In June, I posted a short entry on Sudoku entitled
"Can the Sudoku fever last?" A visitor, who was either upset with what I wrote or my writing style, posted a rather critical comment.
I am sorry if my writing made the visitor lost interest in this hugely popular game. Here I just want to clarify one thing. He's right in accusing me of being all-write-but-no-do. When I wrote "but once I figured out how to solve the Sudoku puzzle, I have lost interest in it, since next time the same thought process will be involved", I didn't mean I could solve all Sudoku puzzles. Far from it.
I only said that I thought I knew what thought process was involved in solving Sudoku puzzles. As I wrote in
yesterday's entry (the only other entry on Sudoku since the June one), "I only write about Sudoku as a phenomenon. Personally I don't like this game since I hate spending so much time and enduring so much frustration trying to solve the puzzle. I am just too dumb to play this game of logic."
So, back to the question of whether this fever will last. Yes and no. Yes, because more and more people around the world will discover this game and become addicted. No, because those who play regularly probably will lost interest well within a year. Those who find Sokudu too challenging will stop playing soon. But those who have no proplem with it will soon find it "monotonous" since the same thought process will be involved in solving the next one.
To keep the latter group of persons involved, Sudoku makers have to keep on devising bigger and more complex Sudoku, like the interlocking ones (the
Gattai 5 or Samurai Sudoku), or ones involving more than 9 digits (The
dodeka version has 12 4x3 grids, each grid involving 0-9 and A, B), or ones with extra requirements (The Times call it the
Killer Sudoku).
What do you think?
Sometime ago, I wrote half-jokingly that when a computer is in trouble, switch it off and then switch on again. Very often, the problem will be gone.
Based on his book The Consolations of Philosophy, this DVD continues a theme de Botton has been using throughout his writing life: examining how philosophy can still be relevant to modern day life and how we can learn from these dead and wise men in solving everyday yet eternal problems.
家附近的圖書館，有一個小小的中文書刊區，我有時也會借一些回家閱讀。
According to the New York Times, official statistics indicate that the 30-year trend of ever bigger American houses seems to have levelled off.
