KUALA LUMPUR, May 30 -- After spending years watching Sudoku players race through number grids, Yoshinao Anpuku now hopes more of them will begin looking beyond Sudoku itself.

The president of Tokyo-based Nikoli, the Japanese puzzle publisher widely associated with popularising Sudoku worldwide, said players who explore other forms of logic puzzles may develop stronger problem-solving instincts that eventually improve their Sudoku skills as well.

"If you do many different puzzles, you can understand the problem-solving concept, and you can actually use those skills to be better as you go forward," he said through interpreter Lee Yee Dian during an interview at Mid Valley Megamall following the 13th Malaysia Sudoku Championship on May 17...