Since its development a few years ago in a Japanese publication, Sudoku has taken the world by storm, reshaping the crossword puzzle page in a thousand different newspapers. The relatively simple seeming number puzzle is an astoundingly relaxing, mind sharpening exercise that millions play every day. Learning exactly how to solve a Sudoku puzzle though is something else entirely. Sudoku can be a hard game if you don’t have an inkling of how it works.
First off, a basic description – Sudoku is a consisted of a 9 by 9 grid. There are nine highlighted boxes of nine smaller boxes within that grid. Within each box and within each row there must be each number from 1 to 9, written only once to solve the puzzle.
For example, if you have the number 2 in the first two rows of a Sudoku grid, you know that a 2 must appear in the third row, more specifically in the only box of nine that does not have a 2. Learning how to solve Sudoku puzzles, means you must be able to find patterns like this easily, looking beyond a simple set at times, three or four levels deep.
One tip many people use when teaching how to solve Sudoku puzzles is to pencil in each of the numbers that could possibly go in each square, crossing each of them out as they’re ruled out. This makes it easier later on to see which numbers have already been used.
Another good tip is to look for any row or box that only has two or three blank spots. You can usually decipher one or two and then the row is complete. Once you have eight spots in a row or box filled in, the ninth number should be obvious, since each number can only appear once.
There are dozens of different methods people use to solve Sudoku puzzles, many of them much more complicated than others, depending on the difficulty of any given puzzle. You can compare the rows to each other and mark down each possible answer in a given box, or track a number carefully throughout the puzzle, by comparing every row to every other row, known as crosshatching.
Of course, describing how Sudoku works in words is incredibly hard. How to solve a Sudoku puzzle best is to simply sit and practice many, many puzzles as often as possible. There are dozens of methods that work wonders for different kinds of thinkers. Most of all, remember to use logic and above all else, patience in solving your puzzles or you might start entering the wrong numbers too early. When that happens, you may as well toss out the puzzle and start over, because every other answer you get could be wrong.
Learn how to master Sudoku with Sudoku Puzzle Secrets a complete guide covering everything you need to know in order to solve Sudoku puzzles to include how to eliminate the extraneous, what exactly unique grids are and how to use them, how to properly search for the lone number and how to use cross hatching to your advantage. Become a master Sudoku player now with http://www.sudokupuzzlesecrets.com/
Source: www.a1articles.com
