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Have you discovered Sudoku yet?

Every few decades a fad game that is fun and challenging gets discovered. Newspaper crossword puzzles took the world by storm in the 1920s. Rubik's Cube is one that you may remember from the 1980s.

The game craze currently sweeping the globe is the Japanese-based game called Sudoku. This simple number grid puzzle has a lot in common with the logic cube that teased and delighted so many.

The first Sudoku puzzles were created in 1979 by a freelance puzzle designer, Howard Garnes. The originals were published in New York and were called Number Place. A bit more than twenty years after they made their debut, the simple squares have taken over classrooms, computer desktops, college campuses and board rooms as Sudoku solvers work on filling in the missing numbers.

There are even Sudoku variations using colors instead of numbers to entice the preschool set to logic until the grids are color-ful.

The game is simple. There's only one rule.

Start with a grid made up of nine rows and nine columns. Some of the numbers are filled in. The goal is to fill in the rest of the boxes so that each row, each column and each small box of nine squares contains the numbers 1 through 9.

The name of the puzzle comes from this rule. The Japanese phrase, "Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru," means the numbers used must be single (unmarried). Sudoku (SU number, DOKU single) soon became the accepted name for the game.

In a well-constructed Sudoku grid there is one and only one correct solution. Whether you're a trial and error solver or a purist who insists on solutions without erasers...patience and logic will get you to the right answer. Are you ready?

Sudoku - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, has the scoop on the Sudoku game including its history, how to play and how it wandered from NYC, to Japan, to New Zealand, to England and back to the USA - taking the world on a logic trip.

Sudoku Daily Puzzle - Come back every day for a new game, or join the busy discussion boards, browse related links, and learn more about the game at the Soduku FAQ.

Pappocom Sudoku - This is the Web site of Wayne Gould, who many name as the one person most responsible for the current craze. He convinced the London Times to print the puzzle...and the rest is history. The site has a shareware program that you can buy to produce the same Sudoku puzzles that have been featured in the Times since November 2004. Pappocom's Sudoku site also has a good explanation of how to play and some hints to get you started.

Sudoku.org.uk - Puzzles to solve...including a mind-bending 3-D version... competitions, forums and a Suduko Solving Document that will help to get you started with the Suduko puzzle mania...

Sudoku San - Four puzzles daily...take your pick of Daily Delicious, Daily Pernicious, Daily Malicious or Daily Atrocious ... or complete all four if you can!

Sudoku Fun - Geoff wrote in to suggest this site saying... "Thought I'd suggest a site for the directory because I've been spending too much time at www.sudokufun.com... I need some more competition there.. :-)" See how your best time stacks up in the Sudoku Speed Competition...

Su Doku Solver - Open source solver for those who lack the time or patience to complete a puzzle on their own...