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Pure Sudoku Addictiveness
By Charles Hawkins
The Sudoku mystery has hit worldwide media and newspapers with such a massive impact, that it has to be the riddle game promotion of the century. But what is it that makes drawing numbers into tiny boxes so absurdly addictive?
One part of the mix has definitely to be pure simplicity of the brainteaser. The directions of Sudoku are so easy to understand that anyone can start gaming almost right now.Yet mastering the game necessitate serious extent of practise and patience. A Sudoku puzzle can also be made so tricky that even a sudoku master would have a hard time completing it.
Contrary to what many would imagine when they first see a Sudoku enigma, this brain-teasing exercise doesn't require outstandingly high understanding of math. It is more a matter of judgment and the numeral characters could, in fact, be swapped with any other symbol.
The connection with dart throwing
Most people have fond memories from their childhood, a time where we often manage to enjoy the simple things in life on a whole other level.
I have a memory of when I was a kid and we spent the summer months at our cottage in the country. One day my sister and I found an old darts game - not like the intricate ones they use in official dart competitions, but more of a strong-featured "outdoors" (or whatever the term is) type of dartboard with digits from one on the outside to ten in the bulls eye, and quite compact and robust darts.
Neither of us where very good at lobbing darts, so it was a good decision we hung the dart target on the outside wall of an old shed. After a while of practising, I succeeded to get quite a good score - 42 with five darts.
Luck had much to do with it of course, but now something interesting happened. My sibling would probably not quit before she had gotten at least the same score as me!
I think she chopped away at that dart board for a couple of hours without stopping, and had she been a character in a comic she could surely have been portrayed with a dark cloud over her head, so to speak. It began to get dark before she finally had crushed my record and could allow herself to quit.
It is truly amazing to see such determination.
Although having almost none to do with Sudoku puzzles per se, I think the same kind of driving force is also one factor accountable for the addictiveness of the Sudoku puzzle.
Most people love a challenge, providing that there is in fact a to some degree credible possibility to come out "winning" in the end. When tackling a fittingly hard Sudoku mystery a player can sometimes pass into almost a trance like state where he or she basically can't put down the pen before they have beaten the Sudoku test. Much in the same way as it developed in that dart game many donkey's years ago.
By the way, my (now much older) sister tried her hands on a moderately different Sudoku puzzle the other day. You probably guessed the result, she didn't quit until it was finished.
This is all good, as Sudoku is a very low-cost hobby that definitely deliver a good work out for the brain.However, should something very catch fire in the vincinity or if somebody is drowning - by all means put that Sudoku riddle aside for just a few hours.
About the Author
Once upon a time, Charles Hawkins did actually not think Sudoku was anything for him. Once he tried it though, he was hooked and he now spreads the word and offers Sudoku hints and playing guides on his web site.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/33754.html
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