Sudoku is a logic game in which a 9x9 table is divided into nine 3x3 blocks. Each column, row, and block must contain all digits from 1 to 9. Puzzles have a unique solution that can be arrived at using pure logic.
The name "Sudoku" comes from Japan and consists of the Japanese characters "Su" (meaning "number") and "Doku" (meaning "single").
While it is often associated with Japan, Sudoku was not actually invented there. A Swiss mathematician's game called "Latin Squares" was published in France in 1895. The modern game of Sudoku, as we know it today, was invented by Howard Garns in 1979. It was called "Number Place," as it involved placing individual numbers into empty fields on a 9x9 grid. The game first appeared in Japan in 1984 under the name "Sudoku." The name comes from "Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru," which means "the digits must occur only once."