Sudoku Heaven!!

susiestar

Roll With It
I live with a crew who LOVES their sudoku (not me, I like logic puzzles!). Even thank you, who is just 7, is doing the medium to hard ones!! I got tired of the expensive puzzle magazines, so I looked up the publisher online. I got HUGE packs of sudoku magazines AND of logic puzzle magazines for less than $1 per book!!

Now, if only any of use would quit scribbling long enough to do the dishes, LOL!! At least it is quiet!!

:smile: :smile: :smile:

Susie
 

meowbunny

New Member
Susie, would you mind giving me that site? My daughter loves Sudoko. Like you, I love logic problems. Thanks loads. (A PM will do.)
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
OK These look like alot of fun.

But I must be a real dufus or something. I understand that you can only fill the squares for each with numbers 1-9. No biggie there. But what I don't get is how you determine where/how to place the numbers according to the ones they provide.

Is the placement part of the puzzle? Because when I tried it I attempted logic..... putting the numbers in sequence or close to it.... But it appears to be random?? I'd get a couple right because they were in order, then the others would be wrong.

Help! Cuz if that's part of the puzzle it's just not making sense to me. However, I've discovered over the years there are just some types of puzzles out there I just can't "get" to save my life. :crazy:
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Lisa, the objective is to place the numbers in such a way so each horizontal row, each vertical line and each smaller box with 9 squares contain all the numbers from 1 - 9 with no duplications.

Yes, it's random, in that as a rule you can't do it in numerical order. It's also not mathematical, it's pure logic. And the numbers already placed there - they are to give you a start. Generally each puzzle has one, unique, solution.

So look at the puzzle - it has nine smaller 9 square boxes in it. It also has 9 vertical lines and nine horizontal rows. You need to place the numbers so they fulfil the requirement of no doubling up, no leaving a number out.

The first and most important guide - DO NOT GUESS. This is pure logic. You only place a number when you are SURE that it goes there. If you have a choice of two digits and you flip a coin, it means you have a 50:50 chance that you have just totally SNAFUd the puzzle.

Sometimes the position of a number will make it easier - it removes one possible position and also gives you a guide. This includes the numbers that YOU put in, certain that you have put it in correctly.

Example - look for the same digit in three consecutive either vertical rows or horizontal lines. These should then also cover three boxes (the 9 square boxes). A particular number in vertical line 1 (on the left) in the top box means that for all boxes below that top box, that number cannot be in line 1. If, in the next box down, you have the same number in line 2, then you KNOW that in the bottom box under the first two, that same number HAS to be in line 3.

So then you look at the rows - does the same number appear in any rows that intersect with the boxes in question? Look especially at the bottom three rows - these can help you place the number, if possible, in the bottom left box. If these help you place the number exactly, that's one more piece of the puzzle done.

If you're not sure, and especially if you're just beginning or it's a tricky puzzle, you can lightly pencil in to one corner the possible numbers for that placement. Then when you are sure, you can go back and write your certain answer in.

Do the same for other positions and other numbers. Over and over - often you can't pin a position down early on, but after you've placed a few numbers you go back and test it again, and find that your placement has eliminated one of two possible placements, leaving you with certainty - gold, in this game.

For those who are more practised, you can apply the same principle with pairs of possible numbers - if you see a 1 and 4, for example, in the top box and both in line 1, and you see a 1 and 4 in the second box in line 2, then you KNOW that 1 and 4 MUST be in the bottom box in the third line.

It's a really good game for logic-minded difficult children, too - start them off on the easy puzzles and maybe work on a puzzle together until you both get the knack. Then you can print off puzzles and race each other to a conclusion, or simply enjoy time together, puzzling.

I find Sudoku a really good brain-stretching activity which you can also put down immediately you need to do something else - great for parents. I keep a book in the car, beside the bed, in the bathroom - in my pocket, even. Plus I have Sudoku on my computer so if I'm at a rather boring meeting and I'm up to date with my notes, while people are discussing something irrelevant I'll Sudoku away until they need me again. It's an alternative to solitaire.

Here's a link to one of my favourite websites - http://www.websudoku.com

If you're a beginner, start with the easy ones. If you play online it will give you hints or tell you if you've put a number in wrong. You can also print them out to work on at your leisure, but then the only way you will know you've got it, is if you finish the puzzle with all numbers placed according to the rules.

I do get a regular Sudoku book but it doesn't come out often enough for me and I've worked my way through the easy puzzles and like really tricky ones, these days. There are also some variations such as Samurai Sudoku, which can be scary if you're a beginner, although I think they're even easier because there are more clues.

One thing to always bear in mind with puzzles - they won't ask the impossible of you. There is always a path to a solution.

Maybe this is a good rule to remember when dealing with our kids, too!

Marg
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I haven't done Sudokos in awhile but at one point I was addicted to them! I just couldn't get enough! It may be time to get some out again!
 

wakeupcall

Well-Known Member
I'm addicted to Sudoku, also. I love to play online because often the site will light up if you put in a wrong number. No one else in the family is a bit interested. Yesterday I found a site (somewhere) that only uses the numbers 1-6 and it was much easier, of course. I mentioned it to my father in law (79 years old) to get him started on the game, but I doubt he will. Surely, it will help keep my mind sharp and give me something else to think about (puhleees!!)
 

Lothlorien

Active Member
I love Sodoku. I get the books and do them in bed until I can't think straight anymore. I also like to do them out at the pool while the kids are swimming. I'd like the name of that site too.
 
The sudoku book I have starts with a few pages of 6x6 squares to warm you up, then it has pages and pages of regular 9x9 squares. The last 10 pages or so have the extra challenge of making both diagonals have the numbers 1-9 as well...
 

Kathy813

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Here is a great website for free sudoku. It has all levels to pick from. I print them out two to a page.

I printed out a bunch for my recent trip to Florida and it kept me busy all the way there and back!

Free sudoku

~Kathy
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Marg

Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I get it now. Yippie!!!

Kathy

Thanks for the print out versions. I know Nichole is going to LOVE these!!! And it will give her something to do in her free time.

Hugs
 

Marguerite

Active Member
Kathy, thankyouthankyouthankyou for that link! I just printed 4 to a page, hopefully that will keep me occupied until I get to sleep tonight!

I'm alternating between Sudoku and reading an Aussie classic, Norman Lindsay's "A Curate in Bohemia". It's semi-autobiographical, set in Melbourne in the early 1900s. Norman Lindsay was the bohemian, not the curate. A rather wild artist - brilliant, but not exactly acceptable society. A rogue. larrikan. Very raunchy writing, even raunchier artwork, but definitely more literary, nowhere near porn. He'd have loved Sudoku.

I think I'll get through the Sudoku faster than the book.

Marg
 
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