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

Note: The 2020 edition of WSC and WPC, which would be held in Shanghai, China, will be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The exact new dates will be released on a later date.

Host city
 Individual Team
Year City Country Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze Ref
1992New York City United States David Samuel Darren Rigby Daniel Johnson United States Argentina Poland[9]
1993Brno Czech Republic Robert Babilon Wei-Hwa Huang Pavel Kalhous Czech Republic United States Canada[10]
1994Cologne Germany Ron Osher Pavel Kalhous Pero Galogaza Czech Republic United States Croatia[11]
1995Poiana Brasov Romania Wei-Hwa Huang Gyorgy Istvan Pavel Kalhous United States Czech Republic Hungary[12]
1996Utrecht Netherlands Robert Babilon Zack Butler Wei-Hwa Huang United States Czech Republic Turkey[13]
1997Koprivnica Croatia Wei-Hwa Huang Ron Osher Robert Babilon Czech Republic United States Hungary[14]
1998Istanbul Turkey Wei-Hwa Huang Akira Nakai Zack Butler United States Japan Hungary[15]
1999Budapest Hungary Wei-Hwa Huang Zack Butler Niels Roest United States Netherlands Czech Republic[16]
2000Stamford United States Ulrich Voigt Wei-Hwa Huang Niels Roest United States Netherlands Germany[17]
2001Brno Czech Republic Ulrich Voigt Robert Babilon Zack Butler United States Czech Republic Belgium[18]
2002Oulu Finland Niels Roest Roland Voigt Ulrich Voigt Japan Germany United States[19]
2003Arnhem Netherlands Ulrich Voigt Wei-Hwa Huang Roger Barkan Germany United States Netherlands[20]
2004Opatija Croatia Niels Roest Ulrich Voigt Roger Barkan United States Germany Hungary[21]
2005Eger Hungary Ulrich Voigt Wei-Hwa Huang Niels Roest Germany United States Japan[22]
2006Borovets Bulgaria Ulrich Voigt Wei-Hwa Huang Maho Yokota United States Germany Japan[23]
2007Rio de Janeiro Brazil Pal Madarassy Thomas Snyder Ulrich Voigt United States Japan Belgium[24]
2008Minsk Belarus Ulrich Voigt Mehmet Murat Sevim Roger Barkan United States Japan Czech Republic[25]
2009Antalya Turkey Ulrich Voigt Peter Hudák Mehmet Murat Sevim Germany United States Japan[26]
2010Paprotnia Poland Taro Arimatsu Ulrich Voigt Hideaki Jo United States Japan Germany[27]
2011Eger Hungary Palmer Mebane Ulrich Voigt Thomas Snyder United States Germany Japan[28]
2012Kraljevica Croatia Ulrich Voigt Thomas Snyder Palmer Mebane Germany Japan United States[29]
2013Beijing China Ulrich Voigt Palmer Mebane Thomas Snyder United States Germany Japan[30]
2014London United Kingdom Ulrich Voigt Palmer Mebane Florian Kirch Germany Japan United States[31]
2015Sofia Bulgaria Ken Endo Ulrich Voigt Palmer Mebane Germany Japan United States[32]
2016Senec Slovakia Ulrich Voigt Palmer Mebane Ken Endo Germany Japan United States
2017Bangalore India Ken Endo Ulrich Voigt Kota Morinishi Japan United States Germany[33]
2018Prague Czech Republic Thomas Snyder Ulrich Voigt Ken Endo Germany United States Hungary
2019Kirchheim Germany Philipp Weiß Ken Endo Walker Anderson United States Germany Japan
2021Shanghai 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.

Location
 Under 18 Over 50
Year City Country Gold Silver Bronze Gold Silver Bronze
2013Beijing China Qiu Yanzhe Jakub Bahyl Zuzana Hromcová Stefano Forcolin Nick Baxter Jouni Juhani Särkijärvi[30]
2014London United Kingdom Qiu Yanzhe Olivier Garçonnet Mehmet Durmuş Stefano Forcolin Jiří Hrdina Nick Baxter[34]
2015Sofia Bulgaria Qiu Yanzhe Olivier Garçonnet Pavol Kollár David McNeill Stefano Forcolin Zoran Tanasić[32]
2016Senec Slovakia Qiu Yanzhe Pavol Kollár Olivier Garçonnet Taro Arimatsu Stefano Forcolin Miklós Mócsy
2017Bangalore India Walker Anderson Pavol Kollár Kang Hyunmo Taro Arimatsu David McNeill Michael Smit[33]
2018Prague Czech Republic Walker Anderson Tantan Dai Ivan Georgiev Taro Arimatsu Cedomir Milanovic Michael Smit[35]
2019Kirchheim Germany Walker Anderson Ryotaro Chiba Péter Gyimesi Taro Arimatsu David McNeill Cedomir Milanovic
2021Shanghai China

Classic puzzles used

Incomplete list, in alphabetical order:

gollark: They did, they just didn't seem to do it very effectively.
gollark: Are you aware of the brief proliferation of x86-based tablets?
gollark: Which is disabled by default now.
gollark: CSM is disabled by default and such.
gollark: I thought they used EFI and did not in fact boot like they were 8086 now?

See also

References
  1. Grossman, Lev (11 March 2013). "The Answer Men". Time. Retrieved 4 March 2013.(registration required)
  2. "WSPC 2019 Main". wspc2019.de. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
  3. Harvey, Jay (Feb 26, 2013). "Will Shortz will deal with crosswords and other puzzles at Butler University April 12". IndyStar. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  4. Antonick, Gary (March 11, 2013). "A Poker Puzzle From the Logic Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  5. "WPF Members". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  6. "WPF Members". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  7. Ratzlav-Katz, Nissan (3 November 2009). "First Israeli at World Puzzle Championship". Israel National News. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  8. Shortz, Will (October 23, 2017). "Japan Wins World Puzzle Championship, U.S.A. Takes Second". The New York Times.
  9. "The 1st World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  10. "The 2nd World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  11. "The 3rd World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  12. "The 4th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  13. "The 5th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  14. "The 6th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  15. "The 7th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  16. "The 8th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  17. "The 9th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  18. "The 10th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  19. "The 11th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  20. "The 12th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  21. "The 13th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  22. "The 14th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  23. "The 15th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  24. "The 16th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  25. "The 17th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  26. "The 18th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  27. "The 19th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  28. "The 20th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  29. "The 21st World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  30. "The 22nd World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 23 October 2013.
  31. "2014 WSC & WPC award winners". UK Puzzle Association. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  32. "The 24th World Puzzle Championship". World Puzzle Federation. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  33. "WSPC 2017 - Logic Masters India". Logic Masters India. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
  34. "2014 WSC & WPC award winners". UK Puzzle Association. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
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