Confessions of a compulsive sudoku player
If you haven't run into sudoku puzzles in your local paper, or in an airline magazine by now, well maybe you're just not paying attention. The puzzles are grids of 9 by 9 blocks that have to be filled with numbers 1-9 up, down and in 9 blocks of 9 blocks without duplicating any of the nine numbers in those patterns. It is pretty simple in concept. Every puzzle comes with some number of the blocks already filled in. You just have to fill in the rest. It's a test of logic, persistence and determination.
The puzzles can be fairly easy if a lot of the numbers are provided. An easy game has more than 30 of the 81 blocks filled. A super difficult game may not have many less, but the number placements are chosen to provide less obvious ways to solve it.
I found my first puzzle in a newspaper and had a lot of trouble with it. But it did intrigue me. I enjoy all kinds of puzzles and games that test your logic, and I am generally pretty good at them. On the other hand I find some games to be unappealing, like basic solitaire, which relies more on the order the cards are dealt than the skill of the player. I used to play a lot of crossword puzzles, but found that they didn't really challenge my brain to think in new ways, just challenged my knowledge. The games that require you to circle words found in a list from a grid of jumbled letters shouldn't be a challenge to anyone with even average intelligence. I must talk more about my game playing theories - how they develop intelligence - sometime.
After playing the sudoku games in the newspapers and airline magazines a few times, I did advance pretty quickly to the point that the easy games were quickly finished, but the hard ones were still a challenge. So a couple months ago I bought a book of "black belt" sudoku puzzles.
I keep the book in the bathroom, where I used to read magazines. Now even when urinating, I take a seat and spend 10-15 minutes playing the game. If I get up in the night, on goes the light and out comes the book. Sometimes I return to bed a half hour later.
When I travel on business or pleasure , the book goes along to fill the empty time.
Two days ago I traveled to NYC for a couple meetings, so the book went along. I whipped it out on the plane and spent the flight deep in concentration. It does help to pass the time, which is helpful when I'm trying to keep my mind off the fact that I'm jammed into a seat with only enough room to wedge my knees into the space provided. Forget crossing your legs in coach on most airplanes these days if you're over 5'8". And if you drop something on the floor, figure on finding it only after the plane has landed and everyone else has deplaned. And if you prefer to sit upright and the person in front of you prefers to recline, then you can spend the flight looking at the top of their head. Sudoku helps to tune these irritations out, like the screaming child in the next row, or the captain announcing another delay in pushing away from the gate.
But I think I feel the end is near for my compulsive sudoku playing. I've begun to occasionally pick up my magazines again in the bathroom. I feel that I've learned most if not all the advanced solving techniques for the games, and recognize that I am beginning to lose enthusiasm. I've completed about 130 of the 300 or more games in the book and have a winning percentage of about 70%, which I imagine is pretty good.
Maybe if I get over my sudoku compulsion I will get back to writing in my blogs more often. Maybe not. My recent drop off in submissions may be more related to writers block, but I do want to get back to finishing the beginning of my story at endingfirst.blogspot.com.
I really want to do that. One excuse I give myself is that I had written a brief outline to the early chapters only to have my notebook disappear. I suspect one of the girls in the house (I have a two-name short list) liberated the notebook, because after all it only had writing on that one page.
I'm starting to ramble, so maybe the wine is kicking in. Let's stop here.
The puzzles can be fairly easy if a lot of the numbers are provided. An easy game has more than 30 of the 81 blocks filled. A super difficult game may not have many less, but the number placements are chosen to provide less obvious ways to solve it.
I found my first puzzle in a newspaper and had a lot of trouble with it. But it did intrigue me. I enjoy all kinds of puzzles and games that test your logic, and I am generally pretty good at them. On the other hand I find some games to be unappealing, like basic solitaire, which relies more on the order the cards are dealt than the skill of the player. I used to play a lot of crossword puzzles, but found that they didn't really challenge my brain to think in new ways, just challenged my knowledge. The games that require you to circle words found in a list from a grid of jumbled letters shouldn't be a challenge to anyone with even average intelligence. I must talk more about my game playing theories - how they develop intelligence - sometime.
After playing the sudoku games in the newspapers and airline magazines a few times, I did advance pretty quickly to the point that the easy games were quickly finished, but the hard ones were still a challenge. So a couple months ago I bought a book of "black belt" sudoku puzzles.
I keep the book in the bathroom, where I used to read magazines. Now even when urinating, I take a seat and spend 10-15 minutes playing the game. If I get up in the night, on goes the light and out comes the book. Sometimes I return to bed a half hour later.
When I travel on business or pleasure , the book goes along to fill the empty time.
Two days ago I traveled to NYC for a couple meetings, so the book went along. I whipped it out on the plane and spent the flight deep in concentration. It does help to pass the time, which is helpful when I'm trying to keep my mind off the fact that I'm jammed into a seat with only enough room to wedge my knees into the space provided. Forget crossing your legs in coach on most airplanes these days if you're over 5'8". And if you drop something on the floor, figure on finding it only after the plane has landed and everyone else has deplaned. And if you prefer to sit upright and the person in front of you prefers to recline, then you can spend the flight looking at the top of their head. Sudoku helps to tune these irritations out, like the screaming child in the next row, or the captain announcing another delay in pushing away from the gate.
But I think I feel the end is near for my compulsive sudoku playing. I've begun to occasionally pick up my magazines again in the bathroom. I feel that I've learned most if not all the advanced solving techniques for the games, and recognize that I am beginning to lose enthusiasm. I've completed about 130 of the 300 or more games in the book and have a winning percentage of about 70%, which I imagine is pretty good.
Maybe if I get over my sudoku compulsion I will get back to writing in my blogs more often. Maybe not. My recent drop off in submissions may be more related to writers block, but I do want to get back to finishing the beginning of my story at endingfirst.blogspot.com.
I really want to do that. One excuse I give myself is that I had written a brief outline to the early chapters only to have my notebook disappear. I suspect one of the girls in the house (I have a two-name short list) liberated the notebook, because after all it only had writing on that one page.
I'm starting to ramble, so maybe the wine is kicking in. Let's stop here.
posted by Grog @ 10:44 AM
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