Sudoku
 

What is this thing? It's come from out of (apparently) nowhere, and has taken the world by storm. What makes it so fascinating that there are dozens of websites devoted to daily puzzles and solving it? Handhelds (that pretty much require you write the puzzle down on paper and then solve and reenter numbers into the game) are selling like hotcakes. What's the big deal here?

I've tried a few, they're sometimes frustrating, but the word I apply most to them is "tedious".

I like doing them.

But I can't help you on why. Brain exercise, I guess...

I can usually do one of these in about 40 minutes.

I'm addicted, and I've already passed it on to my daughter. (She get the daily sudoku for kids via email.)

What can I say? It's no better or no worse than crosswords as far as puzzle compulsions go.

I've tried to solve them. It makes my brain hurt too much.

Doing an "easy" or "for kids" helps your self esteem.

Don't be stupid enough to start with a "very hard" or "expert."

I speak from experience.

Oh, and buy a big eraser.

Like a crossword puzzle but not as fun.

I believe I've mentioned Millsberry, the General Mills-sponsored web site with lots of cute little games that everybody else in my family but me seems to enjoy. (I seem to be stuck playing online poker, though I just started dabbling in Second Life a little bit.) (I have also suggested what types of business establishments move into Millsberry that would attract my custom . . . .you can just imagine, I'm sure.)

Anyways, the lovely, talented, and ever-so-slightly warped Mrs. Dallas reports that the Lucky Charms Sudoku has come to Millsberry, featuring Lucky Charms marshmallows instead of numbers. :lame:


Oh, forgot to mention...

If you go to the Daily Sudoku for Kids, they have plenty that are 4x4 or 6x6 instead of the standard 9x9.

I have just discovered Soduku, and for me, its a wonderful exercise in getting my spatial pathways working again. My neropsychologist says my verbal skills have remained as intact as they are in part because of my habit of playing Scrabble against my computer. I have the assignment of doing 3 Soduku every day. It takes me 28 minutes to solve an easy one! :3_eyes: I'm going to keep doing my homework, though. It would be cool if this actually helped me recontruct some new synapses to replace the ones that got clobbered!

yeah, some become more tedious than others -- when there are numerous 'paired' choices -- and you have to systematically eliminate the choices. I'd like to see a brain scan of someone working a puzzle vs. reading, or watching tv etc. Is it a left or right brain thing to work these?

I think its probably a combination, although I believe the right brain may be more responsible for spatial organization skills. I was always a left brain type, but I now have what is sometimes called a diffuse brain injury or a mild traumatic brain injury. My verbal skills are good enough but shapes and numbers have become my nemesis. I do the 9 cube puzzles which drive me crazy because you, in effect, have to remember shapes to solve them - the shapes of the numbers. If there was a word in each square, I imagine I would do better. Its really true that if you don't use it you'll lose it. When I got really sick at the end, I didn't have the energy to leave my house. I spent a lot of time just playing scrabble on my computer, but I didn't venture out to new places or sit around staring at geometric shapes.

My neurologist is actually testing a group of his patients to see if soduku puzzles played 3 times a day help patients such as myself show improvement in spatial tasks. Since I scored a whopping one percent in spatial recall on my neuropsych eval, I'm open to anything. It can't hurt, anyhow! ;)

Someone I work with enjoys Sudoku. Overstock.com sells a half dozen different models of the handhelds for $20.

don't know what the deal is with it.. I've read the instructions, but I think I just need to sit down and watch someone play to have it make sense, although my poor brain hates math, although it does like puzzles.

There's no math involved. Knowing the numbers one to nine is all that's needed, and you just need to understand that they are discrete symbols. You don't really need to know the order they go in, even.

Go to The Daily Sudoku and grab one of their easy puzzles.

Grab a sharp pencil with a decent amount of eraser left, and take a look at a guide to solving. wikipedia has a fairly decent one. I use the "marking up" method.

There are also some online versions that aren't too bad, with varying difficulty levels and various mark-up strategies.

I like this one, but I wish you could put six marks into a box.

it would also be interesting to see if some people work them faster if instead of 1 to 9 it's A to I -- or maybe dingbats.