And you thought potato chips were addictive. Sudoku is the ultimate brain pleaser and fast becoming one of the most popular head games in the world—be careful and think about it carefully before you accept the challenge. Remember you can’t play just one.
What’s black and white and read all over?
Sudoku, the highly addictive numbers puzzle that’s invigorating the world of brainteasers and giving the Sunday crossword a run for its money.
You may have seen it in your national newspaper: a small grid displaying what at first glance appears to be a baffling numerical pattern. Making sense out of Sudoku¹s numerical clues or ‘givens,’ however, is the purpose of the game.
So how does it work?
Each game of Sudoku is made up of 81 individual boxes, which are then subdivided into nine, three-by-three boxes or groups. The puzzler’s task is to enter the numbers one through nine in the three-by-three boxes as well as the rows and columns that make up the entire grid without repetition. The given numbers, randomly spaced throughout the grid, stand in the way of making this task any easy one. But don’t let all those numbers frighten you. Reason and logic are the tools you need to solve the puzzle not mathematical skill.
Sudoku’s history is one of cross-cultural chance encounters. Though it claims some Japanese origin—the name Sudoku is the registered trademark of Nikoli Co. Ltd. of Japan, the company that introduced the pastime to Asia in the 1980s—the game began as ‘Numbers Place’ in the US-based Dell Puzzles magazines. Wayne Gould, a retired Hong Kong judge originally from New Zealand, brought the game to the UK in 2004. Since then, Sudoku has spread around the world and is syndicated in newspapers from Canada to India.
Michael Mepham is the puzzle compiler at The Daily Telegraph in London, England and, like Gould, one of the engines of the thriving Sudoku industry. Mepham’s puzzles are published internationally; his publishing company has produced 14 books on the subject, he’s developed computer software, and his website (
www.sudoku.org.uk) attracts 50,000 visitors daily.
According to Mepham, a diverse group visits his site. “I get all types. There’s the I’m- addicted-I-forgot-to-pick-up-the-kids-from-school type. Some my-teacher-gave-me-an-A+ for-explaining-Sudoku-to-the-class to the here’s-a-new-logic-solving-strategy-that-I-call double-flip-flop-angel’s-wings brainbox.”
For Mepham the phenomenon is easily explained.
“Sudoku is a small puzzle with very simple rules, so it is easy to understand and requires no general knowledge, just the human logic skills that everyone possesses. And it takes up very little space on the newspaper page, so from an editor’s point of view it is the ideal puzzle, therefore has a very strong chance of actually making it into the newspaper in the first place.”
Sudoku’s advantages may extend beyond newspaper sales, however. Recent studies point to the benefits of keeping the mind active as we age and some researchers are finding that a lifetime of intellectual stimulation may ward off degenerative conditions like Alzheimer¹s Disease.
“To some extent the brain is like a muscle that thrives on stimulation. We know generally that the more mentally demanding a job someone has, the less they tend to show mental decline when they are older, and levels of education also predict likelihood of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. No one knows about the specific effects of games like Sudoku, but as they are a class of mental stimulation it is possible that they may have effects, though in comparison to the effects of having a mentally demanding job, any specific effects are likely to be extremely small in comparison,” says Dr. Ian Robertson, director of the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience at Trinity College, Dublin.
While Sudoku can hardly be championed as an inoculation against intellectual degeneration, it and similar leisure activities can play a small part in keeping your mind sharp. Offers Dr. Robertson: “Activities that require active attention, planning and problem solving all benefit the brain.”
Brain Boxing:
Michael Mepham offers the following advice for beginners:
“First call on the board is to ‘slice and dice’: Look at a group of three boxes running across or down the puzzle. If you can see two boxes containing a number that does not appear in the third, see if you can solve that number in the third box. There’s a bit more to it than that, but just looking at the puzzle in sections of three boxes makes it easier to get started.”
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