Maki Kaji, a puzzle enthusiast and founder of Japan’s first puzzle magazine Sudoku died on August 10 in Tokyo. Kaji, who died at age 69, was known as the ‘Godfather of Sudoku’. The publisher died of bile duct cancer. A university dropout, Kaji took hints from an existing number puzzle to create a game he named ‘sudoku’ sometime in the mid-80s. Sudoku puzzles are played by millions around the world every day—several dallies across the globe are known to print a puzzle. The widely popular quarterly puzzle magazine, which contained other logic puzzles, was published by Nikoli Co. Ltd. The magazine is also known as Nikoli
The puzzle challenges people to fill a grid of 9X9 blocks, with nine boxes in each block so that all columns, both vertical and horizontal, contain the numbers 1 to 9 without repetition.
The puzzle became popular outside of Japan about two decades ago. The puzzle is commended as a way to keep the brain sharp. Kaji continued to make alterations to the puzzle. A world championship has been held annually since 2006. He stepped down as head of his company in July.
“I get really moved when I see a new idea for a puzzle which has lots of potential,” Kaji told BBC in 2007. “It is like finding treasure. It’s not about whether it will make money, it is purely the excitement oaf trying to solve it,” he had said.
