This is my first time to join this contest series and I really love it, so thank you very much Riad for the puzzles! :D

Btw, I really like (9) CHAIN BETWEEN POLYOMINOES, then (5) BUILD A DOMINOES comes next.

One suggestion maybe: For an answer format involving the number of turns, especially (8) BUILD A HEXMAZE, it is easy to miscount the number. I have to recount like 5 times until I'm sure that the answer is 101 instead of 100 (3 times I counted 100, and only 2 times I counted 101.) Maybe the answer format can be simpler and easier like the content/wall of some rows, or the total number of turns (not just obtuse one.)

Edited by athin 2020-04-20 5:09 AM

Congratulations to Lukasz Kalinowski, Hugo van Rooijen and Tomoya Kimura for taking the top three places.

Thanks to the 112 participants from 31 countries. The participation was much higher compared to 2019. 36 participants completed the first 9 puzzles, and 24 participants scored points in the Optimzers. The median score of the test was 47. Italy had 14 participants, India 12, USA and France had 11 participants each.

Puzzle #1 (Battleships with Losses) was solved by the highest number of participants (96). Puzzles #8 (Build a Hex Maze) and #9 (Chain between Polyominoes) were each solved by 62 participants, the least among the first 9 puzzles.

Thanks Riad for the engaging puzzles!

And, thanks to all participants for healthy discussions, suggestions and constructive criticisms!

Thanks Riad for the great competition and wonderful puzzles! I admire both logic and beauty of all of them. You do an amazing job every year! Btw, may I write some emotional shit? Yolo, let's do it! I have been struggling with a major depression, anxiety problems and drug abuse for a long time. And it is not only a fight against stigmatization which is a serious problem here where I live. First of all, it is a fight against myself - my low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence and emotions. I do not usually care about results but I must admit that this time is a little bit different. When you are hitting the bottom, every little or bigger thing, which increases your confidence, makes you feel that you can get back to life. It is still going to be a tough road ahead but let it be a good point to go through it :)

And also, thanks to all people who helped preparing the competition and to all participants. Congratulations to all of you and see you somewhere in the world :) Thanks!

Thanks Riad! And Lukasz, all the best. Congrats on your win :)

Really enjoyed Riad .... The solutions Booklet please.

If there are many to count, I usually number them writing small numbers in fields. It's my answer to Athin

Edited by sladjana 2020-04-20 4:20 PM

Is there a solution book --- I really like these puzzles..... I got stuck on the dominoes..... I want to see how close I am and I am not sure if all the dominoes have to be interconnected ?/