數(shù)獨(dú)：迷人的數(shù)字游戲

它號(hào)稱(chēng)是“世界上最簡(jiǎn)單的游戲”，玩家無(wú)需高深的學(xué)問(wèn)和極高的智商，只需耐心和技巧即可解答。準(zhǔn)備好一支筆，現(xiàn)在就隨我來(lái)了解這一風(fēng)靡全球的游戲吧!

What Is Sudoku? 什么是數(shù)獨(dú)?

Sudoku is a kind of number puzzle game. A basic Sudoku puzzle is composed of nine rows and nine columns—that means 81 squares in a basic Sudoku. The 81 squares are divided up into nine three by three boxes. Only some of the squares are filled in with figures already， while more are still empty. A Sudoku player's goal is to fill in the empty squares so that the figures 1 to 9 appear just once in every row， column and individual box.

數(shù)獨(dú)是一種數(shù)字智力游戲。基本的數(shù)獨(dú)游戲由9行和9列組成——也就是說(shuō)一個(gè)基本的數(shù)獨(dú)游戲共有81個(gè)格子。這81個(gè)格子被分成9個(gè)3格寬、3格高的小九宮格。這些格子中只有部分已經(jīng)填上了數(shù)字，更多的還空著。而數(shù)獨(dú)玩家的目標(biāo)就是要用從1到9的數(shù)字來(lái)填滿空著的格子，使得每個(gè)數(shù)字在每行、每列和每個(gè)小九宮格內(nèi)都只出現(xiàn)一次。

The Sudoku Story 數(shù)獨(dú)的故事

The Sudoku story began in 1783 when Leonhard Euler， a Swiss mathematician， devised1) \"Latin Squares\"， a grid2) in which every number or symbol appears once in each row or column. Early examples of Sudoku-style puzzles can be seen in a number of French daily papers from the 1890s， which were based on grids that used double-digit numbers and lacked the 3x3 block design of modern Sudoku.

The realization that Sudoku could become a popular phenomenon was made in Manhattan， New York in the late 1970s by Dell Puzzle Magazines， which has been producing crosswords3) and other puzzles since 1931. Its editor-in-chief， Abby Taylor， who joined in 1980， said， \"No one knows exactly when it started or who devised it， but the oldest copy I can find in our magazine is in 1979. We called the puzzle 'Number Place' and still do today.\"

It was hardly an overnight success， however. Five years later， Japanese puzzle publishers Nikoli adapted4) Number Place for their magazines， giving it the name \"Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru\"， meaning \"numbers must occur only once\". Fortunately， they soon decided to shorten the name to the snappier \"Sudoku\". (\"Su\" means \"number\"; \"doku\" means \"single\".)

While Sudoku slowly gained popularity in Japan， it would take almost another 25 years for it to hit the big time5) worldwide. A man from Matamata， New Zealand， was to become responsible for a global outbreak. Wayne Gould， a judge who had moved to Hong Kong， was shopping in Tokyo in March 1997. While he waited for one shop to open， he browsed in a bookstore. \"As soon as I saw the grid with the empty squares， I felt very tempted6) to fill them in. Over the next six years I developed a computer program that makes up Sudoku puzzles on the spot.\"

Gould published one of his puzzles in the local newspaper， The Conway Daily Sun， with small success; then in a big newspaper， The Times， with great success. Sudoku became an instant hit in UK and slowly started to take off7) around the world. National newspapers scrambled8) to advertise the Sudoku puzzle on their front pages， while websites devoted to its popularity9) and TV and radio stations caught the new global bug10). By 2005， the Sudoku craze was in full swing11). Since then， Sudoku has become a cultural phenomenon， spawning12) thousands of different puzzles published across the world， TV game shows and even a world championship.

數(shù)獨(dú)的故事始于1783年，瑞士數(shù)學(xué)家萊昂哈德·歐拉設(shè)計(jì)了“拉丁方陣”——在這種網(wǎng)格中，每個(gè)數(shù)字或符號(hào)在每行或每列只出現(xiàn)一次。在19世紀(jì)90年代法國(guó)的一些日?qǐng)?bào)上，人們能看到早期的類(lèi)似數(shù)獨(dú)的智力游戲。它們也以網(wǎng)格為基礎(chǔ)，但用的都是兩位數(shù)，且沒(méi)有現(xiàn)代數(shù)獨(dú)中3x 3的小九宮格設(shè)計(jì)。

