Sudoku is a japanese puzzle…

loosely translated as “only single numbers allowed,” at least if you believe an August, 2005 article about the craze, published by the New York Times. Will Shortz’ article entitled “A Few Words About Sudoku, Which Has None” described the increasingly popularity of the game.

Catching on, indeed. CNN reports today (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/06/10/sudoku.jury.ap/index.html) that a mistrial was declared when it was discovered that some of the jurors had been playing sudoku during the trial. The trial, which had gone for 66 days before the discovery, cost the government in the neighborhood of $950,000 (US).

I’m torn. I love sudoku, but I’ve been in front of juries. It’s hard to know whether you are convincing a jury–keeping them focused is a whole different hurdle. And the lawyers and judge’s staff who now have to start from scratch? That’s the kind of massive frustration that only a good mind numbing game of sudoku could soothe…