WPC 2017/Round 21

The namesake of this round is Broken Pieces by Tejal Phatak and Rohan Rao (India), held on August 2010.

Duration: 15 minutes. Total point value: 160 points. Round winner: Neil Zussman (UK), Bram de Laat (Netherlands) and Pavol Kollár (Slovakia), 210 points.

Puzzles

Round note: This round contains a single puzzle type, consisting of numbered tiles that must be grouped into triplets under the give rules. All tiles must be used in triplets to achieve full credit for the round, but partial points are available if there are some tiles unused in triplets, even if the ones used are not a part of the global solution. The participants will be provided with an A4 answer key sheet like the one below.

1. Tiles by Deb Mohanty, 160 points

Each player will be given 18 tiles, packed inside an envelope. The goal is to make 6 sets, each consisting of 3 tiles. Each tile must be used exactly once. 3 tiles can make a set, only if the letters at the respective positions in every tile are all same or are all different. Rotation or reflection of tiles not allowed while comparing letters.

Ignore the numbers in tiles while solving; they are used for answer key purpose and also to help make the orientation of the tiles clear. In the answer key, each column represents a triplet. Participants must enter a dot/circle/marking for each tile which is part of the triplet. There will be no credit for columns with anything more than or less than three consistent markings.

Partial points will be awarded in the following structure: 5 points for 1 tile set, 10 points for 2 tile sets, 20 points for 3 tile sets, 40 points for 4 tile sets and 80 points for 5 tile sets.

Example puzzle. The goal is to make 3 sets of 3 tiles.

Solution to the example.