Rational Sudoku

Sudoku Conspiracy theory

2007-12-28T12:05:00.000-08:00

Sudoku Blog 004

Greetings Sudoku-ka!
I am now ready to begin my Blog in earnest.
I have gone over the edge and am ready to report back on an incredible journey. I will speak of my exciting and challenging new puzzle later, but for now I wish to create a little conspiracy theory. Now don’t misunderstand me…just because I have a conspiracy theory doesn’t mean there isn’t a conspiracy. But my conspiracy theory starts with a muse…’Why did not one of the finalists in the First United States Sudoku Championship use the Possibility Matrix as a basis for their solution?’ Could it be that it just doesn’t work all that well? The First US National Champion Sudoku-ka solved the entire Sudoku in the time it would take a reasonable solver to encrypt the Possibility Matrix with all potential solutions. Now, to be sure, there were many participants there that dutifully encrypted their Possibility Matrix into the Sudoku at hand…but none made it to the finals. I know…I was there!

So how come almost every strategy book published to date uses the Possibility Matrix as a basis for solving Sudoku? Oh, to be sure, there are a great many superb books on Sudoku; some which even hint at the Rational Strategy for solving Sudoku. But many are self published and have little circulation; and not all are really all that good.

Well, it probably doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that Peter Gordon is the Puzzle Editor of Sterling Publishers; the publishing company that publishes more books on Sudoku strategy than all others combined – including Gordon’s own creation: The Mensa Guide to Solving Sudoku. Gordon, by the way, is the creator of the ‘Gordonian logic methods, which is another set of vainglorious tricks to carve yet one more solution out of the morass of Possibilities. Now all this might not even matter except that Sterling Publishers is THE Publishing Company for Barnes & Nobel Booksellers. Me thinks that the plot dost thicken… I will tell you of my little encounter with Sterling Publishers in a later post. Meanwhile, I don’t know about you guys, but if you have stuffed you faces with enough X-Wings to last ya…com’on over to Rational Sudoku…The Other Strategy! Refreshingly Different, Decidedly Fresh!

You can check out the foundation principles of Rational Sudoku on my web site (www.rationalsudoku.com). Here you will find the first five chapters of my e-Book: Rational Sudoku. In chapter 5, I work through a Sudoku using the Standard Strategy (Possibility Matrix) so you can see how the whole system works…evem for the Possibility Matrix. Download them if you like…just make sure you leave me your e-mail in exchange. If you like that, then I will send you the next part of my strategy for $5.95. This is the core material for Rational Sudoku. Try it…I think you will like it. If so, then there is more to come. Not only that, but if you are dissatisfied, I will refund your purchase price in its entirety.

Does it really matter how you solve Sudoku? Well, that just depends. If you like wingy witchets and death blossoms, bivlaves and turbot fish and an abundance of creative zeal and you really get off on X-wings, then you will just probably prefer the Standard Strategy…the so-called ‘Possibility Matrix’. By the way, most people think there are lots of ‘Strategies’ Out there. After all, Peter Gordon even has a strategy named after himself. But most (but by no means all) books purporting to present a ‘Strategy’ are really just developing more clever widgets to extract solutions out of the Possibility Matrix. But that doesn’t stop the creative entrepreneur from writing an entire boon on some clever little widget. In order to learn about the other widgets, you have to by the other books as well. Each widget has its own book and all plug directly into the Possibility Matrix.

