sudoku

[hallenh]

how to play sudoku

[Loosehead]

just read the instructions with every puzzle, It ain't rocket science. Each row column and box must contain 1-9. Use logic to determine what must go where.

[Lonnie]

Exactly as Loosehead has said, I use a pencil with a rubber on the end, that way I put the possible numbers in the appropiate squares, and just rub out the ones you eliminate as you go along.

[Champagne]

I've just bought a pc version of the game. You get better with lots of practice.

[mibn2cweus]

Don't let the numbers scare you away. There just for identification. Letters abcdefghi would work just as well. Numbers are just more universally recognizable.

Possibly the first logical conclusion is that each number can only be used once in each box, row and column in order to allow all numbers to be used in each box/row/column.

Puzzles vary greatly in difficultly. Start with the easiest until you are comfortable with the idea and confident enough to take on something a little more interesting.

[mibn2cweus]

If you are still confused, find and look over a puzzle that has been solved and you should get the idea. Each box of nine squares has one each of the numbers 1-9. Same in each row and column.

puzzles here

[mibn2cweus]

Keep in mind that depending on the numbers given there is usually only one number that will work in a specific position of the grid that will allow you to complete the grid. To start, look for a spot where there is only one possible number that can be used in that spot. If necessary go through the numbers 1-9 until you find such a spot. Once you fill in a few more spots with the correct number, others will become defined.

[bluejonjo]

Just put the numbers in anywhere. Its not like anyone will check it....

[peanut]

check this out it will help you practice. it highlights the row or box if the numbers are correct. same puzzle all day but new puzzle every day

[Kuolema Nox]

Try picking a space in the grid and looking around it to see which numbers are already in the same box, row and column. Some spaces will have enough numbers already placed in the surrounding box, row and/or column that there is only one possibility for what can go in them.
The other main strategy is to look at one box/row/column and see where a specific number could go in it (since every number from 1-9 has to go in it once). Suppose you want to see where the 3 goes in the top row. If there's already a 3 in the top-left box, for example, it can't be in the three leftmost spaces in the top row. Obviously, if there are other numbers already placed in the top row, it can't be where they are. If the column another space is in has a 3 in it already, the 3 can't go in that space either etc. Sometimes there is only one space in the whole box/row/column that could possibly contain the number.

Most simple Sudoku puzzles can be solved just using those techniques, but more advanced ones may require other strategies, which you should be able to work out yourself as you progress. There are countless strategies you can use because everyone has their own method, really. (For example, if there are three spaces and the possibilities are:
1st space: 5, 6
2nd space: 5, 6
3rd space: 5, 6, 9
then you know that the 3rd space must contain a 9 because the 5 and the 6 have to go in the 1st and 2nd spaces.)

Some people get confused because they see the numbers and think it's a mathematical problem. It's not, it's just a logic puzzle. The numbers may as well be letters or shapes; it doesn't matter.

[lowiq]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,23509, 00.html?CMP=LEC-JW5221366841

[mibn2cweus]

lowiq, * * *

Really good kind!