Woman wearing sudoku t-shirt.
Photograph by Rena Schild

When

This event occurred on Tuesday, September 13, 2022.

Where

Arlington Mill Community Center
909 S Dinwiddie Street
Arlington, VA 22204

Event Director

Riley Geary

Results and Records

Results of the NVSO 2022 sudoku event.

Photographs

Photographs from the NVSO 2022 sudoku event taken by Rena Schild.

Rules

General Rules
Please go here for rules covering all events.

Sudoku Rules
Competition will be in 10-year age groups (50-59, 60-69, 70-79, 80-89, 90+) with no gender divisions. NVSO will provide the Logic Puzzles and pencils. If there are 8 or more participants in a given 10-year age group, they will be further divided into 5-year age groups.

A) General

  • Logic Puzzles will be a 9×9 grid of 81 cells subdivided into nine 3×3 boxes with between 24 and 34 of these cells prefilled with a number from 1 to 9 as initial clues. The object is to place a single number (1-9) in each empty cell such that the completed puzzle does not repeat any number in any of the nine rows, columns or boxes, and to do so in the shortest time possible.
  • The event consists of a series of four increasingly difficult puzzles to solve:

    One with a 15 minute limit,

    Two with 20 minute limits,

    One with a 30 minute limit.
  • Contestants may only use a pencil for notations and their own brainpower to solve the puzzles. Computer/smart phone analysis or cribbing off of other contestant are prohibited. However, notations and guessing are allowed as long as it remains clear which single number goes with each cell.
  • Once a puzzle is completed, a contestant will raise his/her hand and a proctor will record his/her elapsed time and collect the puzzle for grading.
  • At the end of the allotted time for a puzzle round any remaining unfinished puzzles will be collected for grading and recording the total time (15, 20, or 30 minutes) for that round. 

B) Grading

  • Cells with two or more numbers, the wrong number, and cells left entirely unmarked are graded as mistakes and assessed a 1 minute time penalty each, which is added to the contestant’s completion time for that puzzle.
  • The cumulative time required to complete all four puzzles, including assessed time penalties for mistakes, is the contestant’s score, with the winner in each age group being the contestant with the lowest total score. 

C) Awards

  • Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are awarded to the contestants in each age group.