The official purpose of the championship is to recognize the top U.S. puzzle solvers, and to select two members of the U.S. Puzzle Team to participate in the 2013 World Sudoku Championship (Beijing, China, October 15-19, 2013). This test also open to unofficial participation to all puzzlers world-wide.
The 2 1/2 hour test will be administerd during a 12-hour window, starting 1pm EDT (UTC-4) on Saturday June 15, until 1am EDT on Sunday June 16. Most solvers may take the test any time within that window. However, anyone looking to win prizes, including a spot on the U.S. Team, should start within the first minute of the window (before 1:01pm), and must submit all answers 2 1/2 hours later--no later than 3:31pm.
All contestants must register to participate in this online championship, and must login to submit answers. Contestants who registered anytime on or before May 22 (including those for the 2010-2012 team qualifying tests), should have received an email on May 23 with a reminder of the test schedule and their user name. Registration confirmation after that date included similar schedule information. See the Privacy Policy regarding our use of registration and other information collected by this site.
Prior to Friday, June 14, you may download the Practice Test, which uses the same formats and procedures as the official USPC test. There are new rules this year, so everyone should try all of the procedures described here using the Practice Test (including downloading, decryption, printing, answer submission, and answer resubmission).
On Friday, June 14, one day prior to the USPC, you will download the encrypted USPC file to your local computer, and save it until you start the test.
You should also download the Preview Instructions, containing the instructions for all of the puzzles on the test. Most instructions are accompanied by a sample puzzle and solution. This will give you a head-start for translation or any other reasonable preparation.
On Saturday, June 15, at 1pm (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-4), the 12-hour test window will start. To be eligble for team qualifying and prizes, you must start the test during the first minute and submit answers no later than 2 1/2 hours after starting. Otherwise, you may start the test any time during a 12-hour window so that you finish no later than 1am (EDT) on Sunday May June 16.
After 2 1/2 hours, your test period is over. In case of emergency or network lag, the Answer Page will continue to accept answer submissions; otherwise late answers are not scored. Please use the Timer to keep track of your time remaining.
Your last Answer Page submission will be time-stamped and scored. Your final score is the total of all points accumulated, including bonus.
Ranking and tie-breaking will be based on the following rules in order:
Outside solving help of any kind is not permitted. This includes but is not limited to: assistance of any kind from any other person; prepared notes, books, calculators, computers, or tools other than items explicitly permitted.
You are allowed to use writing implements, eraser, blank paper (including commercial graph paper), ruler, scissors, and tape.
All entries and scores are subject to review for rules compliance. USA winners may be asked provide a copy of their passport ID page to prove nationality, and to sign an affidavit confirming that they did, in fact, abide by the rules of the competition. The organizers reserve the right to disqualify any contestant if, in their sole judgment, they believe the rules have been violated.
In case of a dispute, protest, or other judgment, the decision of the judges is final.
The organizers do not expect any technical problems with the operation of championship. If you do encounter a problem that is likely causing trouble for many contestants, check the USPC 2013 home page. If you have a problem that is most likely affecting only you, you may call the test hotline number: (+1) 650-302-4898. Officials will not, however, answer any questions regarding the puzzles themselves.
The solutions to the test puzzles will be published on Sunday, June 16.
The top five U.S. contestants will be notified within two days of test completion. Within three days, all contestants will receive an email summary of their test score, and will have a 1-day window to respond with any scoring protests. Results will be posted on this web site no later than Saturday, June 23.
The top two U.S. contestants will be selected for the U.S. Puzzle Team, to compete at the World Puzzle Championship in Beijing, China, October 15-19. The U.S. Top-25 will received puzzle gifts courtesy of ThinkFun.
Unofficial scores for participants from other countries will be posted at the same time as the USA scores, and may be forwarded to the corresponding WPC team organizer, upon request, for consideration. If there is no organized team for your country, you may be contacted regarding individual WPC participation.