World Puzzle Championship

Template:Short description 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.

National teams are determined by local affiliates of the World Puzzle Federation. Of the 30 championships (team category) held thus far, 16 have been won by the United States, 8 by Germany, and 3 each by the Czech Republic and Japan. The most successful individual contestant is Ulrich Voigt (Germany) with 11 titles since 2000.

The latest WPC was held in October 2024 in Beijing.

Origin

The World Puzzle Championship was the brainchild of Levi Summers, who wanted to create an event where puzzlers from different countries could compete on an even playing field. Previously, the International Crossword Marathon was the major international competition for puzzle-solving, and Will 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. As described by Nick Baxter, co-director of the U.S. Puzzle Championship, the challenge of the competition is speed.

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. Individuals may also take part if their country is not already represented by a national team. In the 2017 WPC, 169 contestants from 27 countries participated. The United States has won the championship 16 times, followed by Germany with 8 championships. The Czech Republic and Japan has each won three times. 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. Ken Endo of Japan won five of the most recent eight championships.

Results summary

	Host city		Individual			Team
Year	City	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Ref.
1992	New York City		Template:Flagicon David Samuel	Template:Flagicon Darren Rigby	Template:Flagicon Daniel Johnson
1993	Brno		Template:Flagicon Robert Babilon	Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Pavel Kalhous
1994	Cologne		Template:Flagicon Ron Osher	Template:Flagicon Pavel Kalhous	Template:Flagicon Pero Galogaza
1995	Poiana Brasov		Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Gyorgy Istvan	Template:Flagicon Pavel Kalhous
1996	Utrecht		Template:Flagicon Robert Babilon	Template:Flagicon Zack Butler	Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang
1997	Koprivnica		Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Ron Osher	Template:Flagicon Robert Babilon
1998	Istanbul		Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Akira Nakai	Template:Flagicon Zack Butler
1999	Budapest		Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Zack Butler	Template:Flagicon Niels Roest
2000	Stamford		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Niels Roest
2001	Brno		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Robert Babilon	Template:Flagicon Zack Butler
2002	Oulu		Template:Flagicon Niels Roest	Template:Flagicon Roland Voigt	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt
2003	Arnhem		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Roger Barkan
2004	Opatija		Template:Flagicon Niels Roest	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Roger Barkan
2005	Eger		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Niels Roest
2006	Borovets		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Wei-Hwa Huang	Template:Flagicon Maho Yokota
2007	Rio de Janeiro		Template:Flagicon Pal Madarassy	Template:Flagicon Thomas Snyder	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt
2008	Minsk		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Mehmet Murat Sevim	Template:Flagicon Roger Barkan
2009	Antalya		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Peter Hudák	Template:Flagicon Mehmet Murat Sevim
2010	Paprotnia		Template:Flagicon Taro Arimatsu	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Hideaki Jo
2011	Eger		Template:Flagicon Palmer Mebane	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Thomas Snyder
2012	Kraljevica		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Thomas Snyder	Template:Flagicon Palmer Mebane
2013	Beijing		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Palmer Mebane	Template:Flagicon Thomas Snyder
2014	London		Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Palmer Mebane	Template:Flagicon Florian Kirch
2015	Sofia		Template:Flagicon Ken Endo	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Palmer Mebane
2016	Senec	Slovakia	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Palmer Mebane	Template:Flagicon Ken Endo
2017	Bangalore		Template:Flagicon Ken Endo	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Kota Morinishi
2018	Prague		Template:Flagicon Thomas Snyder	Template:Flagicon Ulrich Voigt	Template:Flagicon Ken Endo
2019	Kirchheim	Germany	Template:Flagicon Philipp Weiß	Template:Flagicon Ken Endo	Template:Flagicon Walker Anderson
2020	Shanghai	China	cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Shanghai	China
2022	Kraków		Template:Flagicon Ken Endo	Template:Flagicon Prasanna Seshadri	Template:Flagicon Thomas Luo
2023	Toronto		Template:Flagicon Ken Endo	Template:Flagicon Walker Anderson	Template:Flagicon Thomas Luo
2024	Beijing		Template:Flagicon Ken Endo	Template:Flagicon Kota Morinishi	Template:Flagicon König Christian

