Get Sudoku-nised... Or be a Goon-Du...

"Come, come... everybody take one each... go and do and time yourself how long you need to take to finish... I'm looking for the company's IQ 'sheng-tong' (whiz kid)" This was wat my company 2IC said on tuesday...

All of us looked at him with the blank look... *Huh??*

It's actually the Sudoku puzzle... the latest puzzle craze to hit our shores... I've seen it reported on the newspapers, and books on it at the book shop...

So wat's Sudoku??

It means 'number game' in Japanese words, where it began in Japanese puzzle magazines back in 1984 ... It's actually a puzzle made up of 81 squares, a grid line divided into nine blocks, each containing nine squares... It looks like a crossword puzzle, but with numbers in it instead... So you are supposed to fill in the grid to ensure that each of the nine blocks contains the numbers from 1 to 9 within, at the same time ensuring that each column and row contains the numbers 1 to 9 without any repetition... It's appealing to puzzle solvers because even though numbers are used, no knowledge of maths are required... the solver does not need to know the complicated mathematical calculations and formulas to encrypt it, therefore a great game for all ages... Mathematical skills are TRULY NOT required to play the game, just some patience and logic... But why logic? you may ask... It's because you need to deduce wat numbers should be, confirmed, chopped, guaranteed in the particular box, and from there see a pattern to fill in another box, or any other number that may fall in the other boxes... Sounds chim? Not really actually... Juz some nerve-wrecking thinking and hair pulling experience...

(eg: the given numbers are in red, the lighted numbers show that they are the ones to be filled in, and the numbers shown above are correct...)

As you successfully complete one puzzle, it becomes addictive... And it's addictive coz you can play it anywhere, or juz to kill time while travelling... Unlike crosswords puzzles, which you would be stuck if you can't get something, in Sudoku, if you give up, it juz means you simply didn't try hard enough...

So juz how addictive is it?? According to the article on 20th October's issue of 'Today' newspapers, a TV show and a board game are in the pipelines in Britain... when 'The Times' in Britain announces on Friday that it was publishing Sudoku puzzles in their papers the following Monday, it's rival, 'The Daily Mail' called its experts in over the weekend to come up with a puzzle by Monday too... From the two papers, the craze spread through UK and to the rest of the world... Our local shores have yet to be really hit by the storm at least... it has so far been spread through word-of-mouth, and some playing the game online... A recent visit at Popular bookstore surprised me... The popular yellow 'dummy's guide book' had a topic/book on Sudoku... And it's not 1, not 2... but 3!! it's currently at it's third volume!! Looking at the trend, it's going to hit us hard, and soon...

It is so hot that the word, Sudoku, has already been the 2005 word for Britain, where compilers of the Oxford English Dictionary said that the word 'Sudoku' has claimed its place in the English language...

So how do we tackle the game?

There's actually a systematic way to complete the Sudoku puzzle...
- Never use a trial and error method to solve the puzzle... you'll get nowhere and will almost impossibly solve the puzzle... Unless you're damn 'heng'... Sudoku is actually a test of your logic and reasoning abilities... Sudoku is not a 'flip of the coin' game... it's not about probability or luck...

- Pencil in various possibilities in the boxes as you go along, and eliminate those that clearly do not belong there... Y0u do not want to be confused further, when you already are, very confused...

- One of the easiest way to start playing is to start counting and combing the puzzle systematically... Start with the number 1, combing each row and column and a block, finding which boxes do the '1' fit into... Then work your way up from 1 to 9... Or you can try starting with the number that appears most in the puzzle... If it's '8', then start with 8 first, to closer in the boxes to be filled...

- Most Sudoku puzzles can be solved within 15 to 30 minutes... It's ok to be stumped with a particularly hard puzzle, or one that you simply 'par-jiao' and overlooked, after all the mind-boggling numbers... take a break if you need to, or look at other boxes or parts of the puzzle that you've ignored, then come back to tackle the problem area afresh...

- It's juz a game... dun be upset if someone completes the puzzle faster than you do... it doesn't really mean that he has a higher IQ than you... it may be that he has mastered all the tactics to tackle Sudoku, or that he has a sharper eye and mind to spot... Cheer up dude!!

Hope you'll have fun, Sudoku-nising!! =)

*Some of the content are from 20th October 2005 of TODAY's newspapers...