WHAT THE HELL ARE SUDOKU PUZZLES?

Have you heard of Sudoku puzzle. Yes, it is Japanese. But do you know what it is? Well it is a pretty simple puzzle really. It is a number puzzle that is just so engaging as well as a challenging to do. The puzzle is made up mostly of 9 by 9 grids and made up of 3 by 3 sub grids. You will notice on some Sudoku puzzles that some cells already have numbers in them. It might look really puzzling for you at first. But once you know the rules you will be able to understand why it is so.

The primary objective of Sudoku puzzles is to fill in the numbers from 1 to 9 on the blank cells in such a way that all columns, rows and subgrids show the digits from 1 to 9. You might say that it is pretty simple. But once you try out a single puzzle, it is more than enough to take most of your day. It is up to you on how you go about filling the blank squares with the numbers, as there are many ways to do it. You can start filling the numbers column by column. You can also do it by rows. You can even do it subgrids by subgrids, depending on what you prefer. But ultimately, you should be able to accomplish the primary rule of Sudoku puzzles.

The numbers 1 to 9 in Sudoku puzzles are used only for convenience. They serve no arithmetical purpose whatsoever. Numeral placements and arrangements are given more importance in order to finish a puzzle successfully. With Sudoku puzzles, you do not have to be a mathematical genius in order to solve it. All you will need is some analytical skills that will allow you to logically arrange the numerals just as the Sudoku rules require. Analytical skills and lots of patience. Without enough patience, you will just surrender doing a Sudoku puzzle in frustration even before you are getting heated up.

You might think that Sudoku puzzles trace their origins in Japan. You can't be more mistaken. Sudoku puzzles were originally called "Number Place". This was the term coined by the first creator of the puzzle, Howard Garnes in 1979. Mr. Garnes was a freelance puzzle constructor who had his first Sudoku creation published by specialist puzzle publisher, Dell Magazines.

The puzzle was introduced in Japan by Nikoli in the paper Monthly Nikolist in 1984. At first it was called there as "Suji wa dokushin ni kagiru", loosely translated to mean "the numbers must occur only once". It was only later that the name was abbreviated to Sudoku, compounding the phrase in just one word. That is how Sudoku puzzles were able to get their popular name today.

Sudoku puzzles continue to attract a number of enthusiasts despite its very simple goal. Maybe that is why they became so popular in the first place. Most of Sudoku puzzles were first available in puzzle magazines where avid Sudoku puzzle solvers can't get enough of them. They also moved into newspapers where more and more people were able to try them out.

With the advent of the online community, Sodoku puzzles have entered into the online world. There are now printable Sudoku puzzles available in the hundreds of Sudoku websites available on the Net. These printable Sudoku puzzles enable more and more people to enjoy solving this very challenging yet simple puzzle.

One of these days you might encounter printable Sudoku puzzles on the Net and it just might catch your attention. Why don't you try it out just for fun? Who knows, you might just get hooked.