Every once in a while a really cool mobile technology is announced in the ”west” that sends a buzz through the market – but people in Japan often react with a shrug because they’ve been using it for years. It’s always a stark reminder that in many areas of the economy, countries and companies used to being on the leading edge are being left behind.

There is also a relatively low-tech Japanese export that many puzzle enthusiasts are now very familar with – sudoku. One of the companies making some money off of it is Nikoli, which is now widely regarded as “the world’s most prolific wellspring of logic games and brain teasers.”

The founder of the company, Maki Kaji, claims not only to be the godfather of the sudoko, but indicates the company has at least 250 similar games in the pipeline. But Nikoli hasn’t really invented them – in fact Kaji didn’t invent sudoku either, which was originally concieved by an American. What makes them so successful is the (to quote the NY Times article) democratization of puzzle invention.

In short, Nikoli provides the forum where up to 50,000 readers and puzzle enthusiasts submit ideas to be tested, perfected, and – maybe – eventually turned into “real” games.

Perhaps even more interestingly, Nikoli doesn’t make that much money off of sudoko around the world because they didn’t trademark the name. But not only do they call this a “brilliant mistake”, there are no plans to trademark other new games either. To quote Mr. Kaji:

“This openness is more in keeping with Nikoli’s open culture. We’re prolific because we do it for the love of games, not for the money.”

Admittedly, most companies may not want to replicate this line of thinking exactly - but there is still a lot to learn from them, and how it is they do make money from a variety of product sales tied to their games. How many other companies could democratize their own invention process to get out on the leading edge?