The History of Sudoku

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Sudoku Origins

The word Sudoku (sū-dō'kū) is a Japanese contraction, suuji wa - dokushin ni kagiru, meaning (more or less) "uncoupled numbers" or "numbers occurring as singles." Ah, the poverty of the English language.

However, the origin of the Sudoku puzzle itself is not Japanese. No: under the name Number Place, Sudoku puzzles were published in a New York-based puzzle magazine, 1979, where they were soundly ignored by every New Yorker alive in the city at the time.

In 1984, Number Place stormed the Japanese coastline like Godzilla surfing in on a tsunami. The popularity of the game was such that the name "Number Place" was scrapped as a bad job and replaced with the excitingly fresh Japanese equivalent of the name "Numbers Occurring as Singles." Very creative. We're very impressed. Very.

The Sudoku Craze

At long last, planet Earth has caught up with Japanese tailcoats. By the year 2005, even New Yorkers were playing Sudoku. You can usually find a daily Sudoku puzzle in your favorite daily newspaper or magazine, but impatient fans tend to buy dime store Sudoku collections or larger compilations found in nearly every single bookstore in the entire world. Yesterday, the Sudoku Tips and Tricks crew even found a Sudoku section at the Used, Rare and Collectible bookstore down the block. No. Not really. But you can see what we are talking about: Sudoko is rapidly becoming a classic.

Thanks to the internet, there are new and plentiful ways to get your hands on Sudoku puzzles, solutions and, yes indeed, lessons to make you a happy, confident black belt master of Sudoku. Many of those plentiful ways are also free. For example, close your eyes and think fanciful thoughts. When you are done, open your eyes and gaze with delight at Sudoku Tips and Tricks.

We are your doorway to Sudoku satisfaction. Every day, or nearly, we are adding new Sudoku lessons to our website, which are yours to read or print absolutely free. In addition, we are making available Sudoku puzzles for all skill levels between the range of Silly Infant and Advanced Guru. Go ahead, print them out and play them all you want. Yes, for free.

Do you have a website? Are you interested in posting something you see here into your own website? We suggest summarizing a paragraph or two and then politely linking directly to the Sudoku Tips and Tricks article post that's got you so excited. We thank you very much for that small courtesy.

Bag O' Tricks: Sudoku Links