Discussion Thread

About Puzzle Ramayan 2022 - What's New?

This is a quick guide to what's new compared to last year's Sudoku Mahabharat.
  • 6 Rounds instead of 8. Everyone's best 4 scores will be considered in the final rankings.
  • Each round is 60 minutes instead of 90, with the same number of puzzles.
  • Due to the Covid Pandemic situation, we will not be finalizing any details about the offline finals at this point. Any points below that are dependent on that are marked with ***. Since the offline registration process and the Prizes that we can give are contingent on this, those details have been removed altogether.
  • The base points from the PR Rounds will simply be the total score of participants. With just 4 rounds counted, this is a reasonable way to ensure that performance in online rounds is a significant part of doing well in IPC (as it will roughly count as one extra round proportionally).

Why the Changes?

We have noticed that with puzzle contests, a shorter timeframe seems to play a part in bringing in more participants, so we have moved to 60 minutes for this year to see how it goes. To keep the total solving time on par with SM, there are 6 rounds. While doing all this, we also want to move towards the mindset that, like SM, PR has a dual aim, i.e., a) providing something to solve for newcomers and casual participants and b) challenging India's top solvers and keeping them somewhat in touch with solving levels of a WPC. We can achieve both these goals without the rounds necessarily being finish-able for the top X or Y solvers, which is arbitrary anyway. Instead, what we will aim to do is have 3 Easy sections, 2 Medium sections and 1 Hard section among the Classic types so that there is something for everyone. We request the participants to consider this target when providing feedback for any given round. The other changes are hopefully self explanatory.


Recap of Other Points about PR & IPC

  • This is a national contest aimed at encouraging the best puzzle solvers of India to participate and experience the excitement, thrill and puzzling atmosphere on the lines of various national championships and the World Championships.
  • The PR series consists of 6 online rounds (approximately one every 3-4 weeks), based on different puzzle categories.
  • Like the recent years before 2020 and 2021, the offline final will have a participation fee which will mainly be to recover venue/food costs. This fee will be updated a little later once the venue is confirmed. The online rounds will continue to be free for all.***
  • There are 3-4* spots for the Indian A team for WPC 2022, which will be decided by this tournament.***
    *Depending on whether the player awarded a wildcard from WPC 2019 participates.
  • There will be a separate playoff at the end of the offline finals to determine the Mahabharat winner. There will be an eligibility criteria for this playoff, as explained below, to preserve the essence of Puzzle Ramayan***

Eligibility

All players who have achieved any one of the following are NOT eligible to participate in the playoff to determine the Puzzle Ramayan winner.
  • Represented India in A-Team at the World Puzzle Championship at least once in the last 10 years..
  • Represented India in B-Team / UN-Team at the World Puzzle Championship at least twice in the last 10 years..
  • Won the Puzzle Ramayan title twice.
According to LMI Records, the following players (in alphabetical order) are not eligible to participate in the playoff:
  • Amit Sowani (WPC 2019-A)
  • Ashish Kumar (WPC 2018-A)
  • Harmeet Singh (WPC 2017-A)
  • Jaipal Reddy (WPC 2017-A)
  • Jayant Ameta (WPC 2014-A)
  • Kishore Kumar (WPC 2017-A)
  • Pranav Kamesh (PR 2018, PR 2019)
  • Prasanna Seshadri (WPC 2019-A)
  • Rajesh Kumar (WPC 2013-A)
  • Rajib Ranjan Borah (WPC 2017-A)
  • Rakesh Rai (WPC 2012-A)
  • Rohan Rao (WPC 2019-A)
  • Swaroop Guggilam (WPC 2019-A)

Special Case Team Selection

If an Indian citizen is living outside India and cannot attend the offline finals due to this reason, then that Indian may qualify into the Indian A team if they fall into ALL of the below criteria.
  • The participant must be in the top 3 of the Puzzle Ramayan online rounds considering best four scores.
  • The participant must be in the top 3 Indians considering the best four scores after six Puzzle Grand Prix rounds.
  • The participant must produce a soft copy of some proof of residence showing that they are not in India at the time of the offline finals.
RoundAuthorDatesIndia 1India 2India 3
ClassicsPrasanna Seshadri11 - 16 Feb 2022Swaroop GuggilamAshish KumarRajesh Kumar
Casual & WordAmit Sowani18 - 23 Mar 2022Rakesh RaiRohan RaoSwaroop Guggilam
Regions & EvergreensAshish Kumar8 - 13 Apr 2022Swaroop GuggilamKishore KumarRakesh Rai
Number Placement & Puzz.linkNityant Agarwal06 - 11 May 2022Ashish KumarRohan RaoSwaroop Guggilam
Loops & ShadingMadhav Sankaranarayanan03 - 08 Jun 2022Rohan RaoAshish KumarNityant Agarwal
MII & Object PlacementPriyam Bhushan & Chandrachud Nanduri17 - 22 Jun 2022Rohan RaoAshish KumarNityant Agarwal
All rounds will start some time on Friday and will be open till Wednesdays.
All times in Indian Standard Time (GMT_PLUS_5:30)

Format

Rounds* will have the following format:
  • 3 puzzles each in 6 puzzle types within the theme (in double theme rounds, 3 puzzles each in 3 puzzle types for each theme)
  • Two exploratory variant puzzles in two types within the original 6 (in double theme rounds, 2 variant puzzles in one type from each theme)
*Round 2's format will be announced with the Instruction Booklet for the round.

Scoring

  • In each round, the fourth best Indian score among eligible players will be scaled to 100. Others' scores will be adjusted proportionately.
  • For International Rankings, the tenth best score in each round will be scaled to 100. Others' scores will be adjusted proportionately.
  • Participants will get points as allotted for each puzzle correctly submitted.
  • Instant Grading is enabled, so upon submitting participant will know if the answer is correct or not. Penalty exists for wrong submissions. (Also refer FAQ.)
  • There will be a time bonus of 1 point per full minute saved by players submitting all puzzles correctly within 60 minutes.
  • For determining rankings for offline finals consideration, each player's best 4 scores out of 6 online rounds will be summed up to calculate the total score (so, the worst two scores are discarded). For authors, the round authored is considered as a round with a 0 score.
  • For Organizers of PR who wish to participate in IPC, the base points will be equal to the base points of the highest Indian scorer.

    • International Players

    • Like every other contests at LMI, international players are encouraged to participate in these contests
    • These contests will be included in Puzzle ratings.
    • International players are not eligible to win either the IPC or the Ramayan title at the offline finals but can attend and participate managing their own expenses. We request any interested International players to let the organizers know early, before Round 5, so we can consider it in our plans.

    Questions?

    If you have any questions or doubts or suggestions, please ask in the forum.

    Last edited by Administrator @ 9/6/2022 11:26:08 AM.