Brothers Strike Gold With Sudoku Game
When George and James TerBush learned of the Sudoku puzzle craze last year, they immediately began drawing up plans for their Gold Spike Sudoku, a deluxe wooden Sudoku board game.
The brothers, who founded the Elverson Puzzle Company, had to overcome a major obstacle - how do you solve Sudoku without pencils, paper, and erasing?
If you are not familiar with Sudoku, it is an addictive number puzzle that is played on a 9x9 grid of squares. Each puzzle starts with some squares already filled with numbers. The object is to fill in the empty squares so that each row, column, and 3x3 block contains all of the numbers from 1 to 9.
"To solve the more challenging Sudoku puzzles, you need to keep track of the possible numbers for each empty square," said James. "If we didn't find a way to do that, our Sudoku board game would not be very useful."
The TerBush brothers devised an innovative method to keep track of the possible numbers. They created a pattern of nine holes in each square on their Sudoku game board. Gold pegs are placed in the holes to represent the numbers 1 to 9. The numerical value of each peg is determined by the hole it is placed into. Upon devising this method, they filed for a patent.
"It has many advantages over other Sudoku board games," said George. "The pegs make it very easy to add and remove possible numbers from the game board. It also allows you to add as many pegs as you need. Since there are no numbers on the pegs, the process of placing them on the game board can be done quickly, and you will never run out of any numbers. This method also allows patterns of numbers to be easily recognized, which is an important strategy in solving Sudoku."
The beauty and craftsmanship of Gold Spike Sudoku is a joy to behold. The large Walnut top game board contrasts nicely with the gold pegs and the numbered wooden game pieces. All of the contents of this Sudoku board game, including the packaging, are made to the highest quality. "Our goal was to make it good enough to be on the Antiques Road Show some day," said George.
Gold Spike Sudoku includes a 12" square wooden game board, 81 large numbered game pieces in a drawstring bag, 200 gold tracking pegs inside a game tin, and a comprehensive instruction booklet featuring 50 Sudoku puzzles by Angus Johnson.
