Doug Gardner of Arlington, Va., is revolutionizing the world of paper puzzles in his spare time.
Gardner, a computer security specialist, created the “Octo” puzzle in the summer of 2007.
Like Sudoku and Kakuro, the puzzle plays with positional logic and adding numbers together. It requires players to place numbers 1-8 in a certain order to match a sum diagonally and linearly. There are numbers at the end of each diagonal and line.
“I am a huge puzzle fan, I have liked them all my life,” Gardner said. “I have always been interested in crosswords, word searches, things like that. I also was very interested in math at an early stage, which led to puzzles. Like a lot of people, I was taken by Sudoku. It’s really neat how it makes you think about how things fit uniquely into a pattern.”
Gardner said he tried different shapes for the puzzle, and the octagon proved to be the best fit.
“After I got the structure right, I started filling them out by hand,” he said. “Eventually I created a computer program that could generate puzzles within minutes. There was still trial and error on top of the computer program because I had to set certain rules to make sure there is only one valid answer.”
Gardner said solving a puzzle can take 10 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the level of difficulty. The “Octo” puzzles can be completed by players of any age, particularly late elementary students and up, Gardner said.
“My 9-year-old daughter can do the easiest ones,” he said. “They can be done by anyone. College students have really been taken by it too because it has a competitive edge to it.”
Gardner said no major publishing company has expressed interest in the puzzles yet. He said the puzzle needs to reach a group of people who are willing to “convert” to a different kind of puzzle. Gardner wants the puzzles to be published in newspapers, in books, and on Web sites.
“It is fun to go through the learning processes,” Gardner said. “I didn’t know about patenting and marketing, so I am learning as I go. Now the puzzle is done, in the sense that it isn’t just an idea that needs to be built. The puzzle actually exists, and now I am just seeing where it leads.”
Scott Free, a graduate of Montana State, worked on one of the “Octo” puzzles for the first time on Monday.
“I thought the puzzle was sophisticated,” Free said. “There are many dimensions of variability. I think there are more dimensions in it than Sudoku. I don’t know how a person could generate these and put in enough information into it to make it solvable. That makes it intriguing.”
Jacque Marquez, a freshman at UNM, said the “Octo” puzzles also have social benefits. Having a book with “Octo” puzzles could be used to entertain, kill time, and teach people to work together, she said.
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“It was addicting,” she said. “I had to finish it once I started it.”
Gardner said completing the “Octo” puzzle requires persistence, and having a puzzle that is different from Sudoku gives puzzlers more variety.
“It is satisfying for me to service those who are looking for something different,” Gardner said. “‘Octo’ is healthy entertainment. I enjoy them enough to test all the ones I create. I think it is important for people to practice logical thinking.”
Gardner said puzzles give people a different type of entertainment than watching TV or movies.
“It helps your cognitive powers,” he said. “It is the idea of good wholesome entertainment. Puzzles are not plagued with standard issues that are found in movies and TV. Puzzles give social issues because you can work together on them. It is just important to find mental challenges. It is good for you.”
