Maki Kaji, Father of Sudoku Game Dies at 69 Years Old

GAMEFINITY.ID, Purworejo – Maki Kaji, the person who popularized the Sudoku game and known as the Father of the Sudoku Game, died on August 10 at the age of 69 because of gall cancer he suffered. This sad news was conveyed by his puzzle magazine company, Nikoli Co., on Tuesday (17/8).

Although Maki Kaji is not the direct creator of the sudoku game, he is credited with creating the name Sudoku and popularizing the game.

Maki Kaji perfected an existing number puzzle game and renamed it Sudoku. Sudoku itself is short for Suji wa Dokushin ni Kagiru, which means “numbers must remain single”. Because it was considered too long, this name was later shortened to Sudoku as we know it today.

Sudoku

“Kaji-san came up with the name Sudoku and is loved by puzzle fans from all over the world. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the protection you have shown throughout his life.” said his puzzle magazine company, Nikoli Co.

Before becoming Sudoku, this variation of the number puzzle had appeared in French newspapers in the 19th century, but disappeared during World War I. Modern Sudoku was created by American architects, Howard Garns, by the name Number Place and was published in the May 1979 issue of Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games magazine.

Kaji founded his puzzle magazine company Nikoli in 1980 and began publishing Sudoku four years later. This made Sudoku very popular in Japan. It wasn’t until 2004 that Sudoku became popular outside Japan after a New Zealander named Wayne Gould bought a Sudoku book and turned it into computer software. Not only that, Wayne Gould then introduced Sudoku to the British magazine, The Times, which eventually published the game in his magazine.

Baca Juga

Sudoku

Since then, the game Sudoku has become very popular in the world. Despite his popularity, Kaji continues to create and publish Sudoku games in his magazine. He resigned as head of his company last July due to illness and eventually died on August 10 last.

“I don’t want to just be known as the godfather of sudoku, I want to spread the fun of puzzles until I’m known as the man who founded the puzzle genre in Japan,” Maji Kaji said.