The Mind-Numb(er)ing Power of Sudoku
I woke up this morning and realized I had to write this column. But I just couldn't. Not right away, anyway. First, I had to finish the Sudoku that I started several days ago.
Sudoku is not an exotic sandwich, or an herbal body wrap, or an obscure foreign film. If only it were. Sudoku is a puzzle, of mind bending proportions. Some call it a game. But I call it a war, a war of intellect, logic, foresight and several other mental faculties that I do not possess. It's maddening and addicting, yet alluring; it's downright sudoktive.
Sudoku is a puzzle of numbers. The "playing field" is a grid of 81 boxes, and when the grid is complete, each box will contain a number between 1 and 9. Depending on the difficulty level of the puzzle (one to five stars, five being the hardest), the grid will have as many as 36 or so boxes pre-populated with numbers.
All you have to do is complete the proper 1-through-9 sequence in each row — both vertically and horizontally. With NO numbers repeated in any row.
But there's more. The grid is also neatly divided into nine mini-grids of 3-by-3 rows. These ALSO must contain the numbers 1 through 9. With NO repeats. Supposedly, every puzzle has only one solution. But there must be major problems at the Sudoku factory, because I personally have discovered several dozen puzzles that are obviously defective, because they have NO blinking solutions!
My in-laws introduced us to Sudoku on our recent "Spend a Week with the Extended Family and DON'T Get on Everyone's Nerves This Time!" vacation. They started playing after it began appearing in their daily newspaper. Now, I'm completely hooked, and play it mindlessly. Wait, make that "endlessly." Which I think is perfectly fine, as long as I'm not hurting anyone. Although the grapevine at home is buzzing that my wife doesn't exactly agree.
I should note that my in-laws are gamers. (NOTE: I distinctly wrote "gamers," NOT "gamey.") They loooove games. A few years ago, it was Rummikub, "The Fast-Moving Rummy Tile Game." Then came Mancala, "The Fast-Moving Little Marble-Like Thingies Game." Next, they taught us Scat, "The Fast-Moving Card Game with the Name That Reminds You of Animal, Um, 'Leavings.'"
My wife's broader family — and by that I do NOT mean to suggest that her family is, in any way shape or form, "broad" — inherited this gaming gene. Every year during our "Spend the Week/DON'T (etc.)" vacations, we hunker down for spirited contests of Trivial Pursuit, Tri-Bond, and this year, in a technological leap forward, a game requiring cards, a playing board, dice, AND a DVD player: Scene It.
Although the word "sudoku" is Japanese for "single number," the game apparently was developed in the U.S. However, Sudoku first gained widespread popularity in Japan, and according to the Website Wikipedia, it has attained "international popularity" in 2005.
Sudoku is hugely popular in Great Britain, where, if you recall my recent column about July Histrology, Englishpersons have been desperately looking for something interesting to do since the 1925 ban on kissing.
As for me, I sometimes think I'd rather even kiss an Englishperson than play Sudoku. It can be sooooo frustrating. Sometimes I've even been driven to commit a ritual form of self-humiliation involving repeated jabs with a No. 2 pencil into some sensitive part of the body — preferably someone else's. It's called Supokeyou.
The one joyful moment Sudoku has ever provided was on our vacation. My kids and nephews — six boys between the ages of 10 and 4 — walked into the silent living room to find their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all transfixed by Sudoku. They cried in anguish, as though they'd entered the Fifth or Sixth Level of Heck, and began muttering something like "The boredom. . .the boredom!!"
But my joy quickly evaporated when No. 3 son (age 10) looked at my grid, pointed out a mistake, and whispered, "Udorkyou."
I gave him a quick Supokeyou and he spent the rest of the night outside in the van, which helped keep things nice and quiet while we finished our puzzles. Except for mine, which was defective.
I'm game to hear from you. (That's "game," NOT "gamey"!). TakefiveT5@yahoo.com.
Sudoku is not an exotic sandwich, or an herbal body wrap, or an obscure foreign film. If only it were. Sudoku is a puzzle, of mind bending proportions. Some call it a game. But I call it a war, a war of intellect, logic, foresight and several other mental faculties that I do not possess. It's maddening and addicting, yet alluring; it's downright sudoktive.
Sudoku is a puzzle of numbers. The "playing field" is a grid of 81 boxes, and when the grid is complete, each box will contain a number between 1 and 9. Depending on the difficulty level of the puzzle (one to five stars, five being the hardest), the grid will have as many as 36 or so boxes pre-populated with numbers.
All you have to do is complete the proper 1-through-9 sequence in each row — both vertically and horizontally. With NO numbers repeated in any row.
But there's more. The grid is also neatly divided into nine mini-grids of 3-by-3 rows. These ALSO must contain the numbers 1 through 9. With NO repeats. Supposedly, every puzzle has only one solution. But there must be major problems at the Sudoku factory, because I personally have discovered several dozen puzzles that are obviously defective, because they have NO blinking solutions!
My in-laws introduced us to Sudoku on our recent "Spend a Week with the Extended Family and DON'T Get on Everyone's Nerves This Time!" vacation. They started playing after it began appearing in their daily newspaper. Now, I'm completely hooked, and play it mindlessly. Wait, make that "endlessly." Which I think is perfectly fine, as long as I'm not hurting anyone. Although the grapevine at home is buzzing that my wife doesn't exactly agree.
I should note that my in-laws are gamers. (NOTE: I distinctly wrote "gamers," NOT "gamey.") They loooove games. A few years ago, it was Rummikub, "The Fast-Moving Rummy Tile Game." Then came Mancala, "The Fast-Moving Little Marble-Like Thingies Game." Next, they taught us Scat, "The Fast-Moving Card Game with the Name That Reminds You of Animal, Um, 'Leavings.'"
My wife's broader family — and by that I do NOT mean to suggest that her family is, in any way shape or form, "broad" — inherited this gaming gene. Every year during our "Spend the Week/DON'T (etc.)" vacations, we hunker down for spirited contests of Trivial Pursuit, Tri-Bond, and this year, in a technological leap forward, a game requiring cards, a playing board, dice, AND a DVD player: Scene It.
Although the word "sudoku" is Japanese for "single number," the game apparently was developed in the U.S. However, Sudoku first gained widespread popularity in Japan, and according to the Website Wikipedia, it has attained "international popularity" in 2005.
Sudoku is hugely popular in Great Britain, where, if you recall my recent column about July Histrology, Englishpersons have been desperately looking for something interesting to do since the 1925 ban on kissing.
As for me, I sometimes think I'd rather even kiss an Englishperson than play Sudoku. It can be sooooo frustrating. Sometimes I've even been driven to commit a ritual form of self-humiliation involving repeated jabs with a No. 2 pencil into some sensitive part of the body — preferably someone else's. It's called Supokeyou.
The one joyful moment Sudoku has ever provided was on our vacation. My kids and nephews — six boys between the ages of 10 and 4 — walked into the silent living room to find their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all transfixed by Sudoku. They cried in anguish, as though they'd entered the Fifth or Sixth Level of Heck, and began muttering something like "The boredom. . .the boredom!!"
But my joy quickly evaporated when No. 3 son (age 10) looked at my grid, pointed out a mistake, and whispered, "Udorkyou."
I gave him a quick Supokeyou and he spent the rest of the night outside in the van, which helped keep things nice and quiet while we finished our puzzles. Except for mine, which was defective.
# # #
I'm game to hear from you. (That's "game," NOT "gamey"!). TakefiveT5@yahoo.com.
posted by Don Stuart at 8:49 AM
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