No matter how you spell it a Sudoku puzzle is still a fun puzzle!

WELCOME TO PUZZLES-ONLINE-NICHE

So what is all this talk about a Sudoku puzzle, or is it Suduko, or Suduku?

Well before we delve into all the craziness about this puzzle's name, lets just find out a little

about the origin of the game. ( I find it amusing that although developed by an American,

the game now is called 'Sudoku' . More on that in a moment.)

HISTORY OF SUDOKU

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You might not know, but one of the earliest printed related versions of a Sudoku puzzle was actually published in a French newspaper in the 1890's- though it contained a typical 9x9 grid with the 3x3 sub-squares (that we all know today) , it used double digits and focused on mathematical addition, instead of logic to solve.

According to Will Shortz,( renowned puzzle creator and editor of the NY times) the modern Sudoku was most likely designed anonymously by Howard Garns , and first published in 1979 by Dell Magazines as ,'Number Place', (the earliest known examples of modern Sudoku).

At any rate in 1984 the puzzle was introduced in Japan as suji wa dokushin ni kagiru , loosely translated : the numbers must be unmarried (that is, occur singly).

Finally, this was abbreviated by contracting the expression: SUU( ji wa ) and DOKU ( shin ni kagiru ) and there we have it :

S-U-D-O-K-U

**We have a ton of Sudoku games for you to play,( in either PDF or interactive format), so for those of you who want to get started you can : PLAY SUDOKU ONLINE HERE.

Sudoku Variants :

There are many forms of Sudoku out there ( attesting to its wide popularity), Besides the standard 9×9 grid, variants of Sudoku puzzles include the following:

• 4×4 grid with 2×2 minigrids.

• 5×5 grid with pentomino (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentomino) regions

( Logi-5). A pentomino is composed of five congruent squares, connected orthogonally.

• 6×6 grid with 2×3 regions.

• 7×7 grid with six heptomino (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/Heptomino.html)

• 16×16 grid (Super Sudoku).

• 25×25 grid (Sudoku the Giant).

• A 3-D Sudoku puzzle.

Alphabetical Variations: :

(Which use letters rather than numbers.)

.Godoku, or Wordoku.

SUDOKU GAMES/SOLUTIONS

PLAY SUDOKU HERE

Or for more detailed analysis of Sudoku rules/solutions:

SUDOKU SOLUTIONS

For those of you wishing a refresher on the rules (read on) , as we discuss how-it-is-played.

SUDOKU RULES

Below we will be discussing the rules for the basic and most-widely popular form of Sudoku, (the 9x9).

We have also included a reference diagram on the left below.

CELL

The puzzle consists of a 9 x 9 grid of numbers.
Each cell in the grid must have a number from 1 to 9.
Your objective is to fill the grid such that, every row and column contains the numbers 1 through 9 with no number repeated.
Each number must be used once and only once in each row and column.
Also within the grid are nine 3 x 3 inner grids.(highlighted in green to the left).
As in the case of rows and columns, each inner grid must contain the numbers 1 through 9 with each number used once and no numbers repeated.