The Sudoku riddle has hit worldwide mass media and newspapers with such a considerable impact, that it has to be the puzzle game promotion of the century. But what is it that give rise to drawing numbers into small boxes so extremely addictive?
One part of the mix has definitely to be outright simplicity of the mystery. The directions of Sudoku are so easy to grasp that any person can start solving almost without delay.Yet complete mastery of the game call for serious extent of puzzle solving and patience. A Sudoku brainteaser can also be made so incomprehensible that even a virtuoso could have a hard time solving it.
Contrary to what many would believe when they initially see a Sudoku enigma, this brain-teasing exercise doesn't require markedly high understanding of math. It is more a matter of common sense and the numeral characters could, in fact, be changed with any other symbol.
A lesson in determination
Although it might seem ridiculous to draw a parallel between sitting in the sofa playing Sudoku and throwing darts, bear with me for a second and I will get to the point.
I recall when I was a kid and we spent the vacation at our cottage in the countryside. One day my sibling and I found an old darts game - not like the extravagant ones they use in indoors dart competitions, but more of a robust "outdoors" (or whatever the term is) type of dartboard with digits from one on the outside to ten in the bulls eye, and rather compact and firm darts.
Neither of us where very good at throwing darts, so it was a good decision we hung the dart target on the outside wall of an old shed. After a while though, I managed 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 sister would not quit before she had gotten at least the same score as me!
I think she fired away at that dart board for a pair of hours without interruption, and had she been a character in a comic she would probably certainly have been portrayed with a black rain cloud over her head, so to speak. It started to get dark before she finally had flattened my record and could allow herself to quit.
It is genuinely startling to observe such determination.
Although having very little to do with Sudoku puzzles per se, I think the same kind of driving influence is also partially "blamable" for the addictiveness of the Sudoku brainteaser.
Most might love a test, provided that there is really a somewhat sensible possibility to crop up "victorious" in the end. When tackling a fittingly tricky Sudoku enigma a participant can sometimes enter almost a trance like state where he or she just can't put down the pen before they have crushed the Sudoku contest. Much in the same way as it happend in that dart game many years ago.
So as you see, the simple goal of breaking a record or solving a puzzle - although very basic things - can have a profound effect on a persons reactions.
This is all good, as Sudoku is a very low-cost hobby that definitely provides a good work out for the brain.However, should something very catch fire in the vincinity or if the neighbor is drowning - by all means put that Sudoku puzzle aside for just a few minutes. |
