From December 24 to 31 WCPN and ORTEC will be organizing an online Sudoku competition: the Holiday Season Sudoku Contest (HSSC), featuring 8 challenging Sudoku variants. You will have 2.5 hours to solve them.

The contest is the successor to our successful competition held in the final week of 2023 in celebration of our 10-year anniversary. There are both similarities and differences compared to that event. At the time, the puzzles consisted of a mix of logic puzzles and sudokus. This time, it’s exclusively Sudokus; after all, not all puzzlers enjoy both logic puzzles and sudokus.

Two years ago, the contest lasted a full four hours, which many participants found to be quite long. Not everyone can find a four-hour time slot to puzzle continuously. Therefore, this year the contest lasts 2.5 hours and includes slightly fewer puzzles.

For the anniversary contest, we thought it would be fun not to publish an instruction booklet beforehand, for the sake of surprise. This time, however, an instruction booklet will be published. You can expect it on or around December 14.

Why this online contest?

Many people have a week off between Christmas and New Year’s. The Sudoku and Puzzle Grand Prix events have not yet started, so there’s plenty of room to spend part of the day enjoying your hobby. If it’s a success, WCPN hopes to turn it into an annual tradition.

Who can participate?

You don’t need to be a WCPN member—everyone can take part in this contest! The competition consists of challenging Sudokus with varying levels of difficulty. Experts are expected to be able to finish the entire contest with ease, but since the contest lasts 2.5 hours, even less experienced solvers should be able to complete several puzzles.

How can you participate?

Registration for this contest is simple: fill out the registration form, if you haven’t done so before. Once registered, you can join the competition. More information about how the contest is organized can be found on the instructions page..

What is at stake?

There is one thing no one will ever take away from you: eternal glory! Beyond that, nothing tangible is at stake in this Holiday Season Sudoku Contest—you’re participating for fun, and of course, for that eternal glory!