A novice in Sudoku...

and something about the inventor, Maki Kaji.

I used to watch my children working on Sudoku with nary an interest at all, not even finding out how it is done. My daughter advised me to do it daily to prevent early dementia.

Recently, I stayed over at a brother’s place in KL and he explained to me how it works. Still, even with an elementary example, I just did not have the mind to go further than a few steps. Call me stupid if you like, but when one is not interested (could be because of state of mind), even simple tasks seemed difficult.

Then, I got interested but doing the ones in The Star (just wondering what level are those) meant uncompleted Sudoku. Looking at the next day’s for answer but no connection at all. Even the second or third day after, it was the same. Is it supposed to be weekly? There is no indication at all!

To add insult to injury, this phone shop young woman said casually that her husband used to do it and finished within a short time. I wouldn’t mind someone else is more intelligent than me, but it must be fair comparison. Her husband is Chinese educated and therefore not doing The Star’s. How would I know what standard of Sudoku he has been doing? Then again, did she actually go through the puzzle and see that it was completed when she isn’t one knowing how to do one? My wife could have said the same (about me completing Sudoku) to her friends when I actually gave up after 80%, because she wasn’t into it!

Just to give it perspective, the same woman said, ‘Oh, those we learnt in primary school!’
This time, it was her supervisor who asked me about ‘1st, 2rd and 3rd’. Noticed the mistake in 2nd? I told her they were abbreviations for first, second and third. I asked why didn’t she ask you? She replied she didn’t ask me! To be honest, I have my doubts and in the case of Sudoku, I really wanted to photocopy one from the Star for her husband to complete just to find out his standard in this game. But then I remembered the advice about ‘be kind and not necessary has to be right all the time and hurt somebody’s feelings’…except politicians!

Anyway, before this, I was doing ‘Wonder Word’ in New Sunday Times (my once a week only for NST) and would they be insulted if I said I look forward to this first before the news? Before this, I looked forward to Cars, Bikes and Trucks first!

What an introduction! ...to this article in The Star about the inventor of Sudoku, Maki Kaji:

Figure Head
Sudoku creator sees the game blossoming
By David Nakamura

(Excerpts):
1984: The year he created the puzzle, which was based on an American game called Numbers Place.
35: Seconds it took for him to come up with the game’s Japanese name (su means number; doku means single).
0: Trademarks that Kaji secured before his game was reproduced around the world.

“Some friends said, ‘Maki, you should have trademarked Sudoku. You could have been a millionaire’,” Kaji told a crown of about 50 last weekend during an appearance at Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival in Washington.

“I said: ‘No, that’s not what I want. I’m happy to see everyone enjoy Sudoku more easily’.”

(For this alone, I wouldn’t mind typing this post from the newspaper article!)

Howard Garns, an American architect, is credited with inventing the basic concept in 1979, calling it Numbers Place. Much like The New York Times crossword puzzle, Sudoku games range from easy to difficult. (See? It varies in standard of difficulty)

Kaji also appreciated the symmetry in Garns’ game and decided to introduce a version in Japan, but ‘the name did not hit me.’ With his staff urging a new name and Kaji eager to move on to something else, he blurted out: “Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru,” which meant that the numbers should go in single boxes, like the unmarried. The name was later shortened to Sudoku.

Is there a difference between Japanese and American players? Not on the advanced level, Americans tend to fill in the boxes with pencil and make lots of changes before finishing, he said.

And according to Kaji, the Japanese think about everything for a long time before writing down their answers just once.