Puzzling Experience

Dateline - Philadelphia, PA

Sitting in the back of a functional, yet unsterile Philadelphia yellow cab, gliding me back to the airport for an out of town flight, this humanoid was mesmerized by the pitter patter of a steady drizzle canvassing the City of Brotherly Love.

And in that moment of clarity, it could not be denied--yes, participating in the 2nd Annual National Sudoku Tournament was everything I dreamed it would be. Maybe more.



In a flash of unusual journalistic integrity, the FFF Editor-in-Chief decided to send its louisest beat reporter, Jacob Silge, to Philadalphia to participate in the nation's biggest Sudoku tournament. Silge, a Sudoku fiend, all-around avid puzzler, and often refers to himself in the third-person, took his A-game, Gen Con membership card, and a bag of Twizzlers to the nation's best including members of MIT's math team, a few seven and eight year olds, and a guy named "Ernie" who was about 83.


The tournament, held at the Philadelphia Convention Center, is sponsored annually by the Philadelphia Inquirer and emceed by Will Shortz, the puzzle guru for the New York Times. With these accredidations and celebrities abound, one quickly realizes Sudoku's elite earn their crowns here.

The event is family friendly and offers several competitive divisions by talent level (beginner; intermediate; and advanced) as well as age and geographic-based competitions. The main tournament comprised of three rounds by which contestants had to solve three Suduko puzzles in each round with a time lime of 30 minutes per round.



The first contestant to finish their three puzzles correctly in a round and raise their hand would qualifty to compete in a three-person final "Sudoku-off." The puzzles were tough, the competition even tougher. Silge, whose voice immodulation challenges fortunately did not result in a tournament disqualification, participated in the intermediate division. The wily FFF reporter, whose balliwick is pet fashion and accessorizing, did not qualify for the Intermediate finals, but did finish in the top ten in his age category.


The 2008 champion in the advanced division was Wei-Hwa Huang, of Mountain View, Calif., who finished his puzzle in the championship round in 7 minutes and 39 seconds. Huang qualifies to compete on the U.S. National Sudoku Team at the World Championships in Slovakia. The two-time defending champion, Thomas Snyder, took 2nd place this year. Participants from over 30 states, Canada, and Ireland were represented.

At press time, Gen Con and the labor union that represents the Ewoks were in negotiations to cross-promote their respective national conferences with the national Sudoku championship.

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