do you sudoku?

[kotatsuneko]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/#

no direct linky i`m afraid, but if you scroll down a bit [on the capricious] bbc news page, theres a nice [albeit non-leechable, natch] bit on uk dailys importing jpn puzzles to boost lagging circulation.

[NeoNecroNomiCron]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/#

no direct linky i`m afraid, but if you scroll down a bit [on the capricious] bbc news page, theres a nice [albeit non-leechable, natch] bit on uk dailys importing jpn puzzles to boost lagging circulation.

Actualy I love it, its piss easy, even the difficult ones I can usualy perdict the number by about 4 steps ahead and using regression annalysis in my head get the right number.

Even the most difficult ones talk about 1 hour.

[Mulboyne]

Two direct links on BBC are:
The puzzling popularity of Su Doku
Su Doku
While this is in today's Daily Mirror:
The 'Japanese' puzzle that's got the world hooked It could slow down the onset of Alzheimer's

Despite its name, the puzzle is actually believed to have come from the West. Its origins probably lie with an 18th century Swiss mathematician who developed a similar puzzle he called Latin Squares. Spike Figgett, publishing director of H Bauer who are publishing the new magazine, says: "It's a common misconception that the game is Japan-ese in origin. "But it's a Japanese remodelling of a Western idea.
"In America in the 70s, it was called Number Place and it probably wouldn't have taken off in this country if it was still called that. A Japanese magazine was trawling for new puzzles suitable for use there and came across it. They nicked it and gave it a Japanese name."

[FG Lurker]

Insanity by numbers
Guardian Unlimited, May 17, 2005

Those caught up in the Sudoku craze currently sweeping Britain will know the feeling. They, and I, have company in our frustration and in our fleeting moments of quiet celebration: an estimated 1 million Japanese people are putting themselves through the Sudoku wringer, making the puzzle the most popular in the country.

[...]

The rules are simple, though the game is far from simplistic. The aim is to place a number between one and nine in the empty "cells" contained inside a nine-by-nine grid. Each row and column as well as each smaller, three-by-three subsidiary grid - these are indicated by slightly bolder lines - must contain the numbers one to nine, without omission or repetition. If the same number appears twice in a row, column or three-by-three box, you have, in puzzle parlance, messed up big time.

(Full Story)

Might have to buy a book or two and give it a whirl...

[Ketou]

I just copied down the one in the article and did it. Great fun! I think I'll have to do more now...

[Kuang_Grade]

[Mulboyne]

[Kuang_Grade]

Displaying unusual swiftness to acknowledge a newspaper trend, the Washington Post has started to publish a soduku puzzle in their daily paper.

[Mulboyne]

UK Satellite TV Channel Sky One is going to run a live sudoku show at 9:00pm Friday night

VORDERMAN'S SUDOKU LIVE
The Japanese puzzle game Sudoku is sweeping the country and the online world. It is now the 10th most searched-for entertainment term on the web and appears in puzzling sections of many national newspapers.

The puzzle game involves a square grid of nine rows by nine, split into nine boxes, each containing nine squares.

Now Carol Vorderman is going to lead the country in an exciting new challenge, in which 9 teams will compete live in the studio. There is even the chance for members of the studio audience to join the teams and take part in the studio challenge if they would like to.

[Mulboyne]

Guardian: Now try Maru-batsu!
It's hard to believe that this time last year no one had heard of Sudoku...Guardian puzzles were not kicked out by some computer, but specially handcrafted by Japanese Sudoku masters...If Sudoku tried your patience...Get ready for Maru-batsu.
...[A] Maru-batsu puzzle is deceptive in its overarching simplicity, with just nine squares to complete. The compact grid made it ideal for Japan's crowded underground trains, but there is yet another aspect to Maru-batsu's runaway popularity: it is the first puzzle grid designed to be completed by two people competing against one another. In Tokyo, commuters have overcome their normal reserve to challenge bystanders to a friendly bout of Maru-batsu.
All across Japan, Maru-batsu partners of long standing meet daily in parks or travelling to and from work on public transport to put their newest strategies to the test. Maru-batsu grandmasters teach evening classes before throngs of rapt fanatics. Mixed-sex Maru-batsu tournaments have also become a popular form of speed dating, and since the puzzle was first introduced in Japan in 1986, the game has allegedly been responsible for more than 18,000 "ueddingu maru-batsu" (literally, "Maru-batsu weddings"). Although every Japanese newspaper carries at least one daily Maru-batsu, ranging in difficulty from "lightly testing" to "major unpleasance", most aficionados prefer to play on hand-painted grids. In 2003, one particularly auspicious example sold at auction for £212,000.
Given the pitch of "maru-batsu madness" in Japan - devotees play upwards of 500 matches a day, and specialist clinics have opened to treat legions of addicts - it's amazing that it has never caught on in the west...more...

[Mulboyne]

Guardian: Now try Maru-batsu!

Presumably maru-batsu didn't catch on since the Guardian is trying something else:

If you were seduced by sudoku, prepare for futoshiki fever

...Like sudoku, the game's enormous popularity in Japan can be explained by its deceptive simplicity. Futoshiki (the name literally means "not equal") is based on a simple grid into which, like the more famous puzzle, numbers are inserted according to a few simple rules. The numbers one to five must be placed in each row and each column, without any repeats; "greater than" or "less than" signs - literally, "not equal" to - between boxes are the only tips to guide you. Sounds easy? Don't be too sure...Futoshiki first emerged in Japan around five years ago, one of a succession of logic problems that continue to be developed in an attempt to match the astonishing success of sudoku...more...

[sublight]

If you want to play online (or print them out), here's all you need:

http://www.websudoku.com/

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Spice up your puzzle-playing with:



Link and other pics here.

[Mulboyne]