There are just over two months left until the ER Champ 2026 qualifications. It’s time for you to meet the puzzle creators you’ll be up against in this year’s Championship. Who joined the Program Team - and why? And who has been with us for years?

What is the Program Team?

We’ve been creating ER Champ for 10 years now, which means our perspective on puzzles has become a bit… skewed. What feels simple and intuitive to us might turn out to be yet another “cake puzzle” (shoutout to the longtime ER Champ players!). 

That’s why a few years ago we decided to experiment with forming the Program Team - a group of experienced puzzle designers from around the world, brought in to offer a fresh perspective on the Championship.

This small experiment exceeded our expectations, so since 2022, recruiting the Program Team has become a permanent part of ER Champ preparations. And you - the players - have confirmed that it was the right call. The puzzles are now more diverse, vary in difficulty, and are sometimes so creative that even we’re left wondering how anyone came up with them. Yes, the Program Team manages to surprise us too!

Program Team 2026 Members

This year, we have 11 puzzle creators on board. They’ve been divided into three groups: Team Alpha, Team Beta, and Team Gamma.
Each team was assigned a different stage of the online qualifications. Not only did they design the brain challenges for participants, but they also helped develop this year’s storyline - a magic-infused tale of the clash between good and evil, demons and gods, and ordinary mortals caught in the middle of it all.

If you’re curious who created this year’s puzzles, make sure to check out the PROGRAM TEAM section and get to know the creators behind them.

How’s the progress? A quick update

This year’s story will be full of twists and adventures - which means we’ve got our hands full! Right now, our IT team is wrapping up the development of the qualification stage, and we’re about to begin the first round of testing.

We’ll see you on May 30th for the Stress Test - a short game designed to check whether our systems are ready for the June qualifications. It will also serve as an introduction to the Slavic-inspired adventure, where you’ll meet the main characters.