US Puzzle Championship Resources

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 0 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #3,338 in How-To, #35,830 overall

Google Puzzle Challenge

The US Puzzle Championship occurs once a year, typically in early summer or late spring. It is an open competition and the winner is invited to join the US Team for the World Championship in the fall. This lens is designed to help newer puzzlers or intermediate level puzzlers to find resources for hints and additional practice problems. I hope you'll find the links here helpful, and good luck on the exam!

What is the Google US Puzzle Championship? 

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.

Have You Tried KenKen? 

Will KenKen be the next Sudoku?

Pick up a KenKen hint or strategy you may not know here:
featured lens KenKen Strategies: How To Solve The Number Puzzle

KenKen is a Japanese number puzzle that has been around since 2004 but only recently went mainstream in the US. Have you tried this sudoku / killer sudoku / kakuro number puzzle yet? This puzzle comes in several different sizes and each puzzle presen...

Tips for Doing Your Best 

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.

Practice! Practice!

The more familiar you are with the puzzles, the easier they will be.

Exams from Previous Years 

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

Step-by-Step Solving 

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

Are you a puzzler? 

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Other Resources on the Web 

Official Team USA
World Puzzle Federation website for Team USA. You can find the latest competition news and archived US Puzzle Championship exams.
Nikoli - Japanese Puzzle Publisher
Many of the puzzles in the US Puzzle Championship exam resemble puzzles published by Nikoli. On this website, you can find hints for solving each type of puzzle as well as a few free puzzles to try. You can also become a member and have access to many more puzzles for an annual fee.

What do you think about the US Puzzle Championship? 

Did you find this lens helpful in your preparation for the qualifying exam? Did you *gasp* make the US Puzzle Team?!? Celebrity in the house!!!

Thanks for visiting this page! If you liked it, please take some time give props to this page by giving this lens a star rating at the top of the page. If you aren't a Squidoo member, you'll have to join Squidoo before you can rate. Thanks again and leave me if note, if you'd like.

submit
Show All

by mosaic

I love logic puzzles. I discovered the Google Puzzle Challenge back in 2006 and have competed in it every year since then. It's totally fun and comple... (more)

Explore related pages

KenKen Strategies: How To Solve The Number Puzzle
KenKen is a Japanese number puzzle that has been around since 2004 but only rece...
Puzz 3Ds - The Modern Jigsaw
I have just discovered Puzz 3Ds and they are absolutely fantastic. I was a bit s...
Fun Links for Kids (and Adults!)
 This lens has links to a ton of online game sites, puzzles, coloring, pain...
How To Keep Your Brain Alive
Graig Schisler, a Canadian chiropractor who specializes in reducing the effects...
Logic and Number Puzzles: Sudoku and Beyond
Are you infatuated with sudoku, or looking for your next puzzle obsession? Look...
Sudoku Puzzles
The modern form of Sudoku was invented in the late 1970's by an American puzzle...

Related Topics

Create a Lens!