Might I Suggest Learning About: Sudoku

Note: This is a post-format I’m experimenting with for AG—the idea is to introduce a concept or body of knowledge or skill with a succinct pitch about why it’s worth looking into and where you might get started if you choose to do so.

Sudoku is a grid-based puzzle game with a 9x9 board. Some squares are pre-filled with numbers and others are left blank. Like this:

The goal is to fill in all the grid squares with numbers, and each column, row, and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 just one time. Here’s what that puzzle looks like when it’s been completely filled in:

Solving a Soduku puzzle requires using logic (not math, despite there being numbers involved) and as you grow more proficient, there are logical techniques (with names like Naked Pairs and X-Wing) you can use to figure out even the most impossible-seeming puzzles.

The modern iteration of Sudoku puzzles were introduced in Japan in 1986, but variations of the concept have been published in newspapers and books since the 19th century.

I finally tried my hand at Sudoku after not fully understanding the concept or appeal for years, and have found it to be a calming, satisfying way to pass the time (on a bus, in a waiting room), or in between other tasks. The focus required to solve more advanced puzzles in particular tends to pull me out of whatever headspace I was in and helps me shift into other mindsets more easily, post-puzzle.

To get started, I bought a 500-puzzle book (with puzzles of increasing difficulty) and downloaded a few Sudoku apps on my phone. After a few weeks of periodic puzzle-playing, I’d graduated from complete newbie to solving expert-level puzzles (as defined by the apps, anyway) in somewhere between 15-20 minutes, on average.