World Sudoku & Puzzle Championship 2026 Crowns Its Champions
Your monthly digest from the world of puzzles and games
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WSPC 2026: World’s Best Puzzlers Face Off in Kolkata
The world’s top Sudoku and puzzle solvers assembled in Kolkata, India from October 11–18 for the World Sudoku & Puzzle Championship (WSPC) 2026. Organized by Logic Masters India and supported by title sponsor Matiks, the event brought together the top teams from 35 countries for a week of puzzling rivalry. The competition was so intense that some contestants even brought along their emotional support plushies. This year, the championships took inspiration from the Indian Epics, The Mahabharata, and The Ramayana.
China’s Ming Letian won the World Sudoku Championship, while Japan’s Ken Endo claimed his sixth World Puzzle Championship title. China and Japan also took home the respective team titles.
Legendary New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz founded the World Puzzle Championship in 1992, and has attended every single one since. Also in attendance was three-time World Sudoku Champion and LinkedIn Principal Puzzlemaster, Thomas Snyder. Amuse Labs was proud to support the championships as a technology partner and be there in person. We’ve got more from the action here.
Next year’s championships head to France. Au revoir, Kolkata, and see you in France!
CODE Sports Launches Custom Puzzles for Fans
Australian sports publisher CODE Sports has launched a dedicated games page powered by PuzzleMe, giving fans new ways to test their sports knowledge. The lineup (paywalled) includes daily trivia, Wordle-style games, jigsaws, and Fast Five, a weekly challenge where players have five minutes to name the top 10 answers in a sports category. Fast Five covers topics such as team rosters, top try scorers, and leading goal-kickers in games like football and rugby.
Games are becoming another way for sports publishers to engage subscribers and fans beyond match coverage. By building puzzles around the sports their audiences follow, publishers can give fans another reason to come back in between matches.
Vozpópuli Brings Spanish-Language Puzzles to Readers
Smart games are popular across the globe, and Spain is no exception. News publisher Vozpópuli has launched a games page featuring Spanish language puzzles for its readers. The lineup includes Sudoku, Enigma (Decipher), Puzle (Jigsaw), Palabra secreta (WordroW), Kriss Kross, Crucigrama (Crossword), Puzle deslizante (Slide), and Palabras cruzadas (Word Search).
While content for language-based games has to be tailored to Spanish-speaking audiences, content for formats like Sudoku and Slide is language-agnostic. The puzzles are powered by PuzzleMe’s multilingual platform, making it easy to offer a localized games experience.
From the Crossworld
Puzzle Palooza, the open day of the World Sudoku & Puzzle Championship in Kolkata, brought together puzzle enthusiasts from around the world for a quiz written by Will Shortz. At Puzzle Palooza, Thomas Snyder hosted a LinkedIn Mini-Games contest. A panel discussion moderated by author Ria Chopra featured world champions Tantan Dai and Ken Endo; Helen Arnold, Chair of the World Puzzle Federation; Nipun Jain, YouTuber and trivia creator; and Sushant Timmapur, CPO of Matiks. Logic Masters India rounded out the day with a workshop in which its champions showed attendees how World Championship puzzles are made.
Have spare Claude usage? Put it to work saving crossword history. Most old crosswords survive only as scans of print pages: you can look at them, but you can’t search them. Every Puzzle Project, is turning them into a searchable and playable archive. A computer converts the scans to a digital draft, and volunteers have Claude check it against the original image, clue by clue, catching slip-ups like “plumber” read as “plun.ber.” The project’s first finished series is all 531 crosswords from Judge Magazine, a 1920s and ’30s humor magazine whose puzzles were mostly sent in by readers. Next up is GAMES Magazine, whose Pencilwise pages were edited by Will Shortz. If you have Claude Code and a GitHub account, you can pitch in.
PuzzleMe Spotlight
A selection of updates from PuzzleMe, the most advanced digital platform for word and logic games
1. PuzzleMe Studio for Puzzles & Pickers
Amuse Labs is soon launching PuzzleMe Studio, a way for puzzle creators to inject powerful special effects into their games using an easy conversational interface. With PuzzleMe Studio, you can easily experiment with new visual styles like themes and micro-animations.
To name a few possibilities, you can customize grids, create sophisticated backgrounds, design custom start and completion messages, completely reimagine existing list pickers, or explore ideas like card stack type pickers. These are just some examples of how Studio can help. Check out some of the puzzles we’ve built and pickers we’ve reimagined.
PuzzleMe Studio is currently in early access for a select group of Enterprise users. If you’d like to see what the team is exploring, get in touch to request a demo or ask about access.
2. Clueing Made Easier with PuzzleMe
Whether you’re using list entries, constructing your grid by hand, or using Magic Fill, PuzzleMe can help with the next step: writing clues. The platform generates a first draft of clues for your grid, giving you a starting point to work from instead of having to write every clue from scratch.
You can guide the suggestions by entering themes for your puzzle. Give it a central idea or topic, and PuzzleMe will try to generate clues related to that theme. You can then review and edit the suggestions to get the wording and tone right for your puzzle.
3. Control Word Directions in Word Search
Whether you want a straightforward Word Search or a trickier challenge, word directions can make a difference. PuzzleMe lets you choose which directions words can run in: left to right, right to left, top to bottom, bottom to top, and diagonally in all four directions.
You can customise these settings when creating your Word Search to suit the kind of puzzle you want to make. Learn more about word directions.
Puzzle of the Month
It’s Not the Heat, It’s the Humidity by Brandon Koppy is our pick for this month. It’s a clever themed crossword that uses custom-shaded cells to double down on its theme, creating a contrast between the cool blue region at the top and the fiery red at the bottom. And with 39-Across tying it all together, this grid shows how a little visual flair can make a clever theme even more satisfying.
About Us
Amuse Labs is the creator of PuzzleMe™, the leading digital platform for Smart Games. It is a B2B SaaS company trusted globally by brands and publishers, powering Crosswords, Sudokus, Jigsaws, Quizzes, Word Searches and more. Explore opportunities to partner by sending a note or applying if you’d like to work with us!
