The Historical Evolution of Sudoku

1. The predecessor of Sudoku was the Nine Palace Grid, which originated in China. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors invented "Luoshu", which has more complex characteristics than modern "Sudoku". The "Nine Palaces Map" in the ancient Chinese book "The Book of Changes" also originates from this, hence it is called the "Luoshu Nine Palaces Map". The name "Nine Palaces" is also preserved and used today due to the important position of the "Book of Changes" in the history of Chinese cultural development.

2. The ancient Chinese mathematical monograph "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" includes the Nine Palace Grid in Sudoku, also known as "Nine Chapters of Sudoku". As a world-renowned mathematical masterpiece, "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" was introduced to Korea and Japan during the Sui and Tang dynasties, and later translated into various language versions such as Japan, Russia, Germany, and France. Nine Chapters Sudoku had a huge impact on the world at an early age.

3. Modern Sudoku originated in Switzerland in the 18th century. At that time, as a mathematical game, Sudoku was a logical game that used paper and pen to perform calculations. In the early 18th century, Swiss mathematicians Euler and others studied "Latin squares". In the 1880s, a retired American architect, Georges, invented a fun math game based on this "Latin square", which was the prototype of Sudoku.

4. In the 1970s, people discovered this game in a puzzle magazine in New York, USA, which was then known as "filling in numbers". This is currently recognized as the earliest published version of Sudoku. At that time, Sudoku developed rapidly in the United States and was used in many fields such as military, technology, and education.

5. In 1984, a Japanese scholar introduced it to Japan and published it in a game magazine by Nikoli. At that time, it was named "Number Single" and changed its name to "Sudoku", where "number" means number and "single" means only. At that time, Sudoku was popular in Japan and played a significant role in its puzzle education.

6. Later, a former New Zealand judge from the Hong Kong High Court, Gao Lede, discovered Sudoku while traveling to Japan in March 1997 and brought it to the UK. He first published it in The Times and soon other newspapers, quickly becoming popular throughout the UK. Afterwards, he spent 6 years writing computer programs and posting them on a website known as the "Sudoku Player Forum".

7. At the end of 2006, Sudoku was officially introduced to China and published in some important domestic journals, achieving certain development in the country.

8. In recent years, Sudoku has rapidly developed in first tier cities in China, and has also made some progress in other cities. Sudoku has developed rapidly in Beijing, with the establishment of the Beijing Sudoku Sports Association. Many primary and secondary schools in Beijing have introduced the Sudoku system.

9. With the gradual development of Sudoku in China, many elementary schools have incorporated it into their quality education curriculum, and Sudoku intelligence questions have also appeared in elementary school math books.

10. Since 2013, China has held a national Sudoku competition for primary and secondary schools every year and established a national Sudoku team; The Beijing Sudoku Competition for Primary and Secondary Schools has been held continuously by Beijing Television for 7 years.

11. With the development of "Sudoku" nationwide, professional organizations have been established in various parts of the country, such as the China Sudoku Sports Association, Beijing Sudoku Sports Association, Tianjin Sudoku Sports Association, Baoding Sudoku Sports Association, Huaibei Sudoku Sports Association, Shenzhen Sudoku Sports Association, Shenyang Sudoku Sports Association, Guangdong Sudoku Sports Association, Taiyuan Sudoku Sports Association, Zhejiang Chess Association Sudoku Sports Committee, Shanghai Sudoku Sports Association, Jining Sudoku Sports Association, etc. These associations are constantly exploring the development of "Sudoku" in China.

12. In 2021, Sudoku was listed as a key intelligent sports project promoted by the Social Sports Center of the General Administration of Sport of China.