Australia's Sudoku Future???

Aussie 11yo Smashes Sudoku World Record
(Article by Jano Gibson- Brisbane Times)

TWO years ago a 27-year-old American with a PhD in chemistry set the Guinness World Record for the fastest completion of a sudoku puzzle. His time was two minutes and 8 seconds.

Last week Lucus Yeo, an 11-year-old boy from Sydney with a passion for Formula One racing, smashed that record.

It took 10 days for him to complete his first puzzle several years ago. "So from then on I was just trying to beat 10 days, and then it became a few minutes. Now here I am."

His time last week was one minute and 38 seconds.

"You have to break the world record for yourself to find out how it felt," he said.

His principal at Castle Hill Public School, Bryan Mullan, said his talent "came out of the blue".

"In terms of his personality, he comes across as quite disorganised in some ways," Mr Mullan said.

"His desk's always all over the place. He doesn't come across as an organised person."

There are 81 squares on a sudoku grid. Within the grid there are nine smaller grids, each with nine squares. To complete a game, a player has to fill in each row, each column and each smaller grid with the numbers one to nine. The grade of difficulty depends on how many numbers are already provided.

"To do it effectively he has to hold those 81 spaces in his head simultaneously," said Mr Mullan, who will shortly send witness statements, documentation and a video of Lucus's attempt to Guinness World Records.

Like Lucus, the American world record holder, Thomas Snyder, achieved his time playing an "easy" grade of the game. However, because each of them played games created by different people, it could be somewhat difficult to compare their times.

Dr Snyder said he has recently completed games in under one minute, but these times have not been sent to Guinness World Records.

"All that being said, the time of your young champion is tremendously impressive," he said.

"I'm sure he will continue to get better as he grows older and competes more."