#791 Figure out What the Hell a Sudoku is

As part of #914 Establish “Mark off list” day, I designated the first day of every month as that day. Here it is, May 1^st and it’s time to mark something off of the list.

This also helps fulfill #525 Blog at least once a month for a year.

Today, I chose something I could complete quickly and easily because I’m at work and I can’t be running around all over the place today.

#791 Figure out What the Hell a Sudoku is

At the time I made the list, I obviously had come across one of my son’s Sudoku puzzle books. As anyone could have seen from walking through a bookstore or browsing the magazine rack, Sudoku puzzles have become quite the rage over the last couple of years.

And it’s driven me crazy watching Parker complete these things when I had no idea what the object was. So…I looked it up.

It’s actually a logic based puzzle that was invented by an American. The modern puzzle was invented by an American architect, Howard Garns, in 1979 and published by Dell Magazines under the name "Number Place". It became popular in Japan in 1986, after it was published by Nikoli and given the name Sudoku, meaning single number.

The objective is to fill a 9×9 grid so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3×3 boxes (also called blocks or regions) contains the digits from 1 to 9 only one time each. The puzzle setter provides a partially completed grid.

That’s it. That’s the great mystery.

Well, that was easy. I guess at least now I have the option of picking up one of those puzzle books in a gas station when on vacation. You know the kind, the rack of puzzles right next to the Mad Libs.