Trividoku #1 - Now Available for pre-order on Amazon.com

A Trividoku is a blend of Sudoku and Trivia. As with a regular Sudoku puzzle, you have a nine by nine grid of spaces. To solve the puzzle you need to fill in each space with a digit 1 - 9 so that each row, column and 3 x 3 box contains exactly one of each digit. Every puzzle also starts with about twenty "givens". These are the digits in the puzzle that help make it so that the puzzle can be filled in with a correct solution.

With a Trividoku, we take out nine of the given digits and replace them with Trivia matches. Take a look at the sample below. It's the first puzzle in the book and is intended to be a gentle introduction to Trividoku.

The best way to start is to look at the Trivia to see which ones you can easily fill in. George Washington was our first president, so it's pretty clear that you're going to match up (C) George Washington with (1) 1789 - 1797.

Since George Washington matched (1), that means that the square in the grid with the (C) (for Washington) has a "1" filled into it. So fill in a "1" in the square in the top row, seventh column. At this point you should also cross off the (C) and the (1).

Keep matching things up as long as you can. You can then use normal Sudoku rules to find the rest of the answers.

Since each of the Trivia matches a (1) through (9), that means no two Trivia answers will have the same digit. This means, for example, that once you know that (C) is a "1" because of George Washington, you know that NONE of the remaining squares with letters in them will have a "1" in it.