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Everyone is talking about Sudoku and it's hard to find someone who hasn't heard of the popular Sudoku game. I remember my girlfriend used to rant about Sudoku occassionally, and my response to her was "Oh, ok" or "Hmmm...ok". I never really felt like knowing the game 'cause I thought Sudoku was just a nothing-special-to-shout-about number game.

However, thank God I managed to completely change my perspective of Sudoku. On this one fine evening, I came across a Sudoku puzzle while I was flipping through a local newspaper. I decided to try it out despite the doubts and hesitation. It's dangerously addictive for God's sake! After understanding the rules of Sudoku and trying out a few puzzles, I managed to learn a few tricks along the way and I got myself turned into a Sudoku fanatic. You know, sleepless nights and mealless days. I even play Sudoku on my cell phone when I get stuck in a traffic jam. The real attraction of the puzzle is that the rules are simple, yet the line of reasoning required to solve the puzzle may be complex.

In fact, Sudoku is not just a number game, it's a logic puzzle standardly consisting of a 9x9 grid of individual cells. You are provided with an incomplete grid and you need to deduce what number from 1-9 goes where in each row, column and box until you have completed the puzzle to form a valid Sudoku grid. Ground rules: Each row, column and 3x3 of the grid contains the number 1 to 9 once, meaning that, only one of each digit can appear in a row, column or box.

Sudoku has quickly become a big name everywhere, it's flooding airport gift shops and even rivaling crosswords in popularity. The puzzle was first introduced in Japan by Nikoli, run by the self-proclaimed godfather of Sudoku, Maki Kaji. The world's first Sudoku championship was held in Lucca, Italy from 10 to 12 March 2006, and it was won by Tylová, a 31-year-old accountant from the Czech Republic. The second world championship is currently being held in Prague, Czech Republic from 28 March to 1 April 2007. Click here to go the official website. There's also a live internet broadcast of the event if you want to follow the event. I'm looking forward to taking part in the third world championship. *wink*

Sudoku involves a process of elimination, narrowing down the possibilities across different variables in order to have a better chance of recognising the patterns. It is widely regarded as the world's most prolific wellspring of logic games and brainteasers. Sudoku is good to keep the brain in good working order and to prevent brain atrophy and most importantly it's FUN.

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