World Puzzle Championship
The World Puzzle Championship (commonly abbreviated as WPC) is an annual international puzzle competition run by the World Puzzle Federation. All the puzzles in the competition are pure-logic problems based on simple principles, designed to be playable regardless of language or culture.[1]
National teams are determined by local affiliates of the World Puzzle Federation. Of the 26 championships (team category) held thus far, 14 have been won by the United States, 7 by Germany, 3 by the Czech Republic, and 2 by Japan. The most successful individual contestant is Ulrich Voigt (Germany) with 11 titles since 2000.
The latest WPC was held in October 2019 in Germany.[2]
Origin
The World Puzzle Championship was the brainchild of Will Shortz, who wanted to create an event where puzzlers from different countries could compete on an even playing field.[3] Previously, the International Crossword Marathon was the major international competition for puzzle-solving, and Shortz had attended it every year, but because participants used their own language and crossword rules, it was not a very good basis for comparing raw puzzle-solving skills across cultures. Shortz created the WPC to overcome these flaws.[1] As described by Nick Baxter, co-director of the U.S. Puzzle Championship, the challenge of the competition is speed.[4]
The first WPC was held in New York City in 1992, and Shortz was the organizer and Helene Hovanec was the coordinator. Each WPC has been held at a different city since then.
Participants
Currently, 34 countries are official members of the World Puzzle Federation.[5] Individuals may also take part if their country is not already represented by a national team.[6][7] In the 2017 WPC, 169 contestants from 27 countries participated.[8] The United States has won the championship 14 times, followed by Germany with 7 championships. The Czech Republic has won three times and Japan has won twice. Ulrich Voigt of Germany has been the most successful individual contestant, winning the gold medal eleven times since 2000. Wei-Hwa Huang of the United States won four of the first eight championships in the 1990s.
Results summary
Individual | Team | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | City | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Ref. |
1992 | New York City | United States | David Samuel | Darren Rigby | Daniel Johnson | United States | Argentina | Poland | [9] |
1993 | Brno | Czech Republic | Robert Babilon | Wei-Hwa Huang | Pavel Kalhous | Czech Republic | United States | Canada | [10] |
1994 | Cologne | Germany | Ron Osher | Pavel Kalhous | Pero Galogaza | Czech Republic | United States | Croatia | [11] |
1995 | Poiana Brasov | Romania | Wei-Hwa Huang | Gyorgy Istvan | Pavel Kalhous | United States | Czech Republic | Hungary | [12] |
1996 | Utrecht | Netherlands | Robert Babilon | Zack Butler | Wei-Hwa Huang | United States | Czech Republic | Turkey | [13] |
1997 | Koprivnica | Croatia | Wei-Hwa Huang | Ron Osher | Robert Babilon | Czech Republic | United States | Hungary | [14] |
1998 | Istanbul | Turkey | Wei-Hwa Huang | Akira Nakai | Zack Butler | United States | Japan | Hungary | [15] |
1999 | Budapest | Hungary | Wei-Hwa Huang | Zack Butler | Niels Roest | United States | Netherlands | Czech Republic | [16] |
2000 | Stamford | United States | Ulrich Voigt | Wei-Hwa Huang | Niels Roest | United States | Netherlands | Germany | [17] |
2001 | Brno | Czech Republic | Ulrich Voigt | Robert Babilon | Zack Butler | United States | Czech Republic | Belgium | [18] |
2002 | Oulu | Finland | Niels Roest | Roland Voigt | Ulrich Voigt | Japan | Germany | United States | [19] |
2003 | Arnhem | Netherlands | Ulrich Voigt | Wei-Hwa Huang | Roger Barkan | Germany | United States | Netherlands | [20] |
2004 | Opatija | Croatia | Niels Roest | Ulrich Voigt | Roger Barkan | United States | Germany | Hungary | [21] |
2005 | Eger | Hungary | Ulrich Voigt | Wei-Hwa Huang | Niels Roest | Germany | United States | Japan | [22] |
2006 | Borovets | Bulgaria | Ulrich Voigt | Wei-Hwa Huang | Maho Yokota | United States | Germany | Japan | [23] |
2007 | Rio de Janeiro | Brazil | Pal Madarassy | Thomas Snyder | Ulrich Voigt | United States | Japan | Belgium | [24] |
2008 | Minsk | Belarus | Ulrich Voigt | Mehmet Murat Sevim | Roger Barkan | United States | Japan | Czech Republic | [25] |
2009 | Antalya | Turkey | Ulrich Voigt | Peter Hudák | Mehmet Murat Sevim | Germany | United States | Japan | [26] |
2010 | Paprotnia | Poland | Taro Arimatsu | Ulrich Voigt | Hideaki Jo | United States | Japan | Germany | [27] |
2011 | Eger | Hungary | Palmer Mebane | Ulrich Voigt | Thomas Snyder | United States | Germany | Japan | [28] |
2012 | Kraljevica | Croatia | Ulrich Voigt | Thomas Snyder | Palmer Mebane | Germany | Japan | United States | [29] |
2013 | Beijing | China | Ulrich Voigt | Palmer Mebane | Thomas Snyder | United States | Germany | Japan | [30] |
