Sudoku Creator Interview

Jimmy Goto: The puzzle was introduced in Japan by Nikoli in the monthly paper Nikolist in April 1984 as Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru. Suuji wa dokushin ni kagiru, which can be translated as “the numbers must be single” or “the numbers must occur only once”. The puzzle was named by Maki Kaji, the president of Nikoli.

At a later date, the name was abbreviated to Sudoku. We had never thought that Sudoku is so popular in the West!

C3: Sudoku is world famous now. But what are some of your other most popular puzzles? And are there plans to try and push them as much as Sudoku in the West?

JG: Our puzzle named Kakuro is now getting popular in the West.

C3: It states on your website that you currently have over 200 different puzzles now, however, your team is currently quite small, with sixteen people in it. How do you cope with the large amount of requests your company receives for fresh puzzles?

JG: Yes, we have only sixteen staff. But they are so-o-o-o excellent.

 

C3: Also, where do you get much of your inspiration from for all the wonderful new ideas?

JG: Our Japanese readers have been very supportive and supplied new ideas. The number of letters they send us reaches beyond 800 per month.

C3: Do you have plans to expand your team further? It is mentioned that you have an exclusive deal with UK publisher Puzzler Media, but could you see Nikoli setting up offices outside of Japan in the future in order to retain more control over your puzzles in other territories?

JG: We have a sister company in Hong Kong for covering the Chinese market. And we also have a good relationship with a Turkish publisher for covering the Middle-east territory. We also have a plans to establish a branch in Spain for covering the Spanish-language territories.

C3: Who approached who for the inclusion of Sudoku in Nintendo’s Brain Training DS game?

JG: We did this business with Nintendo directly.

C3: Have any developers approached you about bringing your puzzles to the Nintendo Wii yet? Or have you thought about offering ideas to the likes of Nintendo for a special next-generation version of your puzzles? As Mitchell Corp has shown with Polarium and Puzz-Loop, there is definitely lots of potential for classic puzzle-based games on the new systems.

JG: In fact, there are some new enquiries. But I cannot talk about it because of our secret agreement.

C3: Would you ever consider working with Nintendo on a puzzle property such as Tetris or Mario Picross to add your own fresh ideas to the series? And what is the likelihood of something like this happening?

JG: Up to Nintendo. We cannot control them.

 

C3: What are your thoughts on implementing the Nintendo Wii’s unique features into a possible Wii version of Sudoku or any other Nikoli puzzles? For instance, using the special control system or WiiConnect24 service for downloads?

JG: Sorry, I cannot reply about it [again] because of our secret agreement.

C3: With the large potential to be found in the computer game Industry, has consideration gone into setting up a dedicated gaming division of Nikoli, or is working with other developers seen as the only way forward?

JG: Maybe Nikoli puzzles have a good potentiality for being in computer games. But our mission is only based on making good quality hand-made puzzles.

C3: Are there any games that have taken your interest lately?

JG: For my personal interest I like Slitherlink.

The team at Cubed³, and I personally, would like to wholeheartedly thank Jimmy for taking the time out for this interview and wish him and Nikoli a very bright future!