October 13 – Train Your Brain Day: The Origins Of Sudoku

Sudoku was created in 1979 and published in an American puzzle magazine. The game was created by Howard Garns, a former architect. The craze hit Japan in 1986, but did not become mainstream until the early 2000s, when the puzzles were featured in more activity books, newspapers, and online games.

Sudoku is actually an abbreviation of the Japanese phrase suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru. Translated, it means “the digits remain single.” A standard Sudoku game is usually comprised of a 9×9 grid divided into nine 3×3 subgroups. Some of the cells have numbers as clues in them. Others are empty. The goal of the game is to pencil in the missing numbers in a logical fashion, but remember, each number 1 through 9 can be used only once.

The difficulty levels vary. Puzzles can be crafted to fit highly experienced players or pure novices. People of every age can get in on playing Sudoku. On October 13, Train Your Brain Day, give it a try and exercise your brain!