Sudoku has become a widely loved puzzle. It was invented by an American guy named Howard Garns in 1979 and called Numbers in Place. It was published in Dell Magazine. Later, in 1986 a Japanese puzzle company called Nikoli published the game and called it Sudoku meaning "single number." It became a hit in 2005. The game is played with an incomplete field of numbers. There are nine rows nine squares long split into nine regions, three squares long. Each row has nine numbers and each 3X3 region has a number one through nine. There was a similar game invented in the late 19th century in France called Magic Numbers, where you had to work the 9X9 grid mathematically to get the solution. Sudoku's success today is rivaling crossword puzzles. The Los Angeles Times now has a Sudoku puzzle next to it's crossword puzzle and people all across the country are addicted to the craze of the game. There are many different variations on the game. Some have 5X5 grids called Logi-5, others have 12X12 grids called Dodeka-Sudoku. Why is Sudoku so popular. It might be that it is a relaxing way to challenge your brain. It's fun and rewarding and it is something that passes time.