2014 | London | United Kingdom | Ulrich Voigt | Palmer Mebane | Florian Kirch | Germany | Japan | United States | [31] |
2015 | Sofia | Bulgaria | Ken Endo | Ulrich Voigt | Palmer Mebane | Germany | Japan | United States | [32] |
2016 | Senec | Slovakia | Ulrich Voigt | Palmer Mebane | Ken Endo | Germany | Japan | United States | |
2017 | Bangalore | India | Ken Endo | Ulrich Voigt | Kota Morinishi | Japan | United States | Germany | [33] |
2018 | Prague | Czech Republic | Thomas Snyder | Ulrich Voigt | Ken Endo | Germany | United States | Hungary | [34] |
2019 | Kirchheim | Germany | Philipp Weiß | Ken Endo | Walker Anderson | United States | Germany | Japan | |
2020 | Shanghai | China | cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||
2021 | Shanghai | China | |||||||
Starting from 2013, titles have been awarded also for the best players in two age categories, Under 18 and Over 50 years of age.
Under 18 | Over 50 | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | City | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Ref. |
2013 | Beijing | China | Qiu Yanzhe | Jakub Bahyl | Zuzana Hromcová | Stefano Forcolin | Nick Baxter | Jouni Juhani Särkijärvi | [30] |
2014 | London | United Kingdom | Qiu Yanzhe | Olivier Garçonnet | Mehmet Durmuş | Stefano Forcolin | Jiří Hrdina | Nick Baxter | [35] |
2015 | Sofia | Bulgaria | Qiu Yanzhe | Olivier Garçonnet | Pavol Kollár | David McNeill | Stefano Forcolin | Zoran Tanasić | [32] |
2016 | Senec | Slovakia | Qiu Yanzhe | Pavol Kollár | Olivier Garçonnet | Taro Arimatsu | Stefano Forcolin | Miklós Mócsy | |
2017 | Bangalore | India | Walker Anderson | Pavol Kollár | Kang Hyunmo | Taro Arimatsu | David McNeill | Michael Smit | [33] |
2018 | Prague | Czech Republic | Walker Anderson | Tantan Dai | Ivan Georgiev | Taro Arimatsu | Cedomir Milanovic | Michael Smit | |
2019 | Kirchheim | Germany | Walker Anderson | Ryotaro Chiba | Péter Gyimesi | Taro Arimatsu | David McNeill | Cedomir Milanovic | |
2020 | Shanghai | China | cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||||||
2021 | Shanghai | China |
Classic puzzles used
Incomplete list, in alphabetical order:
- Balance
- Battleship
- Fillomino
- Hitori
- Kakuro
- Nonogram
- Number Link
- Slitherlink
- Sudoku and many variants
References
- Grossman, Lev (11 March 2013). "The Answer Men". Time. Retrieved 4 March 2013.(registration required)
- "WSPC 2019 Main". wspc2019.de. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
- Harvey, Jay (Feb 26, 2013). "Will Shortz will deal with crosswords and other puzzles at Butler University April 12". IndyStar. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- Antonick, Gary (March 11, 2013). "A Poker Puzzle From the Logic Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "WPF Members". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
- "WPF Members". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- Ratzlav-Katz, Nissan (3 November 2009). "First Israeli at World Puzzle Championship". Israel National News. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- Shortz, Will (October 23, 2017). "Japan Wins World Puzzle Championship, U.S.A. Takes Second". The New York Times.
- "The 1st World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 2nd World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 3rd World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 4th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 5th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 6th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 7th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 8th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 9th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 10th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 11th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 12th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 13th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 14th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 15th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 16th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 17th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 18th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 19th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 20th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 21st World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
- "The 22nd World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
- "2014 WSC & WPC award winners". UK Puzzle Association. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- "The 24th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- "WSPC 2017 - Logic Masters India". Logic Masters India. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
- "27th World Puzzle Championship" (PDF). World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- "2014 WSC & WPC award winners". UK Puzzle Association. Retrieved 18 August 2014.