WPC 2018/Team Round 3
Duration: 90 minutes. Total point value: 4800 points. Round winner: USA-A (Palmer Mebane, Thomas Snyder, Walker Anderson, Wei-Hwa Huang), 6240 points.
Puzzle - Ariadne's Thread[edit]
The puzzle was written by Jiři Hrdina.
Combination of 9 different loop puzzles. The puzzles are interconnected in the following way. If you arrange the puzzles properly in the grid below (each puzzle covers exactly one of the regions 10x10) you can find a single closed loop (Ariadne's thread) going through all the 9 puzzles. Each puzzle contains one or two pieces of the thread in the form of a line/path/road depending on the character of the puzzle. The loop may cross any border between two adjacent puzzles at most twice.
The individual puzzles may have multiple solutions. But there is only one solution of each puzzle that allows you to create the Ariadne's thread. The two directional puzzles - Railroad and Password - define the direction of the loop that is valid through the entire puzzle. 9 puzzles are:
- Railroad (Railroad Tracks)
- Tents (Campsite Trail)
- Yajilin
- Battleships (Path Battleships)
- Country Road+ (Country Road with unvisited regions allowed)
In addition, there may not be two orthogonally adjacent empty cells from different regions.
The connections to the neighbouring puzzles are always horizontal or vertical.
- Snake
- Bosnian Snake (Bosnian Road)
- Simple Path (Simple Loop)
You do not need to place the puzzles physically in the central grid. But if you want to, you can bring the scissors with you. There will be 2 copies of each puzzle.
(Rules and example from WPC 2018 IB)
Partial Scoring[edit]
300 points for placement of puzzles, 500 points for each completed grid. To claim the points for placing puzzles, just mark clearly their placement in the central grid. To claim the points for each individual puzzle, return the solved puzzle including clearly marked entries and exits of the loop. The entries and exits must correspond to the global solution.