Sudoku has been popular in Japan for over 20 years and not so long ago became a massive sensation through out North america and elsewhere.

The sudoku puzzle of nine 3-by-3 grid boxes located inside a large 9-by-9 grid.  You fill in all the blank squares so that the numbers one through nine appear only once.

 Su means number in Japanese, and Doku is the single square on the puzzle that each number can fit into, put them together and sudoku is born.

It was originally called number place, and was developed by  howard Garnes.  Sudoku’s popularity soared and by 2005, major newspapers in the US and across the oceans started offering Sudoku puzzles.

Today sudoku is played by millions worldwide and has become a major puzzle addiction for many.

The 4th World Sudoku Championship from april 24 – 27  2009 run by the World Puzzle Federation took place in zilina Slovakia.  Each country was allowed to send six representitives to the  competition.

Three members composed a team with the best score of the various teams being taken into consideration for the final results.

The Slovakian home team  won the team championship, beating out the Czechs

The final team results

1. Slovakia
2. Czech Republic
3. Serbia

Individual Results:
1. Jan Mrozowski, Poland
2. Branko Ceranic, Serbia
3. Robert Babilon, Czech Republic

Sadly the US team Team had a poor showing this year placing a very disapointing seventh place due to having one wrong digit in one of the grids .

Team Usa at the 2009 sudoku world championships