The Sudoku Craze

The numbers puzzle game Sudoku quickly becoming one of the most popular puzzle games of all times. The following of the game is simply amazing. Everyone, young and old, male or female seems to be talking about Sudoku now.

Sudoku actually is a game that has been around for years It actually became a craze in Japan in the 1980s. The reason why it has become popular right now is probably because of clever marketing.

So just how popular is Sudoku? Well it seems that you can’t go anywhere nowadays without seeing at least three individuals playing Sudoku. Visit you local bookstore and an you will be surprised to find an entire shelf or rack filled with books about Sudoku. These books ranges from tips and tricks kind of books to having actual puzzles. It seems that Sudoku has taken over the Crosswords puzzle in terms of popularity. Most newspapers feature Sudoku puzzles along with the traditional crossword puzzles. And sometimes it gets more attention than crosswords puzzles especially among the younger set. Some people are calling it the new Rubik’s Cube.

Another proof of the popularity of Sudoku is the way it has invaded the Internet. If you Google Sudoku you will be shown a page filled with thousands of Sudoku-related websites. There you can find Sudoku solvers. There are even blogs and net groups about Sudoku where you can get tons of information about the game. Some of the websites even offer free Sudoku puzzles for everyone to enjoy.

So just what is Sudoku? Well for those who have been ,living in a cave for the past two years, Sudoku is a puzzle made of nine squares with nine smaller square each. Some of the squares are filled with numbers ranging from one to nine. Some of the squares are blank. The object of the game is to fill upon all of the squares. But it is not as simple as its sounds. You cannot fill the boxes randomly. You must follow a logic when writing a number in a box. A number must be repeated in the same row or column inside the smaller square.

The Sudoku puzzles differ in difficulty from novice level to expert. There are puzzle craters who assign belts to the difficult (brown belt, black belt) as if the game is a martial art. This means that anyone can enjoy Sudoku. Even children are getting into the Sudoku craze. Wee if you can’t solve a oarticlar puzzle there are even Sudoku puzzle available online.

One misconception about Sudoku is that it is only for geniuses or math geeks. This is completely wrong. In fact, Sudoku has little to do with math. The numbers arte there simply for convenience. It can even be replaced with colors, symbols, letters, etc. Sudoku is a not a math game it is a logic game which means that 9it is reasoning the gets employed and tested and not mathematic skills. This is why there really is no reason to get intimidated with the game.

So how do you get started on playing Sudoku? Well it is fairly simple. Just got to your favorite bookstore and buy a book about Sudoku. Or better yet, surf the web and learn everything online. You could also talk to individuals you know who are already playing the game.

Juts some words of advice though. Sudoku can be very addictive so get involved at your own risk.