Editing Sudoku (section)

===Modern Sudoku===
The modern Sudoku was most likely designed anonymously by [[Howard Garns]], a 74-year-old retired architect and freelance puzzle constructor from [[Connersville, Indiana]], and first published in 1979 by [[Dell Magazines]] as Number Place (the earliest known examples of modern Sudoku).<ref name=" time magazine"/> Garns' name was always present on the list of contributors in issues of ''Dell Pencil Puzzles and Word Games'' that included Number Place and was always absent from issues that did not.<ref name="Garns">{{cite web |url=http://www.mathpuzzle.com/MAA/41-Sudoku%20Variations/mathgames_09_05_05.html |title=Ed Pegg Jr.'s Math Games: Sudoku Variations |access-date=October 3, 2006 |last=Pegg |first=Ed Jr. |date=September 15, 2005 |work=MAA Online |publisher=[[The Mathematical Association of America]]}}</ref> He died in 1989 before getting a chance to see his creation as a worldwide phenomenon.<ref name="Garns"/> Whether or not Garns was familiar with any of the French newspapers listed above is unclear.

The puzzle was introduced in Japan by {{nihongo|[[Maki Kaji]]|鍜治 真起|Kaji Maki}}, president of the [[Nikoli (publisher)|Nikoli]] puzzle company, in the paper ''Monthly Nikolist'' in April 1984<ref name="Garns"/> as {{nihongo|'' Sūji wa dokushin ni kagiru''|数字は独身に限る|}}, which can be translated as "the digits must be single", or as "the digits are limited to one occurrence" (In Japanese, ''dokushin'' means an "unmarried person"). The name was later abbreviated to ''Sudoku'' (数独), taking only the first [[kanji]] of compound words to form a shorter version.<ref name="Garns"/> "Sudoku" is a registered trademark in Japan<ref name="jp_trademark_5056856">{{cite web |url=https://www.j-platpat.inpit.go.jp/web/TR/JPT_5056856/F9A8AC1B402D5E9F6E7B4E7246A6CE85 |title=Reg. No. 5056856 |work=Japanese Trademark 5056856 |access-date=October 3, 2018 |publisher=Japan Platform for Trademark Information}}</ref> and the puzzle is generally referred to as {{nihongo|Number Place|ナンバープレース|Nanbāpurēsu}} or, more informally, a shortening of the two words, {{nihongo|Num(ber) Pla(ce)|ナンプレ|'' Nanpure''}}. In 1986, Nikoli introduced two innovations: the number of givens was restricted to no more than 32, and puzzles became "symmetrical" (meaning the givens were distributed in [[Rotational symmetry|rotationally symmetric cells]]). It is now published in mainstream Japanese periodicals, such as the ''[[Asahi Shimbun]]''.