How To Play Sudoku? Check Tips & Tricks For Easy, Medium, Hard Level

Sudoku Solving Tips: One of the most popular mental puzzle games in the world is Suduko, which is both challenging and rewarding. We all must have seen the printed version of Sudoku in newspapers and magazines.

Sudoku was published by French newspapers under the name Number Place. It gained popularity in 1986 after being published by the Japanese puzzle company Nikoli under the name Sudoku, which means Single Number. In 2004, Sudoku appeared in The Times (London).

What is Sudoku?

Sudoku is a logic-based combinatorial number placement puzzle. In classic Sudoku, the goal is to fill a 9×9 grid with digits so that each row, each column, and each of the nine 3×3 subgrids that make up the grid (also called “boxes,” “blocks,” or “regions”) contain all digits from 1 to 9.

The difficulty level of a Sudoku can be easy, medium, difficult or very difficult. The easier the puzzle, the more numbers will be preloaded into the grids. The harder the puzzle, the fewer numbers are pre-filled into the grids.

Sudoku is a game of logic and reasoning and requires you to think carefully about the location of each number. You don’t need to do any calculations or math, but you do need to be able to see patterns and make deductions. Sudoku is a great way to improve your intellectual ability. It can help improve your memory, concentration, and problem-solving skills. It can also be a lot of fun and is a great way to relax and de-stress.

How to play sudoku? The goal of Sudoku is to fill in the missing numbers on a 9×9 grid so that each row, column, and 3×3 section boxes contain all digits between 1 and 9 without repetition. It is necessary to apply logic and take into account some rules: (i) No row may contain more than one of the same number from 1 to 9 (ii) No column can contain more than one of the same number from 1 to 9 (iii) No 3×3 grid can contain more than one of the same number from 1 to 9 Tips and tricks for beginners 1. Scanning rows and columns Start by scanning rows and columns. Look for rows and columns with many numbers already filled in. For example, rows with almost 5 of 9 numbers or a 3×3 grid with 6 of 9 numbers preloaded are a good place to start. This helps you detect which numbers are missing easily and quickly. Completing these numbers will give you the impetus and cue to find the missing numbers in the corresponding rows, columns and grids. 2. Sudoku pencil marking Another systematic strategy for solving Sudoku is penciling, which means you pencil in the possible numbers inside the cells after scanning rows, columns, and grids. This helps you identify combinations and then delete numbers that don’t fit the solution. Always use a pencil to solve Sudoku. 3. Verify unique candidate In cases where 8 of 9 numbers have been used in the surrounding rows, columns and grids, you need to look closely and find out which is the only missing number. Suppose 4 numbers have already been filled in a 3×3 grid, while two numbers in the same row and two numbers in the same column have been used. This gives us a clue to calculate that only one candidate (digit) is the correct and remaining solution. 4. Removal method The process of elimination is another logical strategy for solving Sudoku where you analyze the rows, columns and grids and find out the remaining candidates by eliminating the possibilities of the numbers as they may already be complete or may not be a possibility due to their location in the environment. rows, columns and grids.

Let’s solve a Sudoku

We will solve the rows, columns and grids from a1 to i1, a2 to i2 and a3 to i3 to explain how to solve a Sudoku.

• We start with grids a1 to i3. After scanning the rows and columns, we have a 1 in i2 and a 2 in f3. So we will endure and move on. Now we see that g2 has a 3 and e3 has a 3, so we calculate that c3, c2, b2, and a2 cannot have a 3. Therefore, we put 3 in cell b1.

• Continuing, we notice that a3 has a 4 and 31 has a 4. Therefore, g1, i1, g3, h3, i3 cannot have a 4. Therefore, we put a 4 in cell h2.

• Continuing, we notice that we have a 5 in cell c1. However, we see no other of it. So we continue. Next, we see a 6 in a1 and another 6 in cell f2. So, using logic as before, we calculate that g1, i1, and h2 cannot have a 6. So the possibility of a 6 remains in cells g3, h3, and i3. However, we don’t have a 6 in the surrounding columns, so we keep it as a possibility and move on.

• Next, we have just an 8 in cell h1. Continuing, we have a 9 on b3 and another 9 on d2. So, we play with this. This gives us the signal that a 9 cannot be placed in cells g3, h3, i3 and h2. We are left with the possibility of a 9 in either cells g1 or i1. Looking further into the columns, we see a 9 in cells g4 and h7. Therefore, we further know that a 9 cannot be placed in cell g1. Therefore, we will put 9 in cell i1.

So far our Sudoku looks like this:

• Continuing, we go over the numbers 1 through 9 again. Now we see that there is a 2 in cell f3. Now, we scan the rows and columns again and see that the possibility of another 2 may be in cells a2, b2, c2 since there is already a 2 in the 3×3 grid of cells daf and cells g2, h2, i2 are completed.

• Therefore, after scanning, we see that there is a 2 in cell b8, so we rule that a 2 can be placed only in cells a2 or c2. Going further, we calculate that there is 1 in i2. After a more detailed scan, we detected a 1 in cells a4 and d6. Therefore, we have deleted cells a1, d3 and e2 to put a 1. We will put the 1 in cell f1.

• Next, we notice that there is a 5 in cell c1, therefore d1, f1, g1 cannot have a 5. After elimination, we are left with e2, so we put a 5 in cell e2 and keep the possibility of a 5 on g3, h3. and i3 cells.

Now, our Sudoku looks like this:

• In cells a1 to i1, we are only missing one candidate in d1, which is a 7. Now, in addition, a 7 will go in cell g3, since when we look we see a 7 in cells h6 and i7. Continuing, we calculate that an 8 cannot go in g3 since there is an 8 in cell h1 while cells a3, b3, c3 are already full. Therefore, we put an 8 in cell d3.

• Now, we have already calculated that there is a 7 on d1 and a 7 on g3 so we can find the remaining 7. Upon scanning, we see that there is a 7 in b4 and another 7 in cell c9. Therefore, with the elimination method, we can put the remaining 7 in cell a2.

• Now, going back to the remaining 2, we see that there is a 2 in cell b8, so we are left with cell c2. We put a 2 in cell c2. Now we can fill in the remaining single candidate in cell b2, which is an 8. We are now left with cells h3 and i3. These two cells can only be calculated after resolving the remaining rows, columns, and grids.

We will share the solved Sudoku here for you to learn and practice.

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Categories: Optical Illusion
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