Friday morning saw the opening round of the World Puzzle Federation’s (WPF) Puzzle Grand Prix, scheduled to run until Jan. 19.

There are 24 puzzles in the competition, presenting contestants with both traditional and variant puzzles, and all with a signature Serbian twist. Some of the puzzle forms that were included are Fillomino, Minesweeper, and Tents, while liar variants from Slitherlink and Shikaku await tournament solvers.

Rounds can be attempted by players anywhere, at anytime within the scheduled time limits, and each contestant receives 90 minutes to complete each leg’s puzzles. Points are awarded based on the speed of the solve and solution accuracy, with only the six top scoring rounds of the tournament’s eight legs counting toward a player’s final score.

Participation in the tournament is available at no cost and anyone in the world is eligible to compete, the only requirement is for individuals to register for a free user account through the Grand Prix website.

Puzzles for the Grand Prix’s first round were constructed by Serbian puzzle team members Branko Ceranic, Cedomir Milanovic, Zoran Tanasic, and Nikola Zivanovic. The group was apart of the Around The World In 80 Puzzles experiment held by the WPF.

This is the Puzzle Grand Prix’s second year, having been founded in 2014 after the WPF experienced great success from the Sudoku Grand Prix.

Puzzle Grand Prix Round Schedule

1. Serbia: Jan. 16 – 19
2. Slovakia: Feb. 13 – 16
3. Turkey: March 13 – March 16
4. Netherlands: April 10 – 13
5. U.S.: May 8 – 11
6. Germany: June 5 – 8
7. Switzerland: July 3 – 6
8. Japan: July 31 – Sept. 3

Source: Puzzle GP

Image courtesy of Pedro Ribeiro Simões