History of Sudoku
From mathematical curiosity to global phenomenon - discover the fascinating journey of sudoku through history.
Timeline
Latin Squares
Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler develops Latin squares - grids where each symbol appears exactly once per row and column. This concept forms the foundation for modern sudoku.
Number Place
Howard Garns, a freelance puzzle maker, creates 'Number Place' for Dell Magazines. This is the first modern sudoku, complete with the 3x3 boxes we know today.
Sudoku Gets Its Name
Japanese puzzle company Nikoli introduces the puzzle as 'Sūdoku' (数独), meaning 'single digit'. They refine the rules and popularize the puzzle in Japan.
International Popularity
Wayne Gould, a retired judge from New Zealand, introduces sudoku to The Times. Within months, every major newspaper in the world publishes daily sudoku puzzles.
Sudoku Today
Today, sudoku is one of the most popular puzzles in the world. Billions of puzzles are solved annually, both on paper and digitally. The World Sudoku Championship attracts participants from dozens of countries, and scientists study sudoku for insights into logic and artificial intelligence.
Sudoku Variants
Over the years, many variants of sudoku have emerged:
Fun Facts
- !There are 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960 possible completed sudoku grids.
- !The fastest world championship puzzle ever solved was completed in under 2 minutes.
- !Sudoku requires no math - the numbers could be replaced with colors or symbols.