How to play easy Sudoku (or play easily)

Through the ages people have been engaged in and thrilled by different kinds of puzzle solving. This activity can no doubt be both entertaining and beneficial to the alertness of the mind.

The Sudoku puzzle is a fine continuation of the puzzle solving tradition, and one of the best things about it is that it's difficulty can be so greatly varied that anyone can play. There are also various ways to go about solving a Sudoku puzzle. This article will focus on how play easy Sudoku.

As you probably already know, Sudoku is played using a 9 x 9 grid that is divided into nine equal squares. The objective of the game is to place the numbers 1 to 9 so that they appear only once in every row, column and in 3 x 3 squares. 

Certain numbers have already been placed for you, as you begin the puzzle and the placement and value of these numbers determines how hard it will be to solve the puzzle. In Sudoku puzzle books the puzzles are most often arranged and clearly labelled as easy, moderately difficult or hard. And as a beginner you'd be well advised to start of at the easy end of the spectrum.

As for newspapers, it may sometimes not be explicitly stated how easy or difficult the Sudoku is, but some newspaper seem to start of with an easy Sudoku on Monday, and then make the more difficult (how did they figure that out, you suppose?). Generally speaking though, most puzzles published in regular newspapers are relatively easy, unless otherwise stated.

The easy sudoku playing style

Just as it is wise to start of with Sudokus that are easy, it is also a good idea to have a clear and simple strategy for solving the puzzle. Here is one way to go about it, in a step-by-step fashion.

1) When solving the puzzle, think carefully and systematically. Once you have determined that you cannot place a certain number in a row, column or 3 x 3 boxes, it will be a good help or hint which you can use to get another number in the series. The more difficult the Sudoku is, the lesser chance to start the game easily.

2) In easy Sudoku, as with any sudoku, the first thing to keep in mind is to look for the possibilities. Possibilities are the numbers that are possibly just around. Beginning at 1, make an imaginary line on the boxes in the 1’s row and column. When you see that only one box is left in the nine-square block, you will know that it is a possibility.

3) Carefully work through all the numbers up to 9. Since you already placed some of the numbers, this should eventually get you other numbers with more possibilities.

4) When you get stuck, start re-tracing your steps to where you missed a number. If you still cannot find the missing number(s), it can be helpful to label each block with everything that could possibly fit in the box.

As you see, the basic strategy to easy Sudoku solving is to go trough every number and trying to place it in as many places as possible, before moving on to the nest number. Over time your mind will be trained to get a good overview of the numbers in all 3 x 3 boxes, and more easily spot the missing numbers.

For beginners the main thing to remember though, is that Sudoku requires patience - even if it is an easy Sudoku puzzle.