How To Play Sudoku - Scanning Rows and Columns
Get ready to start filling in numbers! You can use this easy technique to solve most easy sudoku puzzles and fill in some missing numbers in more difficult puzzles. Before you begin, consider using a pencil and eraser so you can wipe out your markings as you work through a puzzle.
Look at one mini-grid and determine which numbers from 1 to 9 do not yet appear in the mini-grid. Remember that each number from 1 to 9 must appear once in each mini-grid.
Look across the three rows that run through the mini-grid to see if any of the rows already contain the number you picked. If the number appears in a row, the empty boxes in the row cannot contain the number since a number
can only appear once in a row. Place an X in each empty box in the row. For example, the number 5 cannot appear in rows one and three in the above sudoku since the number 5 already appears in those rows.
After you finish scanning rows and columns, you will hopefully be left with only one empty box in a mini-grid that a number could go into. Congratulations! If you end up with more than one empty box, the boxes will have to remain unsolved for now.
Look up and down 6 the three columns that run through the mini-grid to see if any of the columns already contain the number you picked.
If the number appears in a column, the empty boxes in the column cannot contain the number since a number can only appear once in a column. Place an X in each empty box in the column. For example, the number 5 cannot appear in column eight in the above sudoku since the number 5 already appears in that column.
When you are left with only one empty box where you can place a number in a mini-grid, write the number in the box.
For each number from 1 to 9 that does not yet appear in the mini-grid, you can repeat steps 1 to 7, starting on page 14. When you are finished, move on to the next mini-grid until you finish working on each mini-grid in the entire puzzle.
Filed Under How To Play Sudoku, How To Solve Easy Sudokus |
Tagged With How To Play Sudoku, solving sudoku
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