Hai Di Lao Gives Free Dish If You Can Solve a Sudoku Puzzle But Netizens Claim It’s ‘Unsolvable’

For Singaporeans, nothing screams excitement like “freebies” and “steamboats” do.

What more if these words appear in the same sentence alongside numero uno-steamboat purveyor, Haidilao.

Sudoku for $6 dish

Word is that Haidilao has been offering customers a chance at leveling up their steamboat game by providing a Sudoko puzzle which can be solved in exchange for a free $6 dish of your choice.

For the unacquainted, the $6 range grants you access to mostly vegetables like lettuce, corn and certain mushrooms as their meats typically range from $20 upwards.

Is it me or is their broccoli especially green….

…scallop especially white…

… and sausages especially red?

The sudoko hence ,like many of their other their welcomed and time-killing gimmicks which include free manicure, free snacks, kids’ play-zone should sit well with us kiasu Singaporeans and further cement Haidilao’s status as the go-to brand for steamboat.

Except that it hasn’t quite.

Seeing Red over Sudoko

Posted on 14 January by reddit user u/Apocsky, his/her thread titled “[Assholedesign] HaiDiLao offers a literally unsolvable Sudoku puzzle in exchange for $6 dish..” has since garnered 425 upvotes and 66 comments in slightly less than 24 hours.

Judging from his reddit profile, user u/Apocsky appears to be originally from Australia, is currently based in Singapore, likes Haidilao and is also a confident Sudoku enthusiast.

In his original post, u/Apocsky shares that Haidilao’s sudoku’s puzzle is but an unsolvable one that was actually taken from the “hardest solvable puzzle” devised by Arto Inkala, a Finnish mathematician.

What’s worse is that Haidilao allegedly removed 3 numbers from this already “hardest solvable puzzle” to essentially make this unsolvable.

Here’s a cropped version of them side by side:

The Discussion

This naturally drew redditors from all over to give their $6 worth.

Some argued that this puzzle was solvable, albeit with multiple ‘correct answers.’

Others explained that a good Sudoku puzzle should only have 1 possible answer set

Others inevitably took the chance to criticize Singaporean mindset and education system

Some suggested ways around this ‘unsolvable puzzle’

One person though, had the sanity to post the comment that we’ve all been waiting for.

Yes, someone did actually solve it to get his/her $6 dish.

So there it is folks, no matter the definition of what a ‘solvable’ or ‘unsolvable’ sudoku puzzle is, Haidilao does appear to honour their $6 complimentary dish promise.

For how much longer, well, that’s for me to find out and for you to find out, too.