How to play Sudoku? Check out Easy, Medium, and Hard Tips & Tricks

Sudoku Tip: One of the most popular mind puzzle games in the world is Suduko, which is both challenging and rewarding. We’ve all probably seen Sudoku prints in newspapers and magazines.

Sudoku was published by French newspapers as Number Place. It became popular in 1986 after it was published by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli under the name Sudoku which means Single Number. In 2004, Sudoku was published in The Times (London).

What is Sudoku?

Sudoku is a logic-based number matching game. In Classic Sudoku, the goal is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits such that each row, each column, and each of the nine 3×3 subgrids form a grid (aka “boxes”, “blocks”, or “area”) contains all the digits from 1 to 9.

Sudoku puzzle difficulty level can be easy, medium, hard or very hard. The easier the puzzle, the more numbers are pre-filled in the grid. The harder the puzzle, the fewer numbers are pre-filled in the grid.

Sudoku is a game of logic and reasoning, it requires you to think carefully about the position of each number. No math or math is needed, but you do need to be able to see patterns and make inferences. Sudoku is a great way to improve your mental capacity. It can help improve your memory, concentration, and problem-solving skills. It can also be very enjoyable and a great way to relax and de-stress.

How to play Sudoku? The goal of Sudoku is to fill in the missing numbers in a 9×9 grid so that each row, column, and section 3×3 cell contains all the digits from 1 to 9 without repetition. One needs to apply logic and keep in mind some rules: (i) No row can contain more than the same number from 1 to 9 (ii) No column can contain more than one identical number from 1 to 9 (iii) No 3×3 square can contain more than one identical number from 1 to 9 Tips & tricks for beginners 1. Scan rows and columns Start by scanning the rows and columns. Search for rows and columns that have multiple numbers already filled in. For example, rows with close to 5 out of 9 numbers or a 3×3 grid with 6 out of 9 pre-filled numbers are good places to start. This helps you to detect missing numbers easily and quickly. Filling in these numbers will give you boost and hints to find the missing numbers on the respective rows, columns and grids. 2. Sudoku Pencil Marker Another systematic Sudoku strategy is to mark with a pencil, where you write possible numbers inside the cells after scanning the rows, columns, and grid. This helps you identify combinations and then remove numbers that don’t match the solution. Always use a pencil to solve Sudoku. 3. Test a candidate In the case where 8 out of 9 numbers have been used in the surrounding rows, columns and grid, one needs to look closely and find the unique number that is missing. Let’s say, 4 numbers have been filled in the 3×3 grid while two numbers have been used on the same row and two numbers have been used in the same column. This gives us the hint to find out that only one candidate (digit) is the correct and remaining solution. 4. Removal method The elimination process is another logical strategy for solving Sudoku where you analyze rows, columns, and grids and find the remaining candidates by eliminating the possibilities of numbers as they may already be filled or incapable due to their location around. rows, columns, and grids.

Let us solve Sudoku

We will solve rows, columns and grids from a1 to i1, a2 to i2 and a3 to i3 to explain how to solve Sudoku puzzles.

• We start with the grid from a1 to i3. After scanning through the rows and columns, we have 1 at i2 and 2 at f3. So we will hold on and move forward. Now we see that g2 has 3 and e3 has 3, so we work out that c3, c2, b2 and a2 can’t have 3. So we put 3 in cell b1.

• Continuing, we notice that a3 has the number 4 and 31 has the number 4. Therefore, g1, i1, g3, h3, i3 cannot have a 4. Therefore, we put the number 4 in cell h2.

• Moving on, we notice that we have a 5 in c1 cell. However, we do not see another of it. So we continue. Next, we see a 6 in a1 and another 6 in cell f2. So, using the same logic as before, we work out that g1, i1 and h2 can’t have 6 in them. So the possibility that the number 6 is still in cells g3, h3 and i3. However, we don’t have a 6 in the surrounding columns, so we keep the 6 and move on.

• Next, we only have cell 8 in h1. Moving on, we have 9 in b3 and 9 in d2. So we play on this. This tells us that the number 9 cannot be placed in cells g3, h3, i3 and h2. We are left with only the possibility of having a 9 in cell g1 or i1. Looking further down the column, we see the number 9 in cells g4 and h7. Therefore, we further know that the number 9 cannot be placed in cell g1. Therefore, we will put 9 in cell i1.

So far our Sudoku looks like this:

• Moving on, let’s review numbers 1 through 9. Now we see there is a cell 2 in f3. Now, we rescan the rows and columns and see that there is a possibility that there are 2 other possible cells in cells a2, b2, c2 because there is already a 2 in the 3×3 grid of cells d to f and cells g2 , h2, i2 is fill.

• Therefore, after scanning, we see that there is a 2 in cell b8, hence we stipulate that the number 2 can only be placed in cell a2 or c2. Going further, we see that there is 1 in i2. After further scanning, we detect the number 1 in cells a4 and d6. Therefore, we have removed cells a1, d3, and e2 to place the number 1. We will put the number 1 in cell f1.

• Next we notice there is a cell 5 in c1 so d1,f1,g1 can’t have the number 5. After removing we are left with e2 so we put the number 5 in cell e2 and keep the possibility capacity is 5 in g3, h3 and i3 cells.

Now our Sudoku looks like this:

• In cells a1 to i1, we are missing only one candidate in d1, which is the number 7. Now, the number 7 will appear in cell g3 because when we look at it we see the number 7 in cells h6 and i7. Moving on, we notice that the number 8 cannot enter g3 because there is an 8 in cell h1 while cells a3, b3, c3 are already filled. Therefore, we put the number 8 in cell d3.

• Now, we have worked out that 7 is in d1 and 7 is in g3 so we can find the remaining 7. On scanning, we see that there is a 7 in cell b4 and another 7 in cell c9. Therefore, with the elimination method, we can put the remaining 7 numbers in cell a2.

• Now going back to the other 2 cells, we see there are 2 in cell b8 so we are left with only cell c2. We put the number 2 in cell c2. We can now fill in the only candidate left in cell b2 as 8. Now, we are left with only cells h3 and i3. These two cells can only be found after solving the remaining rows, columns and grids.

We will share solved Sudoku puzzles here for you to learn and practice.

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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: pagasa.edu.vn