What are interesting facts about Sudoku?

Dr. Yaling Zheng
From https://www.createclassicsudoku.com/What_are_interesting_facts_about_Sudoku.jsp

Sudoku is a number game in which missing numbers are to be filled into a 9 by 9 grid of squares
which are subdivided into 3 by 3 boxes so that every row, every column, and every box contains
the numbers 1 through 9. 

Here are some interesting facts about Sudoku:

1. You don’t need to be an expert to make a Sudoku puzzle. Anyone with basic logical reasoning
can make a Sudoku puzzle within minutes.
2. Yes, there is a minimum number of clues to be given for the Sudoku puzzle has one solution.
The least number of clues of a given Sudoku with a unique solution is 17.
3. There are 6670903752021072936960 Sudoku grids. However, the essentially different Sudoku
grids are only 5,472,730,538. Needlessly to say, you need a handful of lifetimes to solve all of
them.
4. Sudoku is a logic game and involves absolutely no math or language skills.
5. Actually, Sudoku isn’t a Japanese game it all. It’s American invented. Howard Garns created
it as Number Place in 1979 but died in 1989 before Japanese publisher Nikoli got a hold of it.
The game didn’t really take off until 2004 though when Wayne Gould convinced The Times in
London to publish it.
6. When Sudoku became a world hit in 2005, it is estimated that it is the biggest phenomenon
since the Rubik’s Cube in the 1980s.
7. There is a worldwide Sudoku Championship every year since Mar 2006. The first World
Sudoku Championship was held in Lucca, Italy.
8. Playing Sudoku regularly can have benefits, like boosting your concentration and focus,
preventing or easing depression and possibly even preventing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease,
according to some studies.
9. Sudoku is good for anyone and any age and helps develop mental abilities as well as keeps
them in good condition.
10. Sudoku is considered highly addictive, but since there aren’t any harmful side effects (and in
fact a list of great side effects), go right ahead and get addicted!