Google Puzzle Championship

by Chris Gilmer Jul 12th 2006

The Google puzzle championship is over. The contest that started Saturday June 17, contained 23 challenging puzzles. Google highly doubted that any one person could finish all of the puzzles in the aloted time frame of 2.5 hours.

Points from the contest were allocated based on the time the specific puzzle was completed in. Some of the puzzles in the list were deemed more important by Google, thus, more point value was assigned to them. Even though they were presented from easiest to hardest, some might have been valued more then others. Incorrect answers were docked 5 points.

The official puzzles are located online now, along with answers.

This was an awesome way for Google to scout the talent of people in the US who think differnet, and at a level that could benefit Google's development.

Tags: google, google jobs, google news, google puzzle champtionship, google talent, GoogleJobs, GoogleNews, GooglePuzzleChamptionship, GoogleTalent, puzzle, think different, ThinkDifferent, US

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Atanas Boev said 1:45PM on 7-12-2006

Chris! Next time you announce such things BEFORE they are over:) And spell-check your last sentence:)

Atanas Boev said 3:57AM on 7-13-2006

And by the way, what's this with Bulgaria?? Three of the puzzles are following "Bulgaria" theme. Hopefully they are building Google premises in my country;) Currently, there is one job offer for "Google Sofia"...

Maria said 6:55PM on 7-23-2006

Can you get to the test? I only see the solutions. When I try to get a password for the test, it won't let me in. I'd like to give it a try.

Chris Gilmer said 9:03PM on 7-23-2006

The tests are located here:

http://wpc.puzzles.com/g6/index.htm

They are PDF downloads.

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters