The 18th World Sudoku Championship (World Sudoku Championship) concluded in the Hungarian city of Eger, held as part of the 32nd World Puzzle Championship (WPC).
The Sudoku competitions opened the championship program and took place on 22–23 September, with the official award ceremony for the winners held on 24 September.
Course of the Competition
The Sudoku tournament schedule included 12 individual rounds and 2 team rounds. Each round lasted an average of 20–50 minutes, with participants spending nearly 10 hours of pure solving time over two days.
Besides classic Sudoku, participants tackled numerous unique formats such as Shifted Sudoku, Pinocchio Sudoku, Pyramid Sudoku, Cube Sudoku, Mirror Sudoku, Coded Sudoku, Greater Than Sudoku, Thermo Sudoku, Parity Lines Sudoku, Shape Sudoku, Even/Odd Sudoku, Tic-tac-toe Sudoku, Battenburg Sudoku, Odd Labyrinth Sudoku, and Halved Squares Sudoku.
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Not Just Puzzles
The WPC was not limited to competitions. Eger, a hub of one of Hungary's most famous winemaking regions, offered participants and companions a rich program of cultural and entertainment events:
- city tour;
- local wine tasting;
- quizzes;
- friendly indoor soccer match;
- karaoke party.
Results
The Chinese team won the WSC for the second consecutive year. Now, the Chinese team is nearly on par with Japan, which leads with victories in 2007, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018, and 2023. If China wins next year, the teams will be tied in the number of titles.
World Sudoku Championship Results:
| Place | Individuals | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| I |  Tantan Dai |
Team China A (Tantan Dai, Yu Xuan Hu, Letian Min, Cheran Sun) Team Captain: Hai Jun Zhang 🛡️ |
| II |  Kota Morinishi |
Team Japan A (Ken Endo, Kota Morinishi, Rintaro Matsumoto, Hideaki Jo) |
| III | Yu Xuan Hu |
 Team Czech Republic A(Jan Vondruska, Jan Zverina, Jakub Hrazdira, Jakub Ondrousek) |
Following Sudoku, the Puzzle Championship took place from 25–27 September. The event concluded with a 24-hour puzzle-solving marathon, a separate competition category starting on 29 September at 9:00 and ending exactly 24 hours later. The final award ceremony, summarizing the week, was held on 30 September at 11:00.
World Puzzle Championship Results:
| Place | Individuals | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| I |  Freddie Hand |
 Team USA A(Walker Anderson, Thomas Luo, Thomas Snyder, Kevin Zhou) Team Captain: Wei-Hwa Huang 🛡️ |
| II | Ken Endo |
Team Japan A (Ken Endo, Kota Morinishi, Ryusuke Nishiyama, Naoki Sekiya) Team Captain: Yuki Kazihara 🛡️ |
| III | Walker Anderson |
 Team Germany A(Christian König, Ulrich Voigt, Philipp Weiss, Martin Merker) Team Captain: Jörg Schneider 🛡️ |
24-Hour Puzzle Championship Results:
| Place | Individuals | Teams |
|---|---|---|
| I | Ken Endo |
Jan Ondrek |
| II | Thomas Luo |
Michaela Šaffová |
| III | Qiu Suzhe |
Zdeněk Vodička |
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Source: https://www.wspc2025.hu/
