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Sudoku History

Sudoku History
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.34

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    doku, elimination, latter, singly, sizable, sudoku, symmetrical, triumphant, what-if, comeback, relation, best-selling, popularity, disqualify, literally, trend
     content words:    New York, Howard Garnes, Dell Magazines, Nikoli Company Limited, Monthly Nikolist, New York Post, United States

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Sudoku History
By Vickie Chao 		  
1     Do you like to play crossword puzzles, but find it frustrating to remember all the words? Do you like to give your brain a mental workout? If this is the case, you may want to check out the sudoku (pronounced "sue-do-koo") puzzle.
 
2     A sudoku puzzle comes in a variety of formats. The most popular has one large 9-by-9 grid that consists of nine smaller 3-by-3 grids (called "regions"). Inside this large 9-by-9 grid, there are some numbers already printed to be used as clues. Your goal is to work with those given numbers and fill in the remaining, empty cells. If you could get the nine numerals (1-9) to show up only once in each column, each row, and each region, then you have just successfully solved a sudoku puzzle! The rule is that simple! There are no calculations. There is no guessing. Everything is based on logic. For each empty cell, you need to first check the column, row, and region it is in. See what clues you have, and disqualify them as the likely candidates for the empty cell. Then you expand your view to look at the empty cell in relation to the entire puzzle. Use a process of elimination or play "what-if" scenarios to determine what the right value for the empty cell would be.
 
3     Alternatively, a sudoku puzzle can replace its 9-by-9 grid with, say, a 4-by-4 or a 16-by-16 grid. For the former, it would have four smaller 2-by-2 regions. And for the latter, it would have sixteen smaller 4-by-4 regions. In addition to the scale, a sudoku puzzle can also use symbols or colors in place of numerals. No matter what shapes and forms it has, the objective always stays the same. Fill in the blanks so that there are no duplicated numbers, symbols, or colors down any column, across any row, and inside any region.

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