The World Puzzle Championship began in 1992, and so, of course, there is a need to find a team of Americans to represent the US. Since 1999, the annual US Puzzle Championship became the open qualifying exam for a spot on the national team. In 2003, Google became the official sponsor and the name was changed to the "Google US Puzzle Championship" or "Google Puzzle Challenge," for short.

The challenge is held once a year, typically in early summer. Since anyone who registers may take the exam, the test itself is distributed online, and all participants take the exam simultaneously. Answers must also be submitted online within the time period of the exam to avoid point penalties. The large variety of puzzles are notoriously difficult and not intended to be finished within the 2.5 hr test period, although many of the top contenders do extremely well. The winner of the challenge gets a spot on the US national puzzle team at the World Puzzle Championship in the fall, and the Top 25 finishers are also awarded prizes by Google.

As you can see in my bio, I am not a Champion Puzzler. However, over the years that I've participated, I've picked up a few practices that helped me get a little better each time.

• Try to do puzzles all year round. Sudokus are easy to find in newspapers, or you could also subscribe to Games Magazine. Similarly, you could get a membership account at Nikoli.
• Warm up in the week before the test by doing the practice problems.
• Look in puzzle championship archives to practice problems from previous years. On the Friday before the test, you can see which types of problems will be on the exam in the preview instructions file. From here, you can look through old archive test problems and solutions of similar questions.
• Follow the instructions and download both the preview and exam pdf files on Friday! You don't want to be stuck downloading right before the exam when other latecomers are also downloading.
• Double-check early that your Acrobat Reader works on the downloaded files.
• Get a good night of sleep, eat breakfast, caffeinate if it usually helps you on exams, find some clear and quiet space, boot up your computer, and don't get nervous.
• Gather your equipment: pencil (thin), eraser, thin colored markers, scissors, scratch paper. Make sure you don't violate the test rules!
• Don't give up! Keep going and solve whatever problems you can. Use all your available time!
• Type in your answers as you go so you can "bank" the points you already got and not worry about last minute inputs. Remember that there is a stiff minute-by-minute penalty for late answers.
• Have a good time! Perhaps invite a friend to take the test with you.
• After the exam, you can still continue working on the problems; you just won't be able to submit the answers. Oftentimes, this is great practice, too.

Here are links to the archived test files. Password is noted if downloadable files are encrypted pdfs.

• 2008 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
  • Downloadable Test File. Password: gc9yj2
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 2007 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
  • Downloadable Test File. Password: jz162day
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 2006 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
  • Downloadable Test File. Password: jag1511
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 2005 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
  • Downloadable Test File. Password: 2gr8work
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • PUzzle Statistics
• 2004 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
  • Downloadable Test File. Password: xcode6fire
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 2003 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
  • Downloadable Test File. Password: keyLYme314159
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 2002 US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test
  • Downloadable Test File. Password: wbloF7eldw
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 2001 US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test
  • Downloadable Test File.
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 2000 US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test
  • Downloadable Test File.
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics
• 1999 US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test
  • Test File.
  • Puzzle Solutions
  • Puzzle Statistics unavailable

Although I have not figured out all of the puzzles myself, I find that it is very useful to discuss puzzle strategies. The following links lead to lenses that I've made where I discuss my solving strategy for every problem presented on the test. I present very detailed steps of how I solved the puzzles. If the link is unavailable, I have not yet made the lens. Check back often!

• 2008 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
• 2007 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
• 2006 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
• 2005 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
• 2004 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
• 2003 Google U.S. Puzzle Championship
• 2002 - US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test
• 2001 - US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test
• 2000 - US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test
• 1999 - US/Canadian Team Qualifying Test