If you have heard of Sudoku, then chances are you have been living in a bunker for the last year or so.

Sudoku is a new craze that is taking the puzzle world by storm. Its gone from a little known topic, to having over a million searches a month on the web thats as much as Paris Hilton.

For those of you who dont know what Sudoku is, its essentially a game of numbers.

You start with a 9 x 9 grid that is split up into 9, 3 x 3 grids.

This initial grid will have a series of numbers strewn over it in what seems to be a completely random madness.

However, there is a method behind the madness here. You see, you need to ensure that you have the numbers 1-9 in each of the 3 x 3 grids, however you cannot have a number in the same line as itself in another grid.

Sounds confusing, but when you see a Sudoku game, it will all make sense.

Once you start a Sudoku game, it is EXTREMELY hard to stop. Im not a huge fan of puzzles and crosswords and so on, but once I start a Sudoku game, Im hooked; I just have to complete it.

Now, for the most part, a single Sudoku game can take anywhere from about 5 minutes, up to several hours (if you pick a particularly hard one and depending on your level of skill), so there are games for all types of players.

The fuel to this worldwide phenomenon is being fueled by the seemingly huge prizes that are starting to spring up for worldwide Sudoku events & tournaments.

Ranging from a few thousand dollars, all the way up to several hundred thousand dollars (yes you read right, thats $100,000+) it can be seriously rewarding if you get into this game in a big way.

Fortunately, since Sudoku can be extremely complex, there are pieces of software out there that can help you with your solutions if you get stuck. All you need to do is put in your solution (or the solution that you think it is) and auto calculate whether it is right or not.

Its a fast way to find out whether you have the right result or not.

If you are going the offline road (meaning you have gotten your Sudoku game from the newspaper or magazine etc.) then youre just going to have to resort to good ole pen and paper figuring out methods.

Bottom line My personal opinion is that this Sudoku craze is here to stay. Something this addictive and enjoyable cant be a fly-by-the-night fad that will disappear in another 6 months.