The History of Sudoku

While you may be thinking that Sudoku is some wow gold ancient Chinese game that's been around for thousands of years, you'd actually be quite wrong. Sudoku puzzles are in fact much more recently invented, though the roots of the game do stretch back a couple of centuries.
The first modern appearance of these Sudoku puzzles was in 1979, in a magazine called Dell Magazines, which was devoted to various puzzles. The game was called Number Place at the time, and was created by Howard Garns. It wasn't until 1984 and the game's introduction in Japan under the acronym Sudoku, that it really began to catch on however (at least in Japan).
It would be another 20 years before the game was reintroduced to the west still bearing the Sudoku name, that it began to find success there as well. Several British newspapers were the first to introduce the puzzles to their readership, and they saw the sales of their papers skyrocket as a result. Eventually, papers around the world were printing Sudoku puzzles, and the game was becoming popular the world over.

Sudoku is a great success story in an era where the perception exists that we are less interested in using our minds and challenging ourselves intellectually than ever before. It proves that simply isn't the case, and that it simply takes the right format to engage us and motivate us to challenge ourselves. With every step forward there is also a minor step backwards, in this case the advent of the online sudoku solver as well as electronic variants that you can carry around with you.

Sudoku actually draws some similarities to the Rubik's Cube, another logic based game that was introduced in the late 20th century. Rubik's Cubes require the user to line all of the same coloured squares up on the same side, and require some of the same thought processes that Sudoku does. The biggest difference with the Rubik's Cube is that it doesn't require constant logic to solve, unlike Sudoku, and can be solved through simple trial and error and experimentation.
Capitalizing on this similarity, one of the great innovations in Sudoku was the introduction of the Sudoku Cube. This cube looks just like a Rubik's Cube, save for the fact that the colours are replaced with numbers. The goal of the Sudoku Cube is the same: correctly line up the numbers so that each column, row, and box (or in this case, side), has only one instance.
This version is slightly different however, given the unique alignment of the cube. As such, there is both a front and a back section which must each be properly aligned with the two other vertical and side sections that connect to it. This gives the Sudoku Cube many different ways to play, from just focusing on one section, to attempting to finish both sides of the entire cube.
Whether you play online Sudoku or tackle it in the morning paper, or play one of the many variations that have popped up in recent years, it's a game that offers limitless opportunities for fun and challenging play. It's a great exercise for the mind, and rewards those brave enough to conquer its challenges with a sense of satisfaction that is rivalled by few other games.

Dave Shimoda is a programmer and Sudoku addict who created an online Sudoku Solver which allows you to get hints for a single cell of a puzzle, or solve the whole thing at once.

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