Sudoku

It’s amazing that I meet people who don’t know what the word Sudoku means. They think it’s what a drunk person mumbles when they spill beer on the floor and then waves a hand at the stinky fart they passed when bending over to clean up the mess.

“Sud?”

“O!”

“Kuuuuuuuu . . .”

Why do I feel a million eyes rolling at my tasteless joke above? Must be my imagination. I know that 500,000 people don’t read my blog.

(Get it? A million eyes? Everybody has two so it would only be 500,000 people, unless you went through a gruesome accident leaving you with one eye - I didn’t count on that and it completely spoils the joke. Never mind.)

Anyway, I assure everyone that Sudoku does not concern any drunk farting people, or any incoming lawsuit, or a secret message from a woman named Sue meeting you at the dock later tonight. It is a challenging logic number game.

Like a crossword puzzle without words, the premise is to simply fill in the missing numbers in a puzzle grid so that every horizontal row, vertical column, and 3x3 square contains each number from 1 to 9 without repeats. There are no math calculations. It’s all about problem solving, logic, reason and critical thinking skills.

*hear drunk people snoring*

Look, it’s a fun game for any person who thrills on crossword puzzles and is searching for something else to challenge the mind.

*more snoring*

Okay, let me say that it’s for those GEEKS out there who like to spend a lazy weekend afternoon listening to their favorite music album and propping feet on the end table while playing puzzles.

*geeks cheer - waking up the drunk people. Drunk people beat geeks to death for disturbing their naps*

Um . . . yeah, I first became involved in Sudoku about 4 years ago when finding a puzzle in the local Sunday newspaper. Since then, I’ve completed 3 puzzle books (containing 100 puzzles apiece), one CD ROM (400 puzzles), and a handheld electronic Sudoku game (ran out the batteries). It can be a very addictive game, but quite entertaining.

*drunk people are sobering up - getting ornery. Someone tosses a vase against the wall searching for more beer. They start to eye the remaining Sudoku geek (me) menacingly*

All right! All right! There’s an All-U-Can-Drink beerfest at this place. All you have to do is give the person a blog award and he’ll ship you the free cases of booze. No, ignore what he posted about filleting the next person who gives him any awards. It’s a farce. He LOVES blog awards - cannot get enough of them. Just tell him “Eric” sent you . . .

(Eric - you deserved it. You ratted him out Friday by saying he was the person who threw up on my carpet during the blogoversary celebration.)

(MLGF - you deserved it. This concerns our recent conversation about blog awards and “certain” imagined scenarios.)

(All my readers - that last part of my post was a joke. Please don’t send that man any awards. I hate to consider the blackmail options he'll make me pick from so he won't fillet me.)