The numbers game Sudoku is fun, even if you are not great at maths (although it does help a bit). With a bit of patience and a working brain it really is a game that anyone can learn to play. Being such an easy game to master, children and adults all over the world already enjoy sudoku every day.
Sudoku Objective.
The aim of the game is to fill in a numbered grid with all the correct numbers. Here are the three simple rules for playing the standard (9x9 grid) sudoku game;
Each row in your grid must contain the numbers 1 to 9 in any order needed.
Each column needs to be filled in with the numbers 1 through 9.
Every single 3 by 3 subsection in the 9 by 9 block will have to incorporate all numbers 1 through 9..
You will find almost all sudoku puzzles will already have an amount of the squares prefilled, the amount will depend on how difficult the sudoku puzzle is. The more cells that are already prefilled means the easier the sudoku will be to complete. As you fill in the missing numbers, it will become easier as the choices become less, but be careful as using the wrong numbers will mess up the result and could leave you stuck with some empty squares or double numbers.
Sudoku Techniques.
The best thing to do when starting a Sudoku puzzle is to briefly examine the grid for rows and columns that have the least empty cells. For example, if you found the top right 9 square section (3x3 subsection) only had a 3 and a 9 missing, and the row that had a missing cell also had a 3 filled in at the bottom, you know now that you need to place the 9 in the row mentioned, and the 3 in the remaining empty square for that section, also providing a number for the next row/column.
As soon as the 7 is filled in, common sense makes it necessary that only a 5 may go underneath it as all numbers from 1 through 9 have to be displayed in the area. After that, a person can look to the 2 leftover open boxes from the right column - these need to include a 2 and a 4 as the column's digits must represent 1 through 9. Repeating the above process will allow you to properly determine which of these numbers go where.
Nevertheless, selections for boxes in many cases are not really that simple to deduce. An additional strategy is to "pencil in" choices and after that go through possible solutions that come up until finally a conflict can be found. Often these conflicts appear after several numbers are penciled in, and one can go back to the beginning and check out another choice until eventually something works.
As you start to play sudoku, you'll see that the hardest part is figuring out the first few cells, once you have found those first numbers correctly the rest of them become easier to work out.
