Have you heard of the old and mysterious game of Sudoku? Sudoku is an easy game that is all about finding patterns. All you need is a Sudoku app or a written game and then you are ready.
How, and why do you play? The goal of Sudoku is to fill out a nine by nine grid with numbers from one to nine. There are smaller three by three squares inside of the main grid. Each of these three by three squares has the numbers one to nine. The rows and columns are also made up of numbers from one to nine. If one number is in the same row or column as another of the same number than there is a problem. This can't happen.
How do you do it? The first thing to do is to pick a number from one to nine. Now, pick a 3x9 row or column to try to find the number in. Find as many of that number as you can. The goal is to eliminate the places where the number can go. If you had a one in the left and center rows, then the last one has to go in the right column. If you go around doing this on a puzzle you can find out most of them if not all of the numbers.
Although the last strategy is the best, it may not always solve the whole puzzle. The next strategy uses elimination too, but in a slightly different place. The first step in this strategy is to pick a three by three square or a row or a column with only one number left to solve. With the process of elimination, count from one to nine and the number that is not yet written is the number that goes in the remaining cell. Now for an example! Let's say I want to use a three in the first three by nine column. There is a three on the left column and a three in the center. Where does the last three go? In the right column! That does not give an exact location. Let's now say that the top and the middle of the three by three in the right column are already done. Where does the three go? It goes in the bottom right of the bottom three by three. Sudoku is really an interesting game of strategy and elimination. It is complicated and lengthy but it all pays off in the end.
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