The first time I had heard about Sudoku [en.wikipedia.org] was in October 2005. I was sharing a hotel room with one of my friends and at one point she whipped out a book of these puzzles.
Of course, being drawn to logic puzzles and numbers (read as: geek)…I asked her what she was working on. And shortly thereafter…my need to solve Sudoku grids was born. ;)
I dunno...that square might not be an eight...oh, wait - you're making a nine. Yeah, you're good. :)