Sudoku

All About Sudoku

Crossword puzzles not for you? Well, if you prefer puzzles that feature numbers to words, then sudoku is definitely worth trying if you haven’t already. While there are many crossword puzzles benefits, there are also loads of reasons to try sudoku, so read on. The aim of the game is to complete a number grid without repeating any of the numbers 1-9 across each row and column. To do this, you will have a few of the numbers revealed within smaller 3X3 grids that make up the whole puzzle.

The History Of Sudoku

You may think that the current versions you see around in magazines and games were the original Sudoku game, but you’d be wrong. Sudoku has been around for centuries in different forms, with the first variant appearing in 1895.

Going by the name Latin Squares, the first version of this maths puzzle was created by a Swiss mathematician. Later on though, in 1979, Howard Garns created Number Place, which was a numbers puzzle on a 9X9 grid, similar to the modern-day Sudoku puzzles.

But where did the name Sudoku come from? Well, when the Japanese first published the game in 1984, they named it ‘Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru’, which translates to how every number must only appear once within the grid. So to make it more memorable, the abbreviation Sudoku was coined from the entire phrase.

Why Is Sudoku So Popular?

There are plenty of reasons why Sudoku is popular. However, some of the most common revolve around the fact that it’s a fun logic game that can be played anywhere. It’s a great distraction whenever you have time to pass like during a commute or while waiting for an appointment.

Besides that, Sudoku has no language barriers or age restrictions. Whether young or old, Asian or American, anyone with a recognition of the numbers 1-9 can play since there are even grids restricted to only filling in the numbers 1-4 on a 4X4 grid for beginners.

Sudoku Is Good For You

Maintaining your brain health is very important. That’s where logic games like Sudoku come in. Without even realizing it, finding a few minutes every day to play one round helps stimulate your brain. That could help you to either relax after a long day or help protect you against the risk of mental diseases like Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Sudoku Variants

Sudoku nowadays comes in several variants, depending on what you’re in the mood for. You can choose by size, with smaller than 9X9 grids referred to as Sub Doku and larger than 9X9 grids called Super Doku.

There are those with plenty of clues and those with as few clues as possible. You’ll even come across 3D layouts, overlapping grids, spark Sudoku layouts and many more to push your puzzle-solving limits.