Sudoku was invented in the United States, named in Japan and made famous in Britain. Howard Garns, a retired architect from Indianapolis, created it as "Number Place", first published by Dell Pencil Puzzles & Word Games in May 1979. The Japanese publisher Nikoli introduced it in 1984 and gave it the name sudoku. It became a worldwide craze after The Times of London started printing it on 12 November 2004. Earlier ancestors go back to French newspapers in the 1890s and to Leonhard Euler's Latin squares in the 1780s.
| Year | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1782 | Euler poses the 36 officers problem, a founding question about Latin squares | MAA Convergence |
| 1892 | Le Siècle (Paris) prints a 9×9 magic-square puzzle with 3×3 sub-squares | Christian Boyer |
| 1895 | La France prints B. Meyniel's 9×9 grid using the digits 1 to 9 | Christian Boyer |
| 1979 | Dell publishes Howard Garns's "Number Place" (May issue) | Crown Hill Heritage Foundation |
| 1984 | Nikoli introduces it in Japan and names it | Nikoli |
| 1986 | Nikoli adds its symmetric-clue convention | Nikoli |
| 2004 | The Times launches "Su Doku" on 12 November | Wayne Gould |
| 2005 | Sudoku Live airs on Sky One, 1 July | Guinness World Records |
| 2006 | First World Sudoku Championship, Lucca, 10 to 12 March | World Puzzle Federation |
| 2012 | The 17-clue minimum is proven by computer search | McGuire et al. |
| 2021 | Maki Kaji, Nikoli's founder and "father of sudoku", dies on 10 August | Al Jazeera, NPR |
Latin squares: the mathematical ancestor
A Latin square is an n×n grid where each symbol appears once in every row and column. A finished sudoku is a 9×9 Latin square with one extra rule for the 3×3 boxes. Leonhard Euler studied these grids in the 1780s, most famously in his "36 officers problem", which asks whether 36 officers of six ranks from six regiments can stand in a 6×6 square with no rank or regiment repeated in any row or column (MAA Convergence). Euler was doing mathematics, not setting puzzles, so calling him the inventor of sudoku stretches the point.
French newspaper puzzles in the 1890s
The closest early relatives appeared in French newspapers. In 1892, Le Siècle published a 9×9 number puzzle divided into 3×3 sub-squares, built as a magic square. On 6 July 1895, the daily La France printed a grid by B. Meyniel that used the digits 1 to 9 once in each row and column and is the most sudoku-like of the old puzzles. Its 3×3 boxes were not drawn, and it came with magic-square rules about the diagonals adding up to 45. Puzzle historian Christian Boyer rediscovered these grids and published them in Pour La Science in 2006 (Boyer, Sudoku's French ancestors). Boyer also notes that Euler's 1782 Latin square paper had no 3×3 sub-squares.
Howard Garns and Number Place (1979)
The modern puzzle first appeared in the May 1979 issue of Dell Pencil Puzzles & Word Games, under the name Number Place. Dell did not print a byline, and the author was later identified as Howard Garns (1905 to 1989), a retired architect and freelance puzzle constructor from Indianapolis (Crown Hill Heritage Foundation). Garns added the box rule to the Latin square, which is what makes the puzzle work. He died in 1989, before sudoku became famous.
Nikoli names it sudoku (1984)
Nikoli, a Tokyo puzzle publisher, found Number Place in an American puzzle magazine and introduced it in Japan in 1984 under the name "Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru", roughly "the digits must be single". The name was soon shortened to Sudoku (数独), "single digit". In 1986 Nikoli added the convention that clues are placed symmetrically (Nikoli). Sudoku is a registered Nikoli trademark in Japan, so other Japanese publishers call the puzzle Number Place.
Nikoli's founder, Maki Kaji, spent decades promoting the puzzle and was widely called the "father of sudoku". He died in Tokyo on 10 August 2021, aged 69 (NPR, Al Jazeera).
Wayne Gould and The Times (2004)
Wayne Gould, a retired judge from New Zealand working in Hong Kong, found a sudoku book in Tokyo in 1997. He spent about six years writing software that could generate puzzles with a single solution, then offered them to The Times, which launched "Su Doku" on 12 November 2004 (Wayne Gould). Rival British papers followed within weeks. By July 2005 there was a live TV show, Sudoku Live on Sky One, which Guinness lists as the first TV programme about sudoku.
Competitions and mathematics (2006 onward)
The World Puzzle Federation held the first World Sudoku Championship in Lucca, Italy, in March 2006, won by Jana Tylová of the Czech Republic (WPF). It has run most years since. Kota Morinishi of Japan has the most titles, four. The full list of champions is in our sudoku world records page.
Mathematicians took an interest too. In 2005 Bertram Felgenhauer and Frazer Jarvis counted 6,670,903,752,021,072,936,960 possible grids, and in 2012 a team at University College Dublin proved that a sudoku needs at least 17 clues. Both are explained in how many sudoku puzzles are there.
Is sudoku Japanese or Chinese?
Neither, strictly. The puzzle was created in the United States, and the name is Japanese. It has no Chinese origin, although Latin-square-like number arrangements such as the ancient Chinese Lo Shu square are sometimes mentioned as distant relatives. Magic squares are a different puzzle: they require rows, columns and diagonals to add up to the same total, while sudoku needs no arithmetic at all.
From newspaper to phone
Most people now solve on a screen, and apps have added things paper cannot: automatic notes, undo, error checks and endless puzzles. The trade-off is that many free apps are cluttered with ads. Sudoku Royale keeps to the newspaper feel, one clean board and no ads, with a daily puzzle and technique drills for when you want to get better. See choosing a sudoku app for tips on making the switch.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who invented sudoku?
Howard Garns, a retired architect from Indianapolis, created the modern puzzle as Number Place. Dell Pencil Puzzles & Word Games published it in May 1979. Nikoli named it sudoku in Japan in 1984.
Is sudoku Japanese?
The name is Japanese, but the puzzle was invented in the United States. Nikoli, a Japanese publisher, adapted it in 1984 and called it Sudoku, short for a phrase meaning the digits must be single.
What does sudoku mean?
Sudoku (数独) means roughly single digit. It is short for Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru, the digits must be single, the name Nikoli gave the puzzle in 1984.
When did sudoku become popular?
It was popular in Japan from the late 1980s, then became a global craze after The Times of London began printing it on 12 November 2004. Other British and American newspapers followed during 2005.
Who is the father of sudoku?
Maki Kaji, founder of the puzzle company Nikoli, is widely called the father of sudoku for naming and popularising it in Japan. He died on 10 August 2021. Howard Garns created the original puzzle.