Sudoku Puzzle

What is the Sudoku Puzzle?

A combination crossword, Sudoku is a 9 by 9-grid puzzle that is the most mind-bending game you will find on the internet today. Comprising of nine sub grids within the primary grid, Sudoku puzzle comes in various sizes and themes, to make sure you stay hooked onto it! However, the underlying golden rule is the same: filling in the numbers without repetition. According to research on the origins of this puzzle, Sudoku dates back to the time of Leonhard Euler, a Swiss mathematician of the 18th century.

With the passage of time, the modern day Sudoku as you see it today, was created by incorporating more restrictions to the above rule. These restrictions meant that the repetition could not be done even inside each grid, thus making the puzzle even more challenging in nature. However, when Euler discovered that Latin Squares could be used to fill in squares without repeating numbers, this game had not kicked off too well. It was not until the 21st century that the Sudoku puzzle gained so much popularity, that players now find it the most addictive puzzle ever created.

Competitions and Media Presence of the Sudoku Puzzle

The first time ever that Sudoku was published in a known medium was in 2004 when the London Times introduced the puzzle in its entertainment section. From then onwards, every newspaper has printed at least one puzzle on a daily basis. The momentum that Sudoku eventually gained was a surprise for all puzzle makers. In 2005, its popularity increased to such an extent that websites were solely dedicated to providing the online audience with enough puzzles so that they never ran out of them.

Communities, fan clubs and forums came about that talked, shared and coached amateurs in the basics of Sudoku puzzles by starting multiplayer games. In 2006, Italy hosted the first ever Sudoku Championship in which teams from over 20 countries participated. This was just the beginning of the glory that the Sudoku puzzle has sustained to date. Annual competitions and daily uploads of hundreds of puzzles are now tracked by thousands of Sudoku fans.

Fun Facts about the Sudoku Puzzle

Being a top choice for puzzle lovers worldwide, there is a lot to know and learn about Sudoku puzzles. If you have never played Sudoku before, perhaps some fun facts about the game will entice you to give it a shot.

• Sudoku is not just a ‘coincidental’ name for this puzzle. In Japanese ‘Su’ means numbers and ‘Doku’ means single. Therefore, Sudoku means ‘single numbers only.’

• There are about 5,472,730,538 Sudoku puzzle solutions available for this game and you need more than just a lifetime for figuring them all out.

• Sudoku is the only game to become this addictive and famous since 1980 when the Rubik’s Cube was invented and loved by puzzle fans.

• Sudoku puzzles are played so widely by so many people that no one knows the exact number of players. Estimating the exact number is impossible because people play it in different modes such as paper, web and downloadable versions.

• No other puzzle has ever been considered good prevention against ailments such as depression, blood pressure and Alzheimer.