Japan's Kaji, the "godfather of Sudoku," dies at 69

FILE PHOTO: 'Father of Sudoku' Maki Kaji holds copies of the latest sudoku puzzles at the Book Expo, in New York, June 3, 2007. REUTERS/Chip East

TOKYO (Reuters) - Maki Kaji, a puzzle enthusiast and publisher who was known as the "Godfather of Sudoku" - the number puzzle played daily by millions around the world - has died, his company said. He was 69.

A university dropout who worked in a printing company before founding Japan's first puzzle magazine, Kaji took hints from an existing number puzzle to create what he later named "sudoku" - a contraction of the Japanese for "every number must be single" - sometime in the mid-80s.