Maki Kaji, also known as the 'father of sudoku,' and Puzzle man dies at 69

 

Maki Kaji, better known as the "father of sudoku" for his role in making a popular mathematical game popular with millions of people, has died of cancer. He was 69 years old.

In a statement sent Monday by Nikoli, its publisher in Japan, Kaji died at his home on August 10, and a memorial service will be held later.

“Mr. Kaiji was known as the father of sudoku and was loved by puzzling fans all over the world, ”the publisher said in a statement on his website.

Sudoku, a masterpiece of numeracy, was invented by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in the 18th century.

This modern version is sometimes said to have been made in the United States, but Kaji is said to have amplified the puzzle.

It is also said to have originated with the word sudoku, which is an abbreviation of a Japanese word meaning “single number.”

Sudoku requires the player to place one to nine numbers in a box made up of 81 squares. No number can be repeated in any of the nine straight or horizontal lines.

To make things even more difficult, the grid is further divided into nine blocks containing nine squares, and each block should also contain one to nine numbers.

Apart from its Japanese name, the original idea of ​​Latin Squares - a grid where all numbers or symbols occur once in each line - was dreamed of in the 18th century by Euler.

In the 1980's, Nikoli saw a type of game in an American magazine and brought it to Japan, where Sudoku was born.

It penetrated Europe and the United States a few decades later, when the British BBC in 2005 reported on the mystery “which began with a mild invasion of the nation last year, and is now featured in four national newspapers.”

Kaji told the BBC in 2007 that creating a new puzzle was like "finding treasure."

“It's not about making money. It's a joy to try to solve it. ”