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The Complete History of Sudoku

Number Place - The Original Sudoku

Sudoku was invented in the United States by Howard Garns.

In the 1970s Garns created the first original sudoku puzzle in Indiana. A 9x9 Latin square with an extra rule -- the numbers 1 to 9 must also be unique within the nine regions of 3 x 3 sub-squares called boxes or blocks. Adding the sub-square rule made the puzzle more challenging and more interesting.

In 1979 Dell Puzzle Magazines New York published these puzzles with the name ‘Number Place.’

Image of a 9x9 sudoku puzzle

Garns died in 1989. He never saw his puzzle become popular worldwide -- that happened about 15 years after his death. But a couple of things had to happen before that.

But where did the name sudoku come from? Read on.

Next Stop: Japan > >



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