What Is Sudoku?

Sudoku is a popular logic puzzle which has been described as the modern day equivalent of the Rubik’s cube craze. It is a simple pencil and paper game played on a 9×9 grid into which the sudoku player must insert numbers and follow a simple set of rules. There are now thousands of sudoku books, electronic handheld games, downloadable PC games, puzzle magazines and all kinds of other merchandise (even a sudoku world championship held every year) which even goes so far as sudoku loo paper so you can play before you dispose of the evidence…

Where Can I Play Sudoku Online?

Sudoku is a very popular online passtime and can be played in many different places. In addition, there are many different variations on the normal sudoku game style to be found around the internet. Anyway, there are a number of places to play sudoku free online and here are a few you might like to check out:

• Dragon Sudoku is a great place to find a new free sudoku puzzle every day. You can play these sudoku puzzles through your browser, or you can print them out and try to complete them in the traditional pencil and paper way. In addition, there are thousands more free sudoku grids ranked from easy to hard in their archive section as well as a sudoku for kids section and a five in one samurai sudoku puzzle for an extra challenge.

How Do You Play Sudoku?

Despite first appearances, sudoku has nothing to do with mathematics, so if numbers typically scare you, then put aside your sudoku hate and reconsider this fun puzzle game. Numbers are used in a typical sudoku grid but need not be, in fact, you can use any kind of symbols, letters and pictures and still keep the exact same rules and principals as a normal sudoku game.

Here’s how sudoku is played:

You have a 9×9 grid, further subdivided into 9 3×3 squares. The rules are simple. Each row, column and 3×3 square may only contain one of the numbers 1 through 9.

123
456
789

Is a valid 3×3 square as all the numbers are different.

122
345
677

Is an invalid square as the 2 and 7 are repeated twice.

Also:

975463218

is a valid row as all the numbers are different, whilst:

123456689

is invalid as the 6 is repeated twice.

A sudoku puzzle starts off with a number of the grid positions already filled out. It is up to you to use logic and deduction to analyse the remaining squares and using logic to be able to fill out the rest of the grid spaces (without guessing- although that helps sometimes!) so that the above principals remain true. Duplicate numbers in any row, column or 3×3 square invalidate the puzzle, so one mistake will screw you up big time.

Where Does Sudoku Come From?

Not Japan. Surprised? Yup, sudoku does not come from Japan but instead was invented by an American puzzle creator. Howard Garnes created a game he called Number Place which first appeared in a Dell puzzle magazine in 1984 under the aforementioned name. The game didn’t really become all that popular until the Japanese puzzle magazine Nikoli picked it up and it became phenomenally successful in the land of the rising sun. Later, it was exported back to the United States and Europe where it became equally as popular there. So, despite the name, the Japanese did not create sudoku, but they can definitely be credited with popularising it.

note: some people would even trace the invention back to the 1700’s as the general principle of sudoku can be traced back to Latin Squares, in which case, we would have to credit the Swiss mathematician Leonard Euler with creating at least the foundations upon which sudoku is built.

What Does Sudoku Mean?

The word Sudoku is actually a shortening of the name given to the original Japanese sudoku puzzles which appeared in a Japanese puzzle magazine. Nikoli created a puzzle which they termed “‘Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru” which roughly translates as “the numbers must be single”. Later this was thankfully shortened to “sudoku” which is thankfully much easier for the western tongue to handle!

How Do You Create A Sudoku Puzzle?

Now you have played sudoku perhaps you’ve got bitten by the bug and would like to know how to create your own sudoku puzzles from scratch. Making a sudoku puzzle is not as hard as it might at first look, but you need to know how to do it before you can start. The following sites show you how to make a sudoku puzzle using nothing more than a blank sudoku grid, a pencil and a little brain power.

• Learn how to build a sudoku puzzle at this site which features step by step instructions on creating a sudoku game grid.

• Another guide to creating your own sudoku puzzles can be found here featuring advice, hints, help and tips on generating a sudoku puzzle from nothing.

Where Can I Find A Downloadable Sudoku Game For My PC?

If you are looking for sudoku for download, windows sudoku and PC sudoku puzzles, then here are some great downloadable sudoku software programs to check out.

Web Sudoku Deluxe - deluxev ersion of the Web Sudoku’s free online sudoku puzzle games. Play then on your PC with this sudoku software.

Can I Get Sudoku On My Mobile Phone?

Absolutely! Mobile phone sudoku games are very popular. Here are some of the best downloadable sudoku puzzles for mobile phones.

3-in-1 Sudoku Garden is a mobile phone version of sudoku which you can download right now and play on your mobile telephone. There are actually 3 games here, as the name suggestions, giving you a sudoku for mobile phone, a kakuro puzzle game, and Tenpenki which is a puzzle game combining elements of both. Find Out More.

Where Can I Find Printable Sudoku Puzzles?

If you would rather print sudoku and play away from your computer, then there are a number of great places you can find printable sudoku puzzles on the internet. Printing sudoku puzzles is a great way to save money as you can avoid all those expensive sudoku puzzle books, sudoku magazines and electronic toys and instead, get an unlimited number of sudokus on demand for the cost of printer paper and ink. Check out some of the places for printable sudoku below:

Printable Sudoku - a new one available daily. Print individual puzzles. Check out the sudoku archive for thousands you can print and play.

Printable Sudoku Ebooks - KrazyDad offers sudoku puzzle ebook in .pdf format you can download and print out ranging from easy to insane difficulties. Check out the rest of the website for more great puzzle games.

Where Can I Find A Sudoku Solver Software Program?

Sudoku solvers allow you to enter in the numbers you do have in the sudoku puzzle and will automatically generate the answer. If you need to answer, fill out, solve or complete a sudoku puzzle, then a sudoku answerer program is ideal when you get stuck, or for entering those sudoku competitions when you’d rather not spend the time working on the answer yourself! Here are some good sudoku fillers:

Su Doku Solver - an open source sudoku sover from SourceForge.

Sudoku Solver - A Sodoku puzzle filler program no download required.

Where Can I Find A Sudoku Puzzle Generator?

There are thousands of sudoku puzzle creator web sites out there so if you just want to play sudoku online then there are millions of sudoku puzzles already generated for you to check out right now. If, one the other hand you want a program which can generate sudoku puzzles for you, then check out some of the downloadable sudoku programs you can find below:

OpenSky Sudoku Puzzle Generator - fill the quick for and this online sudoku generater will create sudoku puzzles for you.

Sudoku Puzzle Creator - generate sudoku puzzles on the fly.