Age-restricted categories

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	Ref.
2013	Beijing		Template:Flagicon Qiu Yanzhe	Template:Flagicon Jakub Bahyl	Template:Flagicon Zuzana Hromcová	Template:Flagicon Stefano Forcolin	Template:Flagicon Nick Baxter	Template:Flagicon Jouni Juhani Särkijärvi
2014	London		Template:Flagicon Qiu Yanzhe	Template:Flagicon Olivier Garçonnet	Template:Flagicon Mehmet Durmuş	Template:Flagicon Stefano Forcolin	Template:Flagicon Jiří Hrdina	Template:Flagicon Nick Baxter
2015	Sofia		Template:Flagicon Qiu Yanzhe	Template:Flagicon Olivier Garçonnet	Template:Flagicon Pavol Kollár	Template:Flagicon David McNeill	Template:Flagicon Stefano Forcolin	Template:Flagicon Zoran Tanasić
2016	Senec	Slovakia	Template:Flagicon Qiu Yanzhe	Template:Flagicon Pavol Kollár	Template:Flagicon Olivier Garçonnet	Template:Flagicon Taro Arimatsu	Template:Flagicon Stefano Forcolin	Template:Flagicon Miklós Mócsy
2017	Bangalore		Template:Flagicon Walker Anderson	Template:Flagicon Pavol Kollár	Template:Flagicon Kang Hyunmo	Template:Flagicon Taro Arimatsu	Template:Flagicon David McNeill	Template:Flagicon Michael Smit
2018	Prague		Template:Flagicon Walker Anderson	Template:Flagicon Tantan Dai	Template:Flagicon Ivan Georgiev	Template:Flagicon Taro Arimatsu	Template:Flagicon Cedomir Milanovic	Template:Flagicon Michael Smit
2019	Kirchheim	Germany	Template:Flagicon Walker Anderson	Template:Flagicon Ryotaro Chiba	Template:Flagicon Péter Gyimesi	Template:Flagicon Taro Arimatsu	Template:Flagicon David McNeill	Template:Flagicon Cedomir Milanovic
2020	Shanghai	China	cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Shanghai	China
2022	Kraków		Template:Flagicon Nityant Agriwal	Template:Flagicon Yoon Geonwoo	Template:Flagicon Ahmet Eren Gozubenli	Template:Flagicon Taro Arimatsu	Template:Flagicon Deyan Razsadov	Template:Flagicon Cedomir Milanovic
2023	Toronto		Template:Flagicon Qiu Suzhe	Template:Flagicon Valentin Miakinen	Template:Flagicon Maciej Ignaciuk	Template:Flagicon Deyan Razsadov	Template:Flagicon Claudine Thiry	Template:Flagicon Philippe Meyer
2024	Beijing	China	Template:Flagicon Qiu Suzhe	Template:Flagicon Oyun-Erdene Adiyajav	Template:Flagicon Enkhbayasgalan Ganbold	Template:Flagicon Deyan Razsadov	Template:Flagicon Claudine Thiry	Template:Flagicon Philippe Meyer

Classic puzzles used

File:Balloon balance puzzle.svg

9th World Puzzle Championship balloon balance puzzle

Incomplete list, in alphabetical order:

• Balloon Balance
• Battleship
• Fillomino
• Hitori
• Kakuro
• Nonogram
• Numberlink
• Rubik's Cube
• Slitherlink
• Sudoku and many variants

See also

• World Sudoku Championship, another competition run by the World Puzzle Federation
• Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition, a competition for the engineering and design of mechanical puzzles