Puzzling Persona

Talk about identity crisis. Wayne Gould studied to become a lawyer in his native New Zealand, then left in the early 1980s to be a judge in Hong Kong. But when the colony passed from Britain to China in 1997, he left the courts to chase a different dream.

"I'd always been interested in programming," says Gould, 60, a father of two grown children who splits most of his life between New Zealand and New Hampshire, where his wife teaches linguistics at Plymouth State University. "Writing code seemed to me an extension of puzzle-doing. I've always been interested in puzzle-doing and games."

On a visit to Tokyo before his retirement, he discovered a number puzzle called Sudoku. The simple rules - fill in a nine-by-nine grid so that each row, column, and three-by-three box contains the digits 1 through 9 - intrigued him. He wrote a computer program that generates Sudoku puzzles of varying difficulty, gave them to newspapers from New Hampshire to Great Britain, and then watched the puzzle rocket in popularity around the world. Today, Sudoku books, clubs, Internet chat rooms, videos, cellphone games, card games, competitions, and even a game show have made Sudoku "the Rubik's cube of the 21st century."

Meet the man behind what's become a daily obsession - and frustration - for so many. Then, go to Page 76 to try it out. The Globe Magazine welcomes Sudoku today.

How was Sudoku born?

Nobody knows. It surfaced in America in the late '70s. People assume it was invented here. But there was no evidence of that. My theory is it was proposed by an academic mathematician, because it's an extension of Latin squares, which mathematicians know about. A Japanese student in America saw the puzzle in an American magazine and took it back to Japan and made it a big thing there. When I saw it in Japan in 1997, one of my reactions was: How can such a good puzzle be hiding away in Japan and nobody else know about it? That motivated me to write a program.

So do you own the game?

It's in the public domain, sort of like Hangman. It gets passed around from generation to generation.

Does that mean you're not making money from it?

I am making a tidy sum from my computer program and the books. But I give it to newspapers. I can't grumble, because I've done very well.

Why give it to papers for free?

As a puzzle fan, I wanted to spread the word. That was the easiest way to do it. Second, to sell my computer program, people needed to know the puzzle first. I certainly could have made more money if I chose to call it something other than Sudoku. I stuck with the name the Japanese gave it.

Speaking of which, what does Sudoku mean?

"Su" means number in Japanese. "Doku" is a word for bachelor. The numbers must remain single and unattached. The briefest translation would be "solitary number."

Where was the first paper to run your puzzle?

My wife works here in New Hampshire, and I visit her. She has a green card, and I don't. I tried Sudoku out in a local paper, The Conway Daily Sun. That was a test market for me.

Were there any surprises?

I was surprised that people accepted it so readily, so quickly.

Have you thought about what the fascination is?

One would be that it's new and different. Crosswords were a craze when they came out. Sudoku shows a whole new level of puzzles we hadn't thought about. It's very easy to understand what you have to do. You don't need a manual to get started. And you don't need anything else, a dictionary, a library. It's all in your head, in that very self-contained grid. The daily appearance in the paper develops a routine and maybe helps you solve a puzzle in your job later in the day.

Have you ever stumped yourself?

Not now, but when I was writing the program. It took me six years to write it. There were times when I'd sit with puzzles that I couldn't solve. Programming was not the problem. The problem was how to craft the steps that were necessary. When I was writing it, I was the only one who was writing it. I don't have a mathematical or scientific background. My wife is better at it than I am. But she had a lot of practice, because she was my tester.

But if you didn't invent Sudoku, why are you getting so much credit today?

I'm credited with popularizing it. And I've had zero mistakes.

At what age do you think someone can do Sudoku?

Nine is about the age that kids take to it by themselves. I get e-mails from really punk teenagers saying they played it with their granddads on weekends.

Do you have another game you're working on? The next Sudoku?

There is another game I'd love to be working on. It's similar, a logic puzzle, but totally different. Not as commercial as Sudoku. I'm a slow worker. It's probably a few years away.

A few years? Sudoku has made you comfortable.

I have offers to buy the program, the website, and the books. If that happens, I'd be free to go back to what I really like.

What's that?

Programming. Marketing, while it has rewarded me quite handsomely, is not the part that I enjoy most.

Doug Most is the editor of the Globe Magazine. E-mail him at Dmost@globe.com.