WPC 2023/Round 8

Duration: 45 minutes. Total point value: 1800 points. Round winner: USA-A (Walker Anderson, Jeffrey Bardon, Thomas Luo, Anderson Wang), 2640 points.

Puzzles

All puzzles in this round were written by Cihan Altay.

This round features four different types of Instructionless puzzles, and proceeds in a partial Weakest Link format. From the IB:

"Each team is divided into two halves with two members each. Each half will receive two puzzles to solve together. Communication in any form (verbal, hand signals, etc.) with the other half of the team is prohibited in this stage. There will be no judging before the team round in this part, and players can move forward at any time (but must leave the puzzle papers from first part behind) to the final stage to solve a single puzzle which combines mechanics from all the puzzles from the first stage. It is not needed for all members of the team to be in the final stage to complete the round successfully.

Once two solvers have turned in their papers, teams can proceed to the final stage (changing seats as needed to have all the finished solvers together at one table and the unfinished solvers at the other table).

Team members may freely choose to abandon the first stage and move ahead to the final stage at any time. Team members can make the decision individually to go to the final stage leaving their partner at the first stage. However, once the first stage is abandoned, there is no going back to the first stage.

Every puzzle type in this round is presented without any written instructions. For each type — including the final one — an example puzzle is provided. The ‘only correct solution’ is provided, clearly identified with a check mark. Some incorrect solutions may also be provided, clearly identified with a cross mark."

1. First Half 1 (Line Break Crossword), 225 points
2. First Half 2 (Heredity), 225 points
3. Second Half 1 (Pinwheel Labyrinth), 225 points
4. Second Half 2 (Canyon Trip), 225 points
5. Final, 900 points