It is fun, challenging and addictive. It forces you to think, ponder, fret, and celebrate. What is it you ask? Su Do Ku, of course, the new craze.



The name Su Do Ku, “The digits must remain single,” and the puzzles originated in Japan in 1979 and were designed by Mr. Howard Garnes. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything, so no math is involved. Puzzles are solved with reasoning and logic.





Each mind-boggling puzzle may take anywhere from fifteen minutes to hours-on-end to complete. The puzzlers are all about strategy and, depending on a player’s skill level, persistence. The aim of the puzzle is to enter a numerical digit from 1 through 9 in each cell, column and row, being sure not to repeat any numbers in any column, row or cell.

Senior Rikki Mendelsohn, who has become a Su Do Ku enthusiast, states, “I got a Su Do Ku book for Christmas and I try to complete one every day. They are both fun and challenging.” Su Do Ku is featured daily in the style section of the Washington Post and many other newspapers. A new puzzle is featured each and every day with the previous day’s puzzle solution shown below it. Puzzles are being produced daily and are being sold at newsstands, in grocery stores, and in bookstores. You can even find them on back pages of newspapers.

These days, not only is Su Do Ku featured in almost every top magazine and newspaper, but it is also taking over the Internet as well. Not one to let a craze pass it by, the software industry has jumped at the craze by producing gaming software that individuals can now purchase. The software is filled with millions of puzzles so that the user will never finish them all. So grab your pencils and head on over to your nearest bookstore, newsstand, or computer to get in on the latest trend.