The Art of Sudoku

Hello and good (insert current time of day here) to all of you loyal readers! It's been a while since I last posted anything, but here I am to start anew. I seem to remember that a post called "The Art of Tic-Tac-Toe" was highly enjoyed by the general audience, so here you are, another post on game theory. This time, we will talk about a slightly more difficult game, sudoku. As you all probably guessed, sudoku has been along far longer than any of you have lived, but don't let this alarm you, not a single secret was lost. Here, within this post, I have revealed all there is to know about this entertaining, time consuming game. Once you have read this post, you will achieved the title of "master sudoku"ist to add to your "master tic-tac-toe"ist title and the countless others you have undoubtedly picked up over the years. Let us begin. First, we shall describe the game and the objective, and then we will discuss good tactics to playing sudoku. GAME DESCRIPTION: The game is played on a 9 by 9 grid on any surface, though a sheet of wood fibers is the general preferred surface. Traditionally, a sliver of charred bamboo was used to fill the grid with symbols, though any pen of pencil with do fine if a charred piece of bamboo is not easily at hand. RULES / GAME OBJECTIVE: The object of the game is to fill the grid with any number, from 1 to 9, so that none of the 3 by 3 squares and none of the rows or columns have the same number used more than once. Sudoku has been played with the numbers 1 to 9 since the very beginning. Don’t, however, be afraid to use nine of your favorite green things, your least favorite nine emoticons, or even the name of the person you have a crush on (this one challenges your ability to successfully complete the objective, especially if you have a crush on less then 9 people, like me). You also should never forget about house rules. House rules are any rules you add to, or remove from, the original rules. Remember that these rules only apply when you are at your house. They have no jurisdiction anywhere else. Because of this, you may want to ask your hair dresser, your restaurant waiter, and your hospital receptionist what the house rules in those establishments are. All of these newly acquired house rules can be easily remembered by writing them down on 3 by 5 note cards and jamming them carelessly into your purse or backpack. Now on to game tactics. TACTICS: There are several popular tactics for solving a sudoku puzzle. At first glance, you would notice that some numbers have already been placed to aid you in completing the puzzle. My mom’s favorite tactic is to used this extra ‘boost’ to solve it. I don’t believe in receiving help unless I have stared at it for at least 3 hours straight without seeing anything. I find it much more fun to start from scratch. My tactic is to erase the help that the puzzle gives that I don’t want and start with a fresh and empty grid. My father’s favorite tactic is very odd and original. He writes out all the numbers he needs, then cuts each individual square apart and reorganize them to their correct positions. My little brother doesn’t have any specific tactic. He enjoys memorizing where the numbers are and impressing girls watching him by writing in every single number at once. He says it’s quite successful. So their you have it! You have earned the title “master sudoku”ist. I hope you have learned a lot from these detailed lessons about sudoku. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson