Sudoku is hard to spell, looks like a crossword puzzle with numbers instead of letters, and is incredibly addictive. He tries to put down a full Sudoku book after finishing the first few pages.
Sudoku is easy to learn but hard to master. It’s a lot of fun to play and I’ve found some fun facts that can help you enjoy it more.
The spelling of Sudoku is often confused with Sodoku, which, according to Wikipedia, is a form of rat bite fever, a bacterial disease.
Sudoku is a popular logic puzzle found in many newspapers and magazines. There are books, wooden games, electronic puzzles and computer games with Sudoku.
Sudoku comes from the Japanese ‘su’ meaning number and ‘doku’ meaning single. Sudoku is pronounced, soo-doh-koo. It is probably called unique number because only the unique numbers one through nine are used in the original versions of the puzzle.
Sudoku is a logical puzzle, not a number puzzle, as many people initially believe. The squares can be filled with letters, numbers, or shapes and the puzzle is still a Sudoku puzzle.
Sudoku is called Number Place in Japan. Number Place was the original name used in games published in Howard Garn’s Dell magazine.
A proper Sudoku has only one solution. Must contain 17 leading digits. Some of the puzzles you see in newspapers and magazines are not true Sudoku puzzles, as they have more than one solution.
There are about 5 billion possible sudoku puzzles with different grids. The permutations of the correct answers exceed six sextillion.
Sudoku puzzles are a type of Latin square. Latin Square puzzles have been around for centuries.
Sudoku is recommended along with crossword puzzles as a form of mental exercise to help fend off age-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Sudoku is healthy and fun, so enjoy playing with a clear conscience.