Fair warning - this one's long and probably boring, but it's the Evil difficulty level and honestly, I didn't think I stood a chance before, during, or even after somehow beating it, lol. Don't feel like you need to watch the whole thing, especially since I took a bunch of long pauses to think things through and seriously considered giving up several times. I even had to crop out the white background because at one point I accidentally clicked on a banner ad on the side of the playfield.
That said, I had to upload this. It's legitimately one of my biggest gaming achievements ever, at least for a logic-based game. Just speaking from the heart here.
Game description below…
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sudoku is a logic-based number placement puzzle that has become one of the most popular brain games worldwide. Originally based on the concept of Latin Squares studied by Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in the 18th century, the modern version we know today was created by American architect and puzzle designer Howard Garns in 1979. It was first published in the United States under the name "Number Place" in Dell Magazines.
The puzzle gained enormous popularity in Japan during the 1980s after being introduced by the puzzle publisher Nikoli, who gave it the name "Sudoku" (数独), which roughly translates to "single numbers." Sudoku achieved international fame around 2004 when Wayne Gould, a retired Hong Kong judge, convinced The Times of London to publish the puzzles, triggering a global craze.
Standard Sudoku is played on a 9×9 grid divided into nine 3×3 subgrids or regions. The objective is simple: fill the grid so that each row, each column, and each 3×3 box contains all digits from 1 to 9 without repetition. A properly constructed Sudoku has only one unique solution.
Puzzles typically start with some numbers already placed (called "givens" or "clues"), and the difficulty level is generally determined by both the quantity and strategic positioning of these initial numbers. The fewer givens, the more challenging the puzzle typically becomes. Most published puzzles range from around 22 to 36 givens.
Various solving techniques exist, from simple scanning for single candidates to more complex strategies like X-Wing, Swordfish, and Forcing Chains. Expert solvers often develop pattern recognition skills that allow them to identify these situations quickly.
Beyond the classic 9×9 format, numerous variations have emerged, including different grid sizes (4×4, 16×16, etc.), additional constraints (Killer Sudoku, which adds cages with sum requirements), and overlapping grids (Samurai Sudoku). Some variants replace numbers with letters, colors, or symbols.
Mathematically, Sudoku has interesting properties. The minimum number of givens required to ensure a unique solution is 17, proven in 2012. The total number of valid 9×9 Sudoku grids is approximately 6.67 × 10²¹, an enormous number that underscores the puzzle's complexity despite its simple rules.
Today, Sudoku appears in newspapers, magazines, books, mobile apps, and websites worldwide. It has become a staple of puzzle collections and is valued not just for entertainment but also for potential cognitive benefits, including improved concentration, logical thinking, and memory.
