National Puzzle Day recognises the value of puzzles including crosswords, jigsaws, word search and sudoku and is celebrated on 29 January. Spending time on puzzles improves memory, cognitive functions and problem solving skills. Different puzzles can test vocabulary or logical thinking.
Whilst puzzles are now considered leisure activities, they were originally used for purely educational purposes. They became especially popular during the 1920s in the Great Depression because of their affordability.
Sudoku has an especially recent history, the first one being published under a different name of Latin Squares in 1979. Later in 1984 it was published in Japan and the name sudoku was born.
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