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Run away!! run away!!!

Throughout my life there have been activities that I have shied away from, not because I disliked them but because I feared liking them so intensely that they’d impinge on the rest of my life. This was why I never played Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. My brain starts sounding like a Monty Python ...

By Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

June 2, 2005, 9:49 PM

Throughout my life there have been activities that I have shied away from, not because I disliked them but because I feared liking them so intensely that they'd impinge on the rest of my life. This was why I never played Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. My brain starts sounding like a Monty Python voice yelling, "Run away!! Run away!!!" Occasionally, despite my mental efforts, one of these addictive activities sneaks its way through my defenses. I'm convinced that had I not gotten hooked on Sid Meier's Civilization II game, I'd have another article somewhere on my cv. Thankfully, I kicked that habit five years ago -- all that's left is a non-functional icon on my desktop. [What about blogging?--ed. A more complex answer -- I'd probably have another article or two, but on the other hand the articles on outsourcing and blogging would not be there either.] Which brings me to (if, as you're reading this, you know what I'm talking about and don't want to be hooked into another diversion, just click away now)......

Throughout my life there have been activities that I have shied away from, not because I disliked them but because I feared liking them so intensely that they’d impinge on the rest of my life. This was why I never played Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. My brain starts sounding like a Monty Python voice yelling, “Run away!! Run away!!!” Occasionally, despite my mental efforts, one of these addictive activities sneaks its way through my defenses. I’m convinced that had I not gotten hooked on Sid Meier’s Civilization II game, I’d have another article somewhere on my cv. Thankfully, I kicked that habit five years ago — all that’s left is a non-functional icon on my desktop. [What about blogging?–ed. A more complex answer — I’d probably have another article or two, but on the other hand the articles on outsourcing and blogging would not be there either.] Which brings me to (if, as you’re reading this, you know what I’m talking about and don’t want to be hooked into another diversion, just click away now)……

sudoku

!!!

sudoku.gif

What you see above you is a sample game of sudoku in an Economist article I stumbled onto while traveling last week. The rules of the game are very simple:

On a board of nine-by-nine squares, most of them empty, players must fill in each square with a number so that each row (left to right), column (top to bottom) and block (in bold lines) contains 1 to 9.

Click here for the solution to the above puzzle. The Economist thinks this is the Next Big Thing in puzzles — apparently the broadsheets in Great Britain are falling all over themselves to create the winning New-York-Times-crossword-style brand. Seth Stevenson, in Slate, fessus up to his addition:

When Slate asked me to write about “sudoku”?the number puzzle that’s taken Britain by storm (and seems poised to conquer the United States, too)?I thought it might be a pleasant little assignment. After all, I like puzzles. I’m always up for trying a new one. And now it’s 2 a.m., my deadline is looming, and (as you can see) I’m only on my second paragraph. All because, damn it, I can’t stop playing sudoku. I’m a full-on sudoku addict. Thanks, Slate…. It takes just a moment to feel the rush and become addicted (sort of like crack). Also (again, like crack), sudoku is cheap to obtain and widely available.

Stevenson goes on to analyze whether sudoku will be just as addictive as the NYT’s crossword. His conclusion:

I guess the most basic difference is that sudoku is a puzzle of logic?not a puzzle of esoteric knowledge and literate playfulness. Logic is less my bag. And I’d rather interact with someone’s precious, painstaking creation than with a set of numbers spat out by a computer program.

Proceed to the London Times sudoku page at your own risk.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner