The official purpose of the test is to select five members of the U.S. Sudoku team, participating in the 2010 World Sudoku Championship (Philadelphia, April 29 - May 2). Unofficial participation is open to all puzzlers world-wide. Nationality is determined by citizenship, not residence. International results will be published, but there are no prizes.
The registration and answer submission pages are new, derived from software originally developed by Logic Masters India. Your answers will go into an active database and will reappear when you return to the answer page after submission, allowing you to confirm exactly what was submitted.
Registration
All contestants must register to participate in the online qualifying competition, and must login to submit answers. Contestants who pre-registered before March 27, will receive email containing their user name and password. Contestants registering on or after March 27 will select their own user name and password. See the Privacy Policy regarding our use of registration and other information collected by this site.
Test Procedures
The test is split into two parts, both available as encrypted PDF files, and will be available for download one day prior to the test.
Instructions and sample grids will be available the morning of the test.
Also available is a practice test using the same file format, download procedure, and password mechanism. You should download this test and submit answers, so that you are sure you understand the procedures and that you can decrypt and print the test file.
The decryption password (not your login password) for Part 1 will be available at 1pm EDT (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-4); the password for Part 2 will be available at 2pm EDT. The test ends at 3:30pm EDT.
Please note: to help reduce network traffic, please refrain from refreshing the password page until the test starting time (use the Timer Window to display a live countdown timer). However, you should test that your web browser will actually refresh the page when requested.
You will submit answers for Part 1 and Part 2 on separate answer pages. All answers will be two selected rows of the completed puzzle grid, separated by a comma. Your submission time is recorded with your answers. After you submit answers you can return to the answer page to see your submitted answers, and to submit additional answers. Do not resubmit the same answers, as that will re-set your submission time.
Scoring
Each correct answer will earn the number of points indicated for the puzzle (which is a rough indication of a puzzle's difficulty). An incomplete or incorrect answer will incur a penalty of 5 points. Leaving an answer blank will score 0 points.
If you submit all answers correctly for either part, you may earn a possible time bonus. If your final submission for either part is perfect and early (Part 1 submitted before the start of Part 2, or Part 2 submitted before the end of the test), you will receive a bonus of 2.5 points per minute early.
All answers must be submitted within the 2 1/2 hours time limit. Late submissions will be penalized 10 points per minute after the deadline.
Your final score is the total of all points accumulated, minus any penalties.
Any ties will be broken using the following rules in order:
Judging
Outside solving help of any kind is not permitted. This includes but is not limited to: assistance of any kind from any other person; books, calculators, computers, or tools other than items explicitly permitted. You are allowed to use writing implements, erasers, and paper.
All entries and scores are subject to review for rules compliance. 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 test. If you do encounter a problem that is likely causing trouble for many contestants, check the Qualifying Test home page. If you have a problem that is most likely affecting only you, you may call the test hotline number: 650-302-4898. Officials will not, however, answer any questions regarding the puzzles themselves.
The Results and Winners
The top five U.S. contestants will be notified within two days of the test. Results will be posted on this web site no later than Wednesday, March 31. The answers to the test will be posted no later than one day after the test.
The top five U.S. contestants will be selected for the U.S. Sudoku Team, to compete at the World Sudoku Championship in Philadelphia, April 29 - May 2. The U.S. Team will pay the entry fee for all team members, and will pay reasonable travel expenses for the top two qualifiers.
There are three competitors per team at the World Sudoku Championship. U.S. Team organizers may use this test, a subsequent test, or its own discretion for deciding how to split the full team into two teams of three competitors.
Unofficial scores for participants from other countries will be posted at the same time as the U.S. scores. If there is no organized team for your country, you may be contacted regarding individual participation.