Where this game comes from
Sudoku
Howard Garns, a retired architect from Indiana, is believed to have made the puzzle; Dell Magazines printed it in 1979 as “Number Place”. In 1984 the Japanese publisher Nikoli printed it and named it “the digits must be single”, shortened to sudoku. On 12 November 2004 The Times in London began printing it, brought there by Wayne Gould from New Zealand.
One thing to hold: A grid, a pencil and an eraser.
Why it matters: No arithmetic is needed — the digits are only names. Every step is a reason you can say out loud.
What we don’t know: Garns was named as the maker years later, from Dell’s lists of contributors; he died in 1989, before the puzzle became famous. French newspapers printed number-placing puzzles in the 1890s, but without the box rule.
Dates:
- 1979 Dell prints “Number Place”.
- 1984 Nikoli prints it in Japan and names it sudoku.
- 2004 The Times begins printing it in London.