Games
A Brain Teaser Called Sudoku Puzzles
Sudoku Puzzles are brain teasers that have also been called wordless crossword puzzles. Sudoku Puzzles are often solved through lateral thinking and have been making a large impact all across the world.
Also known as Number Place, Sudoku puzzles are actually logic-based placement puzzles. The object of the game is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell that is found on a 9 x 9 grid which is sundivided into 3 x 3 subgrids or regions. Several digits are often given in some cells. These are referred as givens. Ideally, at the end of the game, every row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each numeral from 1 through 9. Patience and logic are two qualities needed in order to complete the game.
Number puzzles very much similar to the Sudoku Puzzles have already been in existence and have found publication in many newspapers for over a century now. For instance, Le Siecle, a daily newspaper based in France, featured, as early as 1892, a 9x9 grid with 3x3 sub-squares, but used only double-digit numbers instead of the current 1-9. Another French newspaper, La France, created a puzzle in 1895 that utilized the numbers 1-9 but had no 3x3 sub-squares, but the solution does carry 1-9 in each of the 3 x 3 areas where the sub-squares would be. These puzzles were regular features in several other newspapers, including L'Echo de Paris for about a decade, but it unfortunately disappeared with the advent of the first world war.
Howard Garns, a 74-year-old retired architect and freelance puzzle constructor, was considered the designer of the modern Sudoku Puzzles. His design was first published in 1979 in New York by Dell, through its magazine Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games under the heading Number Place. Garns' creation was most likely inspired by the Latin square invention of Leonhard Euler, with a few modifications, basically, with the addition of a regional restriction and the presentation of the game as a puzzle, providing a partially-complete grid and requiring the solver to fill in the empty cells.
Sudoku Puzzles were then taken to Japan by the puzzle publishing company Nikoli. It introduced the game in its paper Monthly Nikoli sometime in April 1984. Nikoli president Maki Kaji gave it the name Sudoku, a name that the company holds trademark rights over; other Japanese publications which featured the puzzle have to settle for alternative names.
In 1989, Sudoku Puzzles entered the video games arena when it was published as DigitHunt on the Commodore 64. It was introduced by Loadstar/Softdisk Publishing. Since then, other computerized versions of the Sudoku Puzzles have been developed. For instance, Yoshimitsu Kanai made several computerized puzzle generator of the game under the name Single Number for the Apple Macintosh in 1995 both in English and in Japanese language; for the Palm (PDA) in 1996; and for Mac OS X in 2005.
For more valuable information on sudoku puzzles please visit http://www.sudoku-puzzles.com.
Terry Solomon
Similar articles
$20 Buys a Lot of Game These Days
Watching the evolution of sports games has been like watching a retarded child grow up to become a handsome and brilliant Master of the Universe. Now I? Read more →A Comparison Of the Next Generation Gaming Consoles (Part 2)
Arguably Microsoft can attribute a great deal of its success to the hugely successful online capabilities. The new Xbox 360 will continue with the online feature and develop it even further. Read more →A Look at the Sony PlayStation 3
At the recent E3 gaming Convention, Sony gave the world a first look at the new Playstation 3, Sony?s contribution to the next generation gaming consoles. Read more →About Playing Cards
There are a wide variety of playing cards. Some card decks are game specific particularly Pinochle cards, Bridge Decks, and Poker decks. Other card games are King? Read more →Aphorism
Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains.