The trial of three men on drugs and firearms charges ended when the forewoman revealed she and five other jurors had been playing Sudoku during the 66 days of evidence and comparing notes during adjournments. Read the entire story here.
Number puzzles have appeared in newspapers since the late 19th century. Some say the modern version of Sudoku was designed by Howard Garns, a 74-year-old retired architect from Indiana, and first published in 1979 by Dell Magazines as Number Place. The recent surge in the game’s popularity started in 2004 when the puzzles began showing up in newspapers around the world. The first World Sudoku Championship was held in Lucca, Italy in March of 2006. The winner was Jana Tylova of the Czech Republic. See all past World Sudoku Championship winners.
Every row, column, and 3 by 3 subsection of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order
Carol Vorderman does a great job explaining the basic strategy of solving Sudoku puzzles in this short video.