By Barry Crisp
March 1, 2006
| UNIORB: ASIAN TREND: JAPAN |
Sudoku first
appeared in the UK when it was launched by The Times newspaper on
12th November 2004 (called Su doku). However, it was not until The
Daily Telegraph introduced the puzzle on the front page from 23rd
February 2005 to run on a daily basis that the other UK national newspapers
began to take a real interest.
By
publishing the puzzle on a newspaper front page, it helped boost sales immensely
as well as spreading the Sudoku fever. As a nation that loves its crosswords and
other general puzzles, it was not a surprise to see how Sudoku became so popular
in the UK, even amongst the younger generation. “I saw my dad doing a puzzle, so
I decided to try one myself. I really like the mental challenge,” says secondary
school student, Keith Waterfield.
The spinoffs
from Sudoku have been great, such as, puzzle books, online game web sites, BBC's
famous ‘Sudo-Q,’ and other games like Hashi (Bridge). While the Sudoku fever has
been beginning to cool down, mobile phone users and Sudoku players have been
blessed wonderfully. No longer do they have to buy a newspaper just to play the
puzzle, but now they can even download the Sudoku game to their mobile phones,
at around £3 for thirty puzzles.
Sudoku
(which literally implies ‘numbers singly’) is more then just a game. One can
actually win money by playing it on television shows and online web sites. But
even more importantly, by playing Sudoku we can feel a sense of self-fulfillment
and contentment. Sudoku has proven to be a great stress reliever and has even
improved concentration skills according to the puzzle players themselves and
online web stats.
However, it
appears that Sudoku's fame has unleashed another warrior of a game from Japan -
'Kakuro'. As the latest craze, Kakuro has been noted to be more
challenging and a step up in level difficulty from Sudoku. This no doubt is
enticing puzzle fans worldwide into leaving their Sudoku puzzle books to catch
some dust. Kakuro is slowly appearing in all the national newspapers, and is
already widely accessible on the Internet, and with many books on shop
shelves.
Kakuro is
the new Sudoku - an entertaining and highly addictive Japanese puzzle game. It
is known as Cross-Sums in the US, Kakro in Japan, and Kakuro in the UK! Already
bigger than Sudoku in Japan, it's predicted to be the next big thing in the
puzzle game playing market.
Like Sudoku,
Kakuro is played on grids of varying sizes, but is also a mathematical
crossword. Each grid consists of blank and filled squares similar to a crossword
puzzle. Some filled in squares have a diagonal slash across them with two
numbers (one above and one below) - these are the 'clues'. The object of the
puzzle is to fill in the squares using the numbers 1 to 9, making sure they add
up to the number attached to that row, and without repeating a
number.
The original
name for Kakuro was ‘Kasan kurosu,’ which is a combination of the Japanese for
addition, and the Japanese pronunciation of the English word ‘Cross’. It might
surprise UK players to know that Kakuro has been a regular feature in the UK
since the early 80s, under the name Cross-Sums.
Was it
because it held a more American name that it didn’t become addictive? Or was it
because it wasn’t known in its original Japanese name that it didn’t become
popular in the UK until recently? “Since the late 20th century, and
into the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a silent but
constant craze for things oriental, so by introducing such puzzles in their
native Japanese names, this would appeal and sell better,” explains
schoolteacher, Guy Williams.
The
Guardian, which was the first British newspaper to feature Kakuro, did their
own research and found that millions prefer Kakuro to Sudoku. The Nikoli Boss,
McKee Kaji also stated his preference for Kakuro. “I find Kakuro more
interesting then Sudoku. Every puzzle is different. You can’t be absolutely sure
you’re right until you’re nearing the end of the puzzle, so there’s a certain
mystery involved.”
With many
idle minds drifting into the robotic abyss of work and life, the introduction of
a wide variety and interesting puzzles into the UK has proved to be a great
solution to boredom, and has banished the myth that only "old people" play
puzzle games. The Japanese invasion of puzzles has swept through our nation
leaving the dust gliding and settling in the air. Kakuro, proving to be the most
popular puzzle in the UK at present, acts as the cherry on the cake, or the
sweet desert if you like to Sudoku. However, make no mistake, Kakuro is here to
stay!
Here are
some Kakuro puzzle web site links:
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Barry Crisp
Chouwa-BC
Related Article: Global Interest in Logic Puzzles