Want to find just one book that does it all? Well, you can get Peter Gordon’s Mensa Guide and embark on a voyage of sushi suffused allegories; or, if you really just appreciate the sheer magnitude of the rational process as it is bent to solve even the most difficult Sudoku effortlessly and with No Notes, if you want to solve even difficult Sudoku with seemingly effortless speed, then you will prefer something like Rational Sudoku…The Other Strategy! Ok, ok, I was just joking about the effortless part. It takes work to learn to solve Sudoku. If it were just given to ya, you probably wouldn’t enjoy it nearly as much. At any rate, Rational Sudoku may not be the only other strategy out there for solving Sudoku, but it is the only one that the Champions Use to solve their Sudoku. And it far out shines the Possibility Matrix. The demonstration of this fact is in my e-book Rational Sudoku where I take you through every step of the solution process using the Possibility Matrix and Rational Sudoku. Because it is built on strictly rational processes, Rational Sudoku is inherently more powerful than the Possibility Matrix. For instance, one could NEVER propose a ‘No Notes Strategy’ using the Possibility Matrix (it just wouldn’t compute). Plus you don’t ever have to hear some one ask to pass the sushi finned X-Wing ever again. Death Blossom Be Damned!!! Come check out Rational Sudoku…The Other Strategy!

Sudoku Sam

US Sudoku National Championship

2007-10-23T11:19:00.001-07:00

Greetings from Philadelphia. I just competed in the first ever historic US Sudoku National Championship competetion. I came up here to test my strategy against real people (nothing against WebSudoku) and find out once and for all if it worked. What a Surprise! Not only does this Rational Sudoku Strategy work, but most of the winning contestants use some form of this system. In fact, there was not a single finalist that used the 'Possibility Matrix' system! The winner of the competetion, Thomas Schneider, in fact, uses a strategy almost identical to Rational Sudoku, but with modified notation. There were many 'Possibility Matrix' contestants at the competition, but none of them made it to the finals. Neither did I, but the three finalists in the Advanced group (out of 150 contestants in the advanced group) all used some form of Rational Sudoku and certainly did not use the 'Possibility Matrix'. When you consider that Thomas finished his finalist Sudoku in a mere 7 minutes and 7 seconds, you might realize that you would barely have time to create a 'Possibility Matrix', much less begin extracting solutions from it before the competetion was over. Congradulations to Thomas! He is one heck of a nice guy. At 27 he has been solving Sudoku since he was about 9...even before it made its debut in Japan. Obviously, there was some stiff competetion, including other World Championship Sudoku contestants. Overall it was a great experience and very gratifying to see that all the work I have done has been in the right direction.
Well, I have to go catch a plane back to Atlanta, but I will have more on the US Sudoku National Championship later...including the Finalist puzzle and a Rational Sudoku solution for it!

Sudoku Sam
Ratadu Sudoku!

PS. For more direct reorting on the Sudoku National Championship visit the Philadelphia Inquirer at www.philly.com. They were the ones who sponsored the competetion and they will have lots to report on it.

2007-07-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

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So why a new solution strategy for Sudoku? Especially for beginers... have you ever felt just totally overwhelmed while trying to carve a solution out of a possibility matrix? Ever think that this is more complicated than the original Sudoku? Now, with just four simple steps, you can solve any Sudoku! No more Possibility Matrix! You BUILD your SOLUTION as you go! This streamlines the process and avoids the confusion of the extraneous digits of the Possibility Matrix. You can even solve Sudoku without using any marginal notes at all! It is really not that hard once you get the hang of it.

For intermediates... are you yearning for a way to streamline your solution process? Rational Sudoku is your answer. Have you finally figured out that the Possibility Matrix is just a clever marketing tool for generating endless 'strategies' that can be documented and sold? Have you already abandoned this tiresome strategy and just winging it like so many have done? Don't you wish someone would figure out a better way of solving Sudoku? Well some one has! Rational Sudoku does away with the X-Wing, the Jelly Fish and the Death Blossom and all the rest of those colorfully named 'strategies'. All you need are four basic operators and you can solve any Sudoku!

And for the advanced...so now you think you know it all? You can spot those naked pairs in a jiff; smoke those death blossoms with ease; and finish off the Sashimi Finned X-Wing for dessert. Could anything be better? Well how about something completely different? A strategy so radical that no one has ever concieved of it before now. Something so simple and elegant that you will wonder why you haven't seen it before. Are you up to the challenge? Can you really handle something that will bend your Sudoku twisted mind in ways you never thought possible? Rational Sudoku will change the way you think about Sudoku! Its your call.

Sudoku Sam