The Rise and Rise of Sudoku
It is astonishing to know that Sudoku, the puzzle game that has cast a spell on Americans, once lurked in unknown corners of Japan. It took almost two centuries for Sudoku to conquer the world!
Sudoku made its first attempt to lure Americans in 1979, when it was published under the name of “Number Place”. But, alas, it failed to capture popular attention. Although, it was beginning to be popular in Japan, Americans did not care much about it. However, Sudoku would appear in a few magazines in the US once in a while.
Things changed in 1989, when Sudoku was introduced under the name of “DigitHunt” on Commodore 64 computers. And then, the magic of Sudoko started spreading in the US. In 1995, it was published on the Apple Macintosh. The next year, it was seen on Palm PDA. Sudoku had finally arrived.
In 1997, a retired Japanese judge, Wayne Gould, sighted a half complete puzzle in a bookshop. He was obsessed by it and produced computer software that would generate Sudoku puzzles. Did you know that it took him six years to develop this software? With his efforts, the Times published a Sudoku puzzle on November 12th, 2004, under the name of “Su Doku”. Now each issue of the Times carries a Su Doku puzzle!
Other magazines followed suit after Su Doku’s success. The Daily Times published Sudoku puzzles as “Codenumber”. The Daily Telegraph also did not lag behind. In the year 2005, the wave of Sudoku had reached other continents, like Australia, too. Thus, Sudoku gained the status of the most popular puzzle game in the world! It had carved a space on the front page of the Telegraph. Each and every British paper carried Sudoku puzzles. Not only this, there were books being launched on Sudoku. This intriguing game opened a new avenue of stiff competition in the media world.
Forget print media, Sudoku was adorning the televisions by the mid-2005; thanks to the satellite channel Sky One. They telecast a live TV Sudoku show, which was the first ever of its kind in the world. As a part of the promotional stunt, Sky One constructed a square shaped puzzle on a hillside, located near Chipping Sodbury in Bristol, England. It was 84 meters high. What a Sudoku craze!
And if that was not enough, then read this: the first World Sudoku Championship was held in Lucca, Italy, in 2006 Now, that is what you can call the rise and rise of Sudoku.
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