A GAME OF LOGIC

Sudoko is the game this year. No

matter where you are, on the

subway or in the park, you’ll find

people poring over little boxes with

numbers. Germany’s Game Manufacturer’s

Association went so far as to say

that Sudoku would be next year’s megatrend.

All of this hype has prompted toy

manufacturers to exhibit no less than ten

different Suduko clones disguised as

new games.

If you prefer a low-budget version, you

can just let your Linux computer design

the puzzles for you and then print them

out, filling in the squares at your own

leisure. Unlimited gaming is guaranteed,

as a 9 by 9 puzzle gives you over 6 x

1021 different combinations [1]. In fact,

you would need several lives to exhaust

all of these possibilities. For more on Sudoku,

check out the Wikipedia article

[2]. Many newspaper websites give you

Sudoku puzzles online, and there are

two Sudoku puzzles (beginner and expert

level) for you to try out at the end of

this article.