20世紀(jì)70年代末，紐約曼哈頓的《戴爾智力游戲雜志》意識(shí)到，數(shù)獨(dú)可能會(huì)成為一種流行的游戲。這家雜志從1931年起就一直在設(shè)計(jì)縱橫字謎和其他智力游戲。1980年加入該雜志社的主編阿比·泰勒表示:“沒(méi)有人確切知道它的開(kāi)始時(shí)間或設(shè)計(jì)者，但是我在我們雜志中找到的最早版本是1979年的。我們稱(chēng)這種智力題為‘?dāng)?shù)字拼圖’，并將這個(gè)名字沿用至今?！?/p>

不過(guò)，數(shù)獨(dú)并沒(méi)有一夜成名。五年后，日本益智游戲出版公司Nikoli將“數(shù)字拼圖”引入其雜志，稱(chēng)之為“Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru”，意思是“數(shù)字只能出現(xiàn)一次”。幸運(yùn)的是，他們很快決定將名字簡(jiǎn)化為短小精悍的“Sudoku”。(“Su”的意思是“數(shù)字”;“doku”的意思是“單個(gè)”。)

數(shù)獨(dú)在日本逐漸贏得了人氣，不過(guò)它在全世界范圍的突然盛行卻是25年以后的事情了。數(shù)獨(dú)全球性的風(fēng)靡要?dú)w功于一位來(lái)自新西蘭馬塔馬塔的人。1997年3月的一天，移居香港的法官韋恩·古德正在東京購(gòu)物。在等待一家商店開(kāi)門(mén)時(shí)，他進(jìn)了家書(shū)店隨意翻看?！拔乙豢吹侥莻€(gè)網(wǎng)格上有好多空格，就特別想把它們填上。在此后的六年里，我開(kāi)發(fā)了一款能即時(shí)編出數(shù)獨(dú)題的電腦軟件?！?/p>

古德先在當(dāng)?shù)貓?bào)紙《康維日?qǐng)?bào)》發(fā)表了其中的一道數(shù)獨(dú)題，取得了小小的成功;后來(lái)又把它刊登在了大報(bào)紙《泰晤士報(bào)》上，結(jié)果大獲成功。數(shù)獨(dú)在英國(guó)一炮打響，并慢慢地開(kāi)始在世界各地流行。各國(guó)報(bào)紙競(jìng)相在頭版宣傳數(shù)獨(dú)游戲，數(shù)獨(dú)網(wǎng)站則加速了數(shù)獨(dú)的盛行，電視臺(tái)和廣播電臺(tái)也開(kāi)始關(guān)注這一全球游戲新寵。到2005年，數(shù)獨(dú)風(fēng)暴盛極一時(shí)。從那時(shí)起，數(shù)獨(dú)成了一種文化現(xiàn)象:數(shù)以千計(jì)的不同數(shù)獨(dú)題在世界各地涌現(xiàn)，數(shù)獨(dú)游戲表演上了電視，人們甚至還組織了數(shù)獨(dú)世界錦標(biāo)賽。

How to Play? 數(shù)獨(dú)怎么玩?

There are two very basic methods used to solve almost every Sudoku puzzle.

The first is done by eliminating13) the possibility of one number from being in eight of the nine squares in a row， column， or three by three box. If you can eliminate eight of the squares as possibilities， then the number you are trying to find must be in the ninth square.

Let's see this puzzle. We are going to find where the missing 1 must be in the top row by eliminating eight of the squares in the top leaving the square that must contain the 1. As you can see， four of the squares can be eliminated as choices because they already contain a given number. Also every square in the second box can be eliminated because that box already contains a 1. In the third box there is only one empty square in the top row; however that can be eliminated because that column already contains a 1. So the only square left is where the 1 in the first row goes.

The other way to fill in squares is to eliminate all possible numbers but one from a single square. To illustrate this trick， we will consider the empty square in the bottom left corner of the puzzle. First by looking at the other numbers in the bottom left three by three box， we know that the missing square cannot be a 1， 3， 6， or 8. Now look in the column that contains the square in question. Because there is a 2 and 4 in the column， we can eliminate them as possibilities for the bottom left square. Finally， look at the bottom row. In this row， we find a 7 and a 9. So that means that the only number left that can be the answer for the bottom left square is 5.

