The term Sudoku is based on the Japanese words su (‘number’) and doku (‘single’), though the puzzle’s origins aren’t strictly in Japan. The first puzzle of its kind was entitled Number Place, created in 1979 by freelance puzzle constructor Howard Garns, and subsequently published in New York by the specialist puzzle publisher Dell Magazines. Five years later it was adopted by Nikoli, a Japanese publisher specializing in logic puzzles. Here it was introduced as Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru, which can be translated as ‘the numbers must be single’, a description later abbreviated to Sudoku and now a trademark held by Nikoli in Japan. Sudoku’s journey to Britain is allegedly attributable to Wayne Gould, a retired judge from New Zealand who bought a book of the puzzles during a trip to Japan and was immediately hooked. After a communication between Gould and Michael Harvey, features editor of The Times newspaper in the UK, the first Sudoku puzzle appeared in The Times on 11th November 2004.

The term Sudoku is based on the Japanese words su (‘number’) and doku (‘single’), though the puzzle’s origins aren’t strictly in Japan. The first puzzle of its kind was entitled Number Place, created in 1979 by freelance puzzle constructor Howard Garns, and subsequently published in New York by the specialist puzzle publisher Dell Magazines. Five years later it was adopted by Nikoli, a Japanese publisher specializing in logic puzzles. Here it was introduced as Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru, which can be translated as ‘the numbers must be single’, a description later abbreviated to Sudoku and now a trademark held by Nikoli in Japan. Sudoku’s journey to Britain is allegedly attributable to Wayne Gould, a retired judge from New Zealand who bought a book of the puzzles during a trip to Japan and was immediately hooked. After a communication between Gould and Michael Harvey, features editor of The Times newspaper in the UK, the first Sudoku puzzle appeared in The Times on 11th November 2004.