In recent years, sudoku has become one of the most popular puzzles of logic, with millions of players logging online and purchasing sudoku puzzle books every day. The most common format of the game features a 9 x 9 grid with numerals 1 through 9 placed in 9 boxes across the grid.
What Is Sudoku?
The game's name speaks volumes to its goal - sudoku is the abbreviation for a Japanese phrase that translates as "The digits must occur only once." A correctly completed puzzle will feature the numbers 1 through 9 placed only once it each horizontal row, vertical column, and individual box.
The game was initially published in Dell Magazine in the late 1970s, and became immensely popular in Japan by the mid-1980s. By the mid-2000s, the game had swept the globe and is now popular with online game players in all reaches of the world. The game is especially popular as the rules and design are quite simple, yet can still challenge the most skilled players.
Additional information is available at http://www.sudoku.com, where you can find information on solving the puzzles, forums to discuss strategies with other players, and sudoku software ordering information.
How to Play Sudoku
There are several approaches to taking on a sudoku board, although the goal is always to align the board so that each digit appears only once in three different areas. For less challenges sudoku games, the best approach is to start with boxes or lines that already have several digits in place. For more challenging games, however, different approaches may have to be determined.
Players can choose skill levels that range from beginner's boards to more advanced and challenging expert boards. Most online games allow the user to change the level of challenge with one click of the mouse.
For more information and to play sudoku online, a good place to start is http://www.websudoku.com. At this site, players can check their board when completed to see if any errors were made. Web Sudoku offers four skill levels: Easy, Medium, Hard, & "Evil."