How to Play Sudoku

posted by Marian on January 25, 2015

Sudoku looks like a math game, but it's not really about numbers at all -- no adding, subtracting, multiplication or division. What it's really about is patterns and logic. That's a kind of math -- but it's not arithmetic. So there's really no need to have numbers in the puzzle. You can just as easily have shapes, or colours, or letters, or pictures.

Let's just call them "symbols" -- that way, these instructions can apply to all the variations: Foodoku, Moodoku, and of course plain old regular Sudoku.

Here are the instructions for playing the 9x9 grid version of the game:

The puzzle always starts with some of the little squares filled in with whichever type of symbol is used. You complete the puzzle by filling the rest of the squares with symbols so the board ends up like this:

  • each column has one of each symbol -- a column is 9 squares in a line between the top and bottom
  • each row has one of each symbol -- a row is 9 squares in a line between the left and right
  • each box has one of each symbol -- a box is a 3x3 square grid of 9 connected smaller squares, marked by the thicker lines
  • You can’t have more than one of each symbol in any row, column, or box.

To play the puzzle given on this page, right-click it and select "Save Link As" to download, then print it and fill in the squares with a pencil.

If you want to turn it into a Foodoku or Moodoku puzzle:

  • Print it enlarged enough to fill the width of the paper.
  • Print and cut the sheet of pictures (choose between healthy foods, desserts, or moods).
  • Decide which picture will replace which number.
  • Set up the board by covering each number with its corresponding picture.
  • Now you can place the other cut-out pictures on the board in a way that fills all the empty spots according to the rules
  • Remember not to have more than one of each picture in each column, row, and box!
  • Have fun!