Remembering Maki Kaji, the ‘Father of Sudoku’

Maki Kaji, a Japanese man who was generally known as the “Father of Sudoku,” has handed away from most cancers on the age of 69. Mr. Kaji was a puzzle lover who helped flip Sudoku from a easy quantity problem right into a recreation performed all over the world.

Mr. Kaji was born in 1951 in Sapporo, Japan. Although he completed highschool, he dropped out of school. After Mr. Kaji left school, he began Japan’s first puzzle journal in 1980 with assist from two of his associates. They named their journal firm Nikoli.

Through the years, Mr. Kaji’s firm has develop into extremely popular. It publishes puzzles and books for individuals all around the world. However Sudoku might be the puzzle that most individuals consider after they keep in mind Mr. Kaji.

Sudoku is a quantity puzzle with 9 rows and 9 columns. Every row and column will need to have the entire digits 1 via 9. The identical rule goes for every of the smaller 9-square bins that make up the bigger puzzle.

Whereas it’s not clear the place the unique quantity puzzle got here from, Mr. Kaji is the one who gave it the title “Sudoku” and made it common.

Mr. Kaji discovered the sport in 1984, however then it was referred to as “Quantity Place.” Mr. Kaji cherished the puzzle, however he didn’t love its title. He needed to create a Japanese title for it.

Mr. Kaji ended up renaming it “Sudoku”, which roughly means, “single numbers.” He got here up with the title in “about 25 seconds” whereas hurrying to get to a horse race.

After he started printing Sudoku in his journal Nikoli, Mr. Kaji determined to see if different publishers had been . He requested publishers in New York and London in the event that they needed to run Sudoku puzzles of their magazines, too. On the time, all of them mentioned no.

Mr. Kaji renamed the puzzle “Sudoku”. After he started printing Sudoku, Mr. Kaji requested different publishers in the event that they had been fascinated about working Sudoku puzzles. On the time, all of them mentioned no. However Mr. Kaji saved selling Sudoku anyway.

It took round ten years for Sudoku to start out displaying up in different magazines. However as soon as different publishers began printing Sudoku, the puzzle started spreading rapidly from nation to nation.

Sudoku turned extremely common. By 2004, it was one of many most-played puzzles on this planet. Now hundreds of thousands of individuals play Sudoku every single day. Nikoli says that roughly 200 million individuals from about 100 nations have performed the puzzle. Individuals even compete in a Sudoku world championship yearly.

Sudoku isn’t simply common – it’s additionally an enormous money-maker, bringing in hundreds of thousands and hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. However Mr. Kaji by no means made a lot from the puzzle, since he didn’t shield Sudoku legally. He mentioned that didn’t trouble him, since he promoted the puzzle for enjoyable, not cash.

Mr. Kaji believed the key to creating a terrific puzzle was to maintain the principles easy in order that anybody might play. He mentioned discovering a brand new puzzle was “like discovering treasure.”

Mr. Kaji mentioned he promoted Sudoku for enjoyable, not cash. Mr. Kaji believed the key to creating a terrific puzzle was to maintain the principles easy in order that anybody might play. He mentioned discovering a brand new puzzle was “like discovering treasure.”

It’s that sort of spirit that has left many individuals within the puzzle world so unhappy to listen to that Mr. Kaji has handed away. Puzzle consultants and followers all over the world have thanked Mr. Kaji for his work, and honored him as a real lover of puzzles.