Now that you know the one rule of Sudoku and two basic methods for filling in squares， you can start to play Sudoku. But remember， you can never solve a Sudoku by starting on one side and working all the way through it. You will always have to jump around the puzzle， filling in squares where you can. The more squares you fill， the more clues you will have to solve the remaining squares. If you fill in each spot without violating the one rule of Sudoku， then you have finished it correctly.

幾乎每個(gè)數(shù)獨(dú)都可用兩種基本解法來(lái)解。

第一種是通過(guò)排除一個(gè)數(shù)字出現(xiàn)在某一行、某一列或某一個(gè)小九宮格的9個(gè)格子中8個(gè)格子的可能性。如果你能排除8個(gè)格子出現(xiàn)該數(shù)字的可能性，那么你在找的數(shù)字肯定在第9格中。

一起來(lái)看看這個(gè)數(shù)獨(dú)。我們將通過(guò)排除數(shù)字1出現(xiàn)在頂行8個(gè)格子的可能性來(lái)確定1在頂行應(yīng)該出現(xiàn)的位置。你可以看到，4個(gè)格子因?yàn)橐呀?jīng)填有數(shù)字可以被馬上排除。第二個(gè)小九宮格中的每格都可以被排除，因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)小九宮格中已經(jīng)含有一個(gè)1。第三個(gè)小九宮格中頂行只有一個(gè)空格，不過(guò)這個(gè)位置也可以被排除，因?yàn)槟橇幸呀?jīng)含有一個(gè)1。所以，唯一剩下的格子就是第一行中的1應(yīng)該出現(xiàn)的地方。

另一種填空的方法是排除一個(gè)空格填入所有其他數(shù)字的可能性。我們將通過(guò)拼圖左下角的空格來(lái)演示這一技巧。首先，看看左下角小九宮格的其他數(shù)字，我們知道空格內(nèi)不能是1、3、6或8?，F(xiàn)在我們看看包含該空格的這一列。因?yàn)檫@一列中已經(jīng)有了2和4，所以我們可以排除它們填入左下角空格的可能性。最后，看看底行。在這一行，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了7和9。這意味著唯一可以填入左下角空格的數(shù)字是5。

既然你知道了數(shù)獨(dú)的唯一規(guī)則和兩種基本的填空方法，你就可以開(kāi)始玩數(shù)獨(dú)游戲啦。但是要記住，你永遠(yuǎn)都不能用從一邊開(kāi)始依次推進(jìn)的方法來(lái)解數(shù)獨(dú)。你應(yīng)該全盤(pán)開(kāi)花，先填那些能填的空格。你填好的空格越多，解決剩余空格的線索就越多。如果你填滿了所有空格，而且沒(méi)有違反數(shù)獨(dú)的唯一性規(guī)則，那你就大功告成啦!

Hint小提示: Look for a row， column， or three by three box with only one or two numbers missing. That is the easiest spot to start filling in more squares. 先找那些只有一個(gè)或兩個(gè)數(shù)字缺失的行、列或小九宮格。這是開(kāi)始填入更多空格最容易下手的地方。

Do You Know This?

Magic Squares 魔力幻方

To some extent， we can say Sudoku has its roots in \"Magic Squares\" dating back to medieval times. Based around squares and numbers， Magic Squares generally consisted of a grid into which numbers could be arranged so that they would not repeat， and the rows and columns would add up to the same result. But Magic Squares were merely for mathematicians， to see if they could build bigger and more complex grids.

(編者注:本刊曾在2008年3月號(hào)介紹過(guò)魔力幻方，想了解詳情的同學(xué)可以找來(lái)一看。)

Vocabulary

1.devise [dI5vaIz] vt. 設(shè)計(jì)，發(fā)明

2.grid [^rId] n. 網(wǎng)格

3.crossword [5krCswE:d] n. 縱橫填字謎

4.adapt [E5dApt] vt. 改編，改寫(xiě)

5.hit the big time: <非正式> 突然成名(發(fā)跡);暴富

6.tempt [tempt] vt. 吸引;引起……的興趣;使很想要(做)

7.take off: 開(kāi)始，開(kāi)始流行

8.scramble [5skrAmbl] vi. (亂糟糟地)爭(zhēng)奪，搶奪

9.popularity [7pCpju5lArItI] n. 流行

10.bug [bQg] n. 瘋狂，癡迷

11.in full swing: 活躍起來(lái)

12.spawn [5spC:n] vt. 使產(chǎn)生，造成

13.eliminate [I5lImIneIt] vt. 排除，消除