ACM-ICPC-Style Contest Rules Summary

Remember: It is a game, played according to its own rules.

In no particular order:

1. Each team consists of at most 3 students (incl. at most one post-grad in 1st or 2nd year)
2. Each team gets to use one computer with software tools/data/docs
3. Use of printed books and program listings is allowed
4. Use of calculators, CDs, mobile phones, Internet search, etc. is prohibited
5. Teams may not communicate with each other during the contest
6. Interference with the contest leads to disqualification
7. The contest typically lasts five hours
8. Problems may vary (considerably) in difficulty, and appear in `random' order in the problem set,

9. Solutions must be submitted through the mechanism/system provided
10. Each submission is judged during the contest (a.s.a.p.) as accepted or rejected; the latter will be explained a little bit, but without further details; e.g.:
    • compile-time error
    • run-time error
    • resource-limit exceeded
    • incorrect output format
    • incorrect output
11. Ranking of teams is based
    • first on number of problems solved (more is better);
    • in case of a tie, the total time for all accepted submissions is taken into account (less is better);
    • time is measured from the beginning of the contest until the submission was accepted by the jury, where each rejected submission adds 20 minutes penalty time;
    • if there is still a tie, the time of acceptance for the last problem solved matters (less is better)
12. Clarifications about the problems concerning a possible ambiguity or error may be asked in `writing' through an official `channel'; answers will typically be restricted to Yes, No, No comment (the latter usually means `stupid question' or `read the problem statement again').
    Questions about technical and organizational issues may be asked separately.
13. The standings are public and updated during the contest, except near the end (typically the final one hour) to raise suspense

14. The contest director has the final word

Local variations

• Contest system: ...
• Computing environment: OS, compilers, editors, debuggers, documentation
• Printing ...
• Eating, drinking, ...