By He Jianwei (Beijing Today)
Updated: 2008-05-08 09:42

Brain teasers on the go

If you see people scratching with a pencil and erasing frequently in a small book, they are probably working on a sudoku puzzle. "When I can't move on a subway because of the crowded people, I usually do sudoku," Allen Chan, a university teacher, said. Sudoku is a logic-based number placement puzzle. The objective is to fill a 9x9 grid so that each column, each row and each of the nine 3-by-3 boxes contains the digits from 1 to 9 only one time each.

Most of China's daily newspapers feature a sudoku puzzle column. Chan collects and cut them out of the newspaper and pasts them in small notebook.

Some will play on their mobile phones or PSP. Some mobile phones contain a built-in sudoku game, or the ability to download puzzles off the Web.

"Most Chinese adults played Rubik's cube in their childhd. When I watched a video (of someone playing on the subway), it reminded me of the good old days. It is also a suitable brain teaser for the subway," Chan said.

**Tips

If the train is bumpy, you should not play sudoku using a pencil. You might stab another passenger on a bump.

You can download the games on the following Web sites:

Sd9981.com

77txt.com

D1999.com/gamesoft

Pocket books, read any time

Reading is the way most people kill time on the subway. Some read the newspaper and some read books. During rush hour, people always pack onto the train, and the space may be too small to open up a broadsheet paper.

Pocket books are a good choice for subway passengers.

"There are many substantial pocket books to pick from. If you like to read comics, you can read The Twelfth Garfield Fat Cat or The Young Magician. If you like to read the martial arts novels, you can read Jin Yong's master of martial arts novels-stories, which have been published in the pocket editions," Chen Fei, a magazine editor, said.

If toting a paperback is inconvenient, you can always store e-books on your PSP. You can also download digital versions of bestsellers.

**Tips

You can download e-books from the following Web site:

psp.tgbus.com/down/psptxt

e5u.cn

From Beijing Today

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