世論 What Japan Thinks

Well, it’s not really a competition of one against the other, but instead a cross-reference of awareness of Sudoku amongst console and computer gamers. japan.internet.com recently reported on a survey by JR Tokai Express Research Inc into sudoku.

Demographics

On the 26th of October 2007 331 members of the JR Tokai Express Research monitor group employed in either the public or private sector completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 81.0% of the sample was male, 14.2% in their twenties, 37.8% in their thirties, 34.4% in their forties, 12.1% in their fifties, and 1.5% in their sixties.

This survey doesn’t use sudoko, however, as the primary name for the puzzle; that seems to be ナンプレ, nanpure, an abbreviation of number place, or so my dictionary tells me.

If you want to get hold of some sudoku puzzles, one cheap way in Japan is to go to Daiso, the big 100 yen chain store, and pick up one or more of the eight volumes they have on sale, each with over 100 puzzles inside. The books also have below the puzzles small bits of trivia; one of my volumes has proverbs, the other four-character kanji phrases.

Oh, and today I received a prize after doing the Sudoku in my wife’s newspaper – it was just a boring old eco bag, however.

Research results

283 people, or 85.5% of the original sample had played computer or console games. They were asked the following question.

Q1: On what types of machines have you played computer games? (Sample size=283, multiple answer)

	Votes	Percentage
PC	240	84.8%
Console games on home television (to SQ)	215	76.0%
Games machines at game arcades	202	71.4%
Portable games machines (to SQ)	183	64.7%
Mobile phone	169	59.7%
DVD player	22	7.8%
Other	0	0.0%

Q1SQ: Who were the makers of the machines that you have played on? (Sample size=unclear, multiple answer)

Nintendo	212
Sony	170
Sega	78
Bandai	37
Microsoft	27
NEC	16
SNK	13
EPOCH	12
Atari	5
Don’t know	18
Other	0

Q2: Do you know the puzzle game “Sudoku”? (Sample size=283)

Yes, but not played it	44.2%
Yes, and have played it	24.4%
No, never heard of it	31.4%