It's easier than the crossword, but challenging enough to get crumbled up in a heap of failure. It's what the math students actually look forward to doing, and there is no doubting the Sudoku epidemic has swept the nation.
Sudoku, also known as "Number Place" in the United States, is a logic-based placement puzzle, where the name of the game is to place the digits one through nine in designated boxes, called regions, while also placing digits vertically and horizontally in rows. No number can be repeated in any of the directions.
Each puzzle has "givens," or numbers already established to start the puzzle, though the quantity of numbers is irrelevant to the level of difficulty.
"I do Sudoku because it's fun and challenging," said Heather Kennedy, an undecided sophomore. "I like moving up to each level."
Which is the appeal of the game, Larissa Klimpel, a graduate-assistant in the mathematics department added.
"It's a fun puzzle game that is completely addicting," she said. "It's easy to learn the rules, but once you get past the easy numbers, you're sucked in. Once you get one box, you have to keep on going."
Sudoku first appeared in America in 1979 and starting catching on in Japan around 1986, but swept through the nation once again in 2005, earning the title of "the fastest growing puzzle in the world" by the world media, according to Wikipedia Encyclopedia.
The first and easiest method to figure a correct number is to "scan," or do a quick assessment to identify if a certain number is missing in a row or region by process of elimination. The fastest way to gain a value is to count in "reverse," or count the numbers that cannot be in a box to find the one that can.
Logic comes into play once those numbers are determined. Wikepedia suggests "marking up" in empty boxes, filling in the values that might work in that square. Once possibilities are recorded, scanning can then work to discover the value.
"It took me a while to figure out how to do it and work out a strategy, but now I can't stop," Kennedy said.
Other than working to pass the time in class or waiting rooms, Sudoku may help exercise the brain. Much like a crossword, or other mind-stimulating games, Sudoku can keep the brain from ageing, improving its working efficiency, according to Medindia.net.
"I definitely feel smarter when I'm doing Sudoku," said Kimberly Jenkins, a junior history major. "But really, Sudoku just keeps me occupied during boring lectures."
Sudoku has become so widespread that the first national face-to-face Sudoku competition will take place this year in May in St. Louis, with a $50,000 grand prize. The first ever world championship in Lucca, Italy, will begin March 10.
