I was bored one day and started rifling through GNOME Games. I played the usual Blackjack, Tali and Nibbles when I happened upon a game I had not seen in the set before. It was GNOME Sudoku. It was simple enough to pick up – you get nine large squares, each containing nine smaller squares all laid out in a 9×9 grid. In each of the smaller squares you place a number between one and nine. Each of the bigger squares can only hold one of each number. The catch is that each row and column can only hold one of each number in the set also. What you get is a perfectly balanced board where each number is used nine times yet they do not repeat within a row, column or the nine smaller squares which makes up one of the bigger squares. It is a pattern matching game which sounds easy enough but can get quite frustrating if you happen to make a mistake. This is because each “move” effects the outcome of successive moves. If you make a mistake early it can compound to the point where it is hard to unravel without erasing the whole board and starting over again.

So because of GNOME Sudoku I picked up a sudoku book on my flight home from Amsterdam. That was a huge mistake. Now I can’t get to bed without finishing one of the puzzles and I can’t get out of my apartment in the morning without finishing another. I feel somehow incomplete if I can’t finish the puzzle I am working on – and they keep getting harder. If it gets bad enough I might need an intervention. Thanks GNOME Games.

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