Sudoku debuts in today's edition of The Herald

Move over crossword puzzles - the newest daily puzzle craze is Sudoku and foothill residents appear to be obsessed with it.Sudoku is a number placement puzzle that many say is easy to learn and addicting in nature.More and more newspapers are printing the puzzles and a whole line of strategy books, Web sites and even videos have sprung up to aid frustrated Sudoku players.Although it sounds like an ancient Japanese game, its origins are more recent.First seen in U.S. puzzle magazines in 1979 as "number place," the game caught on in Japan in the mid-'80s as Sudoku or Su Doku - a shortened version of a longer phrase meaning "the digits must remain single," according to online encyclopedia www.wikipedia.org.It became a fad in England last year under British puzzle-maker David J. Bodycombe, who constructs the puzzles for Universal Press Synd-icate, which supplies The Placer Herald's puzzles.Although some people get a headache just by looking at the maze of numbers, the concept is simple. A nine-by-nine grid of squares is divided into nine boxes. Each row, column and box of nine must be filled with the numerals from 1 through 9. Some of the numbers are "givens," which you use to fill in the blanks. The more givens, the easier the puzzle.Some people were unsure how to say it - according to Wikipedia, it is pronounced (suh-DOE-koo) - but that hasn't stopped people from talking about it."I got hooked, very much so," said Judy Skillings of Auburn, who caught the Sudoku bug a couple months ago after reading about the fad.She likes to keep her mind active to stave off Alzheimer's disease, so Soduku is a perfect fit.For those just starting out, she does have some advice."Here's your number one tip: Use a pencil," she said. "You'll do a lot of erasing."