F. A. Q.

What is a "Sudoku"?

The World Sudoku Championships consist of Sudoku and variations of Sudoku. The Classic form of Sudoku is that each row, column and 3x3 outlined box must contain all digits from 1-9. A variant of Sudoku typically has similar constraints for 'row, column and outlined region' along with some additional concept/property/constraint.

The selection of puzzles for the WSC and general organization is at the discretion of the host country. The organizers of WSPC 2017 believe that a Sudoku variant can lean towards a Sudoku or a Puzzle based on the manipulation of the author, regardless of the nature of the rule-set as long as the basic characteristics above are followed. We will attempt to showcase this over different parts of the Championship.

What is general composition of a WSC?

We have prepared a list of Sudoku variants - click here to download.

The Sudokus in the document are not an extensive list, but they cover most of the categories typically seen in a WSC. Other than this, there may be other manipulations using linking, transference of digits, hybrids, matchmaking, visual speed solving, mechanical solving, etc. to make the WSC an exciting Championship full of variety designed to test the world's best Sudoku solvers.

There are typically 8-10 individual rounds and 2-4 team rounds across roughly 10 hours of solving. Each round may range roughly from 20 minutes to 120 minutes, depending on the quantity and difficulty. Individual Sudokus are allotted points and typically a participant is awarded points for a Sudoku grid completely solved correctly without a single error. There are multiple Sudokus in each round barring exceptions and typically there are 1-2 rounds of Classic Sudoku with the remaining ones using variations in different ways. All Sudokus have a unique solution unless explicitly mentioned otherwise.

What is a "Puzzle"?

The World Puzzle Championship consists of Puzzle types and their variations. The only restrictions to the Puzzle types is that they should be culture neutral and should not require some extensive academic knowledge to solve them. Within these restrictions a puzzle can be any challenge which leads to a unique solution based on a set of rules. A large part of these puzzles are grid-based varieties which require constraints to be satisfied within a grid.

The selection of puzzles for the WPC and general organization is at the discretion of the host country. The organizers of WSPC 2017 will attempt to showcase variety within grid-based puzzle types and also explore variety beyond the grid-based types within the simple constraints mentioned above.

What is general composition of a WPC

We have prepared a list of puzzle types - click here to download.

The Puzzles in the document are not an extensive list, but they cover some of the categories typically seen in a WPC. Other than this, there may be other manipulations using linking, transference of properties, hybrids, matchmaking, visual speed solving, mechanical solving, etc. to make the WPC an exciting Championship full of variety designed to test the world's best puzzle solvers.

There are typically 11-14 individual rounds and 3-4 team rounds across roughly 15 hours of solving. Each round may range roughly from 20 minutes to 120 minutes, depending on the quantity and difficulty. Individual puzzles are allotted points and typically a participant is awarded points for a puzzle completely solved correctly without a single error. There are multiple puzzles in each round barring exceptions. All puzzles are unique unless explicitly mentioned otherwise.