How to Play Sudoku

The classic Sudoku game involves a grid of 81 squares. The grid is divided into nine blocks, each containing nine squares. The rules of the game are simple: each of the nine blocks has to contain all the numbers 1-9 within its squares. Each number can only appear once in a row, column or box. _{Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku}

History of Sudoku

The name Sudoku, or more correctly 数独, comes from Japan and consists of the Japanese characters Su (meaning 'number') and Doku (meaning 'single') but the was not invented in Japan. Sudoku originated in Switzerland and then traveled to Japan by way of America. Sudoku has its deep roots in ancient number puzzles. If you know the Japanese language you may know that the Su Doku characters 数独 are actually ones that originated from Chinese. These two characters have the same meaning in China (number single) but in Mandarin Chinese (pinyin) would be pronounced shùdú. The written version of the characters tells a tale that goes back into the mists of history. The first character Shu ➚ is in two parts. The phonetic radical is lou ➚ 娄 consists of the two characters 'middle' above 'woman' and denotes 'leisure' (possibly representing a woman in the middle of nothing). The second part of Shu has 夂 is 'strike' represented by a hand with a stick. These two parts together denote 'number' perhaps symbolizing counting by scratching marks on the ground. The second character 独 is the one for du ➚ or 'only'. It consists of two parts, the first symbol (radical) is for a dog 犭 that is used for many wild creatures and then 虫 which mean 'insect'. These two parts together represent 'only' or 'single'. It is the simplified form of 獨 'du'. ^{1 1}www.sudokudragon.com