Sudoku – A worldwide phenomenon

If you have never heard of Sudoku, then chances are you have been living in a
bunker for the last year or so.

Sudoku is a new craze that is taking the puzzle world by storm. It’s
gone from a little known topic, to having over a million searches a month on
the web — that’s as much as Paris Hilton.

For those of you who don’t know what Sudoku is, it’s essentially
a game of numbers.

You start with a 9 x 9 grid that is split up into 9, 3 x 3 grids.

This initial grid will have a series of numbers strewn over it in what seems
to be a completely random madness.

However, there is a method behind the madness here. You see, you need to ensure
that you have the numbers 1-9 in each of the 3 x 3 grids, however you cannot
have a number in the same line as itself in another grid.

Sounds confusing, but when you see a Sudoku game, it will all make sense.

Once you start a Sudoku game, it is EXTREMELY hard to stop. I’m not a
huge fan of puzzles and crosswords and so on, but once I start a Sudoku game,
I’m hooked; I just have to complete it.

Now, for the most part, a single Sudoku game can take anywhere from about 5
mnutes, up to several hours (if you pick a particularly hard one — and
depending on your level of skill), so there are games for all types of players.

The fuel to this worldwide phenomenon is being fueled by the seemingly huge
prizes that are starting to spring up for worldwide Sudoku events & tournaments.

Ranging from a few thousand dollars, all the way up to several hundred thousand
dollars (yes you read right, that’s $100,000+) it can be seriously rewarding
if you get into this game in a big way.

Fortunately, since Sudoku can be extremely complex, there are pieces of software
out there that can help you with your solutions if you get stuck. All you need
to do is put in your ‘solution’ (or the solution that you think
it is) and ‘auto calculate’ whether it is right or not.

It’s a fast way to find out whether you have the right result or not.

If you are going the offline road (meaning you have gotten your Sudoku game
from the newspaper or magazine etc.) then you’re just going to have to
resort to good ole pen and paper figuring out methods.

Bottom line… My personal opinion is that this Sudoku craze is here to
stay. Something this addictive and enjoyable can’t be a fly-by-the-night
fad that will disappear in another 6 months.

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