Sudoku

Just in time for Thanksgiving travel, I have discovered the joys of Sudoku. I've been seeing around the past few months, but a "puzzle" with all numbers makes my eyeballs glaze over. Then I tried one. It's not so much about numbers as it is logic and deductive reasoning. Now I'm hooked. I picked up Astraware's Sudoku yesterday for my PocketPC, and I think I'll leave the GBA Micro and Sony PSP at home this trip! Between catching up on novels, doing some writing, and working a few Sudoku puzzles, I think I'll be pretty tied up!



The trick of the game doesn't have anything to do with adding, subtracting, or anything else hairy. All you have to do is make sure that the numbers go from one through nine, in each of the nine boxes with no repeats. And no repeats going all the way across a row, and no repeats going down a column. Sounds easy...actually even that doesn't really sound easy, hahaha. But I sat down and tried a VERY simple beginner Sudoku, and realized that if you use logic and reasoning with where you choose to put a number, you can work an entire puzzle without guessing at all!

That's the beauty of Sudoku -- you use your logic to deduce where to place numbers, not blind guessing like I originally thought. Some schools of thought also say that a true Sudoku puzzle has only one solution, and that that solution can be reached without ever having to venture a guess for a number. Interesting!

Word to the wise though, this is a time-taker-upper! But when dealing with airports and long car rides, hey, that's what I want. :)

Check out http://www.pocketpcsudoku.com for puzzles every day, and they don't even require any software. Print it out like you would a crossword puzzle and go on your merry way. The pocketpc software is pretty slick however, and with virtually unlimited puzzles, a solver (for those times when you can't get the stupid newspaper Sudoku to come out), and one that also hints so you can get a few extra clues about possibly where to look.

Enjoy!