Wednesday, February 22, 2006

My name is Nicole, and I am addicted to SuDoku.

Last time I traveled by plane, I was delighted to find that the airport bookstore had a SuDoku book, pencils, and even a pencil sharpener, all for the airport-bookstore bargain price of around $17.50. By the time I arrived at my final destination, I had completed nearly half of the puzzles in the book, and had a massive headache from staring at the same nine numbers for the last six hours straight.

At work, I take a SuDoku break to solve the sometimes diabolical daily puzzle. I find a sickening pleasure in decreasing the time it takes me to complete it, or in actually being able to complete the most challenging ones. There are many sites that offer puzzles, tips, etc., but I am partial to this one.

But let me ask you this, dear readers...

Can anyone tell me how many possible combinations there are? At what point are we going to run out of new puzzles to solve?

Although I am generally good at most kinds of math, this kind of calculation is not something I can figure out on my own. So I'm counting on my friends in blogland, or possibly my mathematical-genius younger brother, who has recently gone MIA from the blogosphere.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Apparently there are 6670903752021072936960 sudoku grids.

So you won't ever run out of new puzzles, but if you want a change from 9x9 sudoku, give this a try:
Samurai Sudoku

-KristinW

Amanda said...

swear it's taking the word by storm!

Amanda said...

nicole, thanks for your most recent comment. i appreciate your honesty and admire your strength in expressing it.

Miladysa said...

I think it is taking over the world... :)

Carl Spackler said...

i have a that damn kelly clarkson song "becuase of you..." or whatever its called going through my head.

hey nicole...what about doing an audio blog so we can hear this lovely voice?

also, can i be in charge of the Hot Nicole fan club (east coast division) when you make it as a big time celebrity?!?!?

*lynne* said...

hi - dropping by to visit prior to the Lost Blogs event next week :-)

Sudoku - was addicted to it.. then I moved on.. to kakuro! it's like sudoku, but includes some math. i haven't found a nice site for it, but look out for the book of puzzles by Dell Magazines, it's a whole different ballgame!

all the best for next week :-)

cheers

Liberal Banana said...

Hi - my name is Nicole and I am also addicted to sudoku! I found your blog through C. I hate when I play sudoku for too long and then I start playing imaginary games of it in my head - so annoying!

suze said...

oh yeah. suduko is a harsh mistress.