Sudoku Square Patterns

I have been playing Sudoku for many years and what I noticed was there were certain 3 by 3 square patterns that seem to come up in every new game. Sudoku is made up of 9 by 9 squares or can also say, Sudoku is made up of nine 3 by 3 squares. And the patterns that I have noticed are in the 3 by 3 squares. Memorizing these patterns can help speed up your puzzle completion time.

Here is an example of a 3 by 3 square pattern.

 

This pattern is one of my favorites and I call it the 123 Horizontal Pattern. I usually memorize this pattern as 123, 589, 746, if you read each row from top to bottom. Once I spot any of these combinations in a row or column within a 3 by 3 square, then I can most likely complete the entire 3 by 3 square.

Just look for any 3 by 3 square with one row or column with the number 1, 2, and 3. It doesn't even matter if you reverse the order, or switch the order of 1, 2, and 3. For example, the above pattern can appear as 321, 985, 647 if you switch the positions of the first and third column. Or it can appear as 231, 895, 467 if you again switch the first column with the second column. Or you could switch the order of rows and come up with a pattern like 589, 746, 123. As long as you identify that the 123 numbers are in the same row or column, then you can expect the other numbers to follow the pattern 123, 589, 746.

But maybe I should call it the 1 2 3 Non-diagonal Pattern instead because this pattern will still hold even if 123 is vertical. I have noticed that there are diagonal patterns, too. However, spotting them might not be as easy as looking for horizontal or vertical number sequences.

I have tried to come up with patterns that are easy to remember such as three successive numbers or three successive odd or even numbers. Below is a list of the patterns I have identified so far: (a.k.a. stands for also known as).

• 123 Non-diagonal Pattern (shown above) a.k.a 369 Non-diagonal Pattern
  
• 345 Non-diagonal Pattern a.k.a. 123 Diagonal Pattern
• 678 Non-diagonal Pattern  
  
• 135 Non-diagonal Pattern a.k.a. 234 Non-diagonal Pattern
  
• 357 Non-diagonal Pattern
• John 3:16 Non-diagonal Pattern 
• 196 Non-diagonal Pattern a.k.a 135 Diagonal Pattern
• 145 Non-diagonal Pattern
  
• 945 Non-diagonal Pattern
  

Hopefully, these patterns will help you out in solving Sudoku faster. Who knows, in the future, you, too, might come up with your own favorite patterns which you'll hopefully share with other players in the world. 

Once you have been able to memorize all these patterns, then you might want to try your hand at Sudoku Pattern Adjacency which is another technique I share to try and speed up your Sudoku puzzle solving time.