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Do You Sudoku?

By David Bjerklie

Sudoku is the clever number game that is sweeping the United States in books, magazines and newspapers. The puzzle first appeared in the U.S. more than 25 years ago, but didn't really catch on here until it had traveled to Japan and England. It became a craze in both places. According to sudoku guru Alastair Chisholm, of Edinburgh, Scotland, the puzzle may have originated much earlier. "Some people have even chased the idea back to a Swiss mathematician in the 18th century," Chisholm told TFK.

The object of the puzzle is to fill in all of the missing numbers in a grid. Each row has nine squares, each column has nine squares and each box has nine squares (see diagram at right). When the puzzle is complete, every row, column and box must contain each of the numbers from 1 through 9, but only once. In every sudoku puzzle some of the numbers in the grid have already been filled in. You have to work out the number that goes into each empty square. "Sudoku experts are very patient," warns Chisholm. "To solve a puzzle you need to use your brain and keep trying!"

View puzzle solution

Sudoku puzzles are so complex that many are created by computers. "You can create very easy ones and absolutely fiendish ones," says Chisholm, who has written books on Sudoku and runs a website called Sudoku-san. Even teachers are getting in on the craze. "Some schools are using the puzzles to get kids to realize that numbers can be fascinating," he says.

Sarah Leventhal, a seventh-grade student at Murray Avenue Middle School, in Huntingdon Valley, Penn-sylvania, agrees. "I like sudoku because it challenges your mind and makes you think a lot," Sarah told TFK Kid Reporter Alicia Barry.

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