CREATOR OF SUDOKU PUZZLE DIES

Maki Kaji, the man who created the Sudoku puzzle, has died after a battle with bile duct cancer. He was 69. Kaji established Japan’s first puzzle magazine, Puzzle Tsushin Nikoli (* Catchy name!), with friends in 1980. One of his creations for the magazine was the Sudoku, in 1983. In 2004, Sudoku became a global sensation, after a fan from New Zealand pitched it to the British newspaper The Times. Sudoku was never trademarked, except within Japan, which is why you see it everywhere.
* Seeing the entire world playing my game and me not making a penny off it sure woulda given ME a lot of bile.
* I guess his days were numbered.
* His family said news of his passing was rated “Most Difficult.”
* True fact: Sudoku translates into English as “Use a pencil.”