Date
• The dates for each tournament of the Grand Prix should be announced at least two months before the event.
Structure/Format of the Tournament
• Each organizer may choose the format of the tournament (paper-solving with transcription of solutions, Flash-solving online, etc.).
• The tournament should last an entire weekend (minimum 48 hours).
• Each organizer should invite the participants of his or her event to other tournaments of the WPF Sudoku Grand Prix.
• The official WPF Sudoku Grand Prix logo, including a sponsor’s logo, if provided by the WPF, must appear in the header of the paper (if the puzzles are printed) or the web page (if the puzzles are online).
Results and Rankings
• Every organizer is obliged to send the final results to the WPF (hana.koudelkova@worldpuzzle.org) within seven days after the end of the tournament.
• Only registered WPF solvers will be included in the WPF rankings.
• The 199 solvers with the fastest times will receive, respectively, 200 points (for 1st place), 199 points (2nd place), 198 points (3rd place), etc., down to 2 points (199th place). All other registered solvers who submit answers will receive 1 point.
• Only the top six results for each solver will be included in his or her final Grand Prix ranking.
• At the end of the Grand Prix, the 10 solvers with the highest cumulative scores will be invited to the next WSC to play off in person. Each will receive a 100 EUR discount off the cost of attending the WSC. This amount will be paid by the WPF.
• If there is a tie in the results of the top 10 solvers, the solver with the highest ranking in any individual tournament will win the tiebreaker; if there is still a tie, then the solver with the next-highest ranking in any individual tournament will win; etc.
• If any of the finalists decides not to attend the WSC, the next best solver (or solvers) will be invited to take part.
Instruction Booklet
• The instructions for each tournament must be available to the participants in English two weeks before the tournament. Solvers should have a ample opportunity to ask questions about the instructions, with the hosts' answers available to everyone.
Judging
All judging with following the rules of the individual tournament, and any protests must first be made to the tournament organizers.
If a player disagrees with an organizer's decision, only then can they appeal to the WPF, via email to the WPF director, and within 2 days of the organizer's decision. Such protests are binding only for the Grand Prix ranking.
Finals
Overview
The play-off to the WPF Sudoku Grand Prix 2013 is designed to be a representative and exciting finale to the 8 online rounds. Each finalist will solve a total of 8 puzzles, with one type of sudoku chosen from each of the online rounds. The puzzles are designed to be of roughly equal difficulty, and the play-off is expected to last no longer than 50 minutes in total.
The winner will be the solver who finishes the 8 puzzles quickest. Solving will continue until 3 solvers have correctly completed all 8 puzzles.
Finalists
Each finalist will start the play-off with a nominal 10 second staggered start based on their aggregated ranking. Where points totals are tied, finalists have been separated via their best results.
