simple. Even the instructions are mightily simple. The only objective of the game is to place numbers inside the cells with only one catch, you need to place the numbers 1-9 only once in each of the rows, columns and subgrids.

This little tidbit of instruction transforms the game from simple to maddeningly complicated.

Every Sudoku puzzle will start with some of the cells already filled in. The more difficult the puzzle, the lesser number of cells will be filled in. In some cases however, this does not hold true as placements of number can also affect the game’s level of difficulty.

The task of the player is to complete the cells to arrive at the proper combination of numbers. You must remember though that a Sudoku puzzle only has one correct answer. This is why you must be very careful in placing numbers in each cell. One incorrect placement and you can kiss solving the puzzle goodbye. Remember that every number in the Sudoku puzzle is interconnected. The number in the next cell will depend on the numbers in the surrounding cells.

You can actually begin anywhere in the puzzle although many prefer order and start at the top of the puzzle. There are however drawbacks to beginning at the top. There are some instances when solving the bottom part of the puzzle is necessary to be able to solve the top part. This is especially true if the concentration of the clues is at the bottom part of the puzzle.

Most online Sudoku and downloadable games can check your cell entries in real time. This will vastly help you in solving the puzzle. There are however people who feel that having their entries checked makes the game lose its essence. Some still prefer the old fashioned way of solving the puzzle, with paper, pencil and good ol’ trial and error technique.

Although there are some techniques and strategies that Sudoku addicts have developed, the main ingredient in solving a Sudoku puzzle is patience and the ultimate use of one’s logical skills. It will be very difficult at first and you will probably not be able to solve your first few puzzles but with practice, you will get the hang of Sudoku and will be solving them everyday, just like every one else in town.

Who knows, you might become so good that you will do your own Sudoku constructing and will even be sharing your solving secrets to enthusiasts all over the world.