December 21^st, 2005 (1:03pm) - Mastiff wants to make the international numbers puzzle phenomenon, Sudoku, more popular than Santa Claus. The company will be releasing the first video game version of Sudoku, Dr. Sudoku for the Game Boy Advance in February 2006.

According to the December 6, 2005, edition of the Wordtracker report, "Sudoku" ranks 132nd among the most searched terms on the web - only two spots behind "Santa Claus." Of course, St. Nick is experiencing an obvious popularity boost from children desperately searching for his address so they can mail him their laundry lists of Xmas must haves. The Wordtracker Report, a leading keyword research tool, periodically compiles a database of over 330 million search terms and is updated weekly from the major metacrawlers - Dogpile and Metacrawler.

"Once we release Dr. Sudoku for the Game Boy Advance, the Fat Man better watch out!" asserted Bill Swartz, Head Woof at Mastiff. "Sure, he’s riding high now, with his reindeer, television specials, and elves, but December has to end some time - and that’s when Sudoku fever will take over!"

While not as popular as Santa Claus in the early December Wordtracker report, Sudoku has already vaulted over such popular internet search terms as "tattoos (150)," "snow (171)" and "Pam Anderson (151)."

Dr. Sudoku for the GBA will be the first of a series of Sudoku products that Mastiff will be bringing to game systems. Sudoku is the puzzle phenomenon that is sweeping the nation. The Sudoku video game features 1,000 hand created puzzles, Original Mode, which lets you create you own Sudoku puzzles, a tutorial mode, help for those moments when you really are stuck, the ability to "pencil in" possible solutions, and a puzzle problem creation mode.

Sudoku is the international puzzle craze that shows no signs of slowing down. The New York Times remarks, "no puzzle has had such a fast introduction in newspapers since the crossword craze of 1924-25," and USA Today says Sudoku has "become the morning brain breakfast for millions of commuters." The Economist magazine calls it a "puzzling global phenomenon."