the.com/sudoku
A 9x9 grid where the only rule is that nothing repeats, and humans repeat themselves anyway.
means A logic puzzle in which you fill a 9x9 grid with digits 1 through 9 so that each row, column, and 3x3 box contains every number exactly once.
from Japanese, short for 'suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru' — roughly 'the digits must be single' or 'limited to one occurrence.' 'Suu' is number, 'doku' is single or alone. The puzzle format itself is older than the name — it descends from the 'Latin square' explored by the 18th-century mathematician Euler — but the snappy Japanese label was coined by a puzzle publisher in the 1980s, and that's the name that conquered the world.
- Not Japanese
- Invented by an American architect, popularized in Japan
- No math
- Numbers are just symbols; logic does all the work
- Possible grids
- 6.67 sextillion valid solutions exist
- Minimum clues
- Needs at least 17 givens for unique solution
- Original name
- Called Number Place in 1979 America
sudoku world championship — annual competition held since 2006, won by thomas snyder (usa) andmodela (japan) multiple times
nikoli puzzle company — japanese publisher that trademarked the name 'sudoku' in 1984 and popularized the puzzle globally