Tips To Play Sudoku For Beginners

Sudoku is an excellent game for memory, particularly because like chess, it requires you to keep every part of the board in mind before you decide your next mood, and this becomes good exercise for your brain.

In fact, people who engage in brain games generally have better performance in areas like reasoning and memory. But sudoku is a bit tricky as well, and playing it can be a bit of a challenge.

Here are some tips to play sudoku.

Start With Easy Solutions

Most boards will have at least one box or line with only a couple of easy-to-fill blanks. Focusing on these first can help you get a start. It’s not easy to look at the whole board at once, but if you can determine how to fill these easier blanks, you can get a push on the game itself, and be able to get to the solution.

Look at Missing Numbers

It may seem obvious, but sudoku isn’t about just placing numbers in a grid, it’s about placing the right numbers in the grid. Check which numbers are missing and which aren’t when placing them. You should be going through the process of elimination – if a 3 exists in the line or row, it cannot be placed there, so you shouldn’t even consider it. If a 2, 5 and 6 haven’t been placed yet, these are your only options.

Keep Looking At The Whole Board

It’s easy to get stuck on one line or box while playing, simply because it’s easier. While a good strategy to make things easier for yourself, it can limit your attention or focus. Keep looking at the whole board to see you’re heading in the right direction. Shifting your focus away from just one corner can also help you find other, quicker solutions.

Re-evaluate

Every time you fill a blank, look at the board and see if it opens up a new row or box. Sometimes, this makes things easier since it helps you identify which numbers are missing, and can even make the solution obvious at times.

Keep Moving

If you get stuck on one part of the puzzle, don’t linger there for too long. Let your eye wander to other parts of the grid, where you may not have put any numbers yet. Fill these parts out first and then come back to the spot you were stuck in. You may have eliminated possible numbers to enter there, and the solution becomes a lot easier – and sometimes even obvious!

Don’t Guess

Sudoku isn’t a game that requires guesswork – it requires strategy and focus. If you’re just guessing which numbers to put into a given grid, you’re not getting any of the benefits of playing sudoku to begin with. Don’t just blindly guess, look at the whole board and use your reasoning to deduce which number belongs in the grid.

Sudoku can help you improve your brain function. It may seem simple, but it can be doing a whole lot for your memory, attention and reasoning – especially as you grow older.

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