Rules


  • Period of Eligibility
    • A student who meets the Basic Requirements and FIRST began post-secondary studies in 2013 or later is eligible to compete.
    • A student who meets the Basic Requirements and was born in 1994 or later is eligible to compete.
  • Extending the Period of Eligibility
    • A coach may petition the ICPC Eligibility Committee to extend the Period of Eligibility for a student whose full-time studies have been interrupted or extended. This includes military or civilian service, illness, work/studies, or personal reasons.
    • The coach must demonstrate that such an extension would not provide an unfair advantage to the team.
    • A petition will be approved routinely if the student meets the Basic Requirements and has not completed more than the equivalent of eight semesters of full-time study as of the date of the regional contest.
    • To make such a request, the coach must petition the ICPC Eligibility Committee at least three weeks before the regional contest. The ICPC Eligibility Committee will render a decision within five days.

  • Conduct of a Regional Contest
    • Solutions to problems submitted for judging are called runs. Each run is judged as accepted or rejected by a judge, and the team is notified of the results. Notification of accepted runs may be suspended at an appropriate time to keep the final results secret. A general announcement to that effect will be made during the contest. Notification of rejected runs will continue until the end of the contest. A contestant may submit a claim of ambiguity or error in a problem statement by submitting a clarification request to a judge. If the judges agree that an ambiguity or error exists, a clarification will be issued to all contestants. Contestants are not to converse with anyone except members of their team and personnel designated by the regional contest director. Systems support staff may advise contestants on system-related problems such as explaining system error messages.
    While the contest is scheduled for a particular time length (typically five hours), the regional contest director has the authority to alter the length of the contest in the event of unforeseen difficulties. Should the contest duration be altered, every attempt will be made to notify contestants in a timely and uniform manner. A team may be disqualified by the regional contest director for any activity that jeopardizes the contest such as dislodging extension cords, unauthorized modification of contest materials, or distracting behavior. At least six problems will be posed. So far as possible, problems will avoid dependence on detailed knowledge of a particular applications area or particular contest language.
  • Scoring of a Regional Contest

    • A problem is solved when it is accepted by the judges. The judges are solely responsible for accepting or rejecting submitted runs. In consultation with the judges, the Regional Contest Director determines the winners of the regional contest. The regional contest director and judges are empowered to adjust for or adjudicate unforeseen events and conditions. Their decisions are final.
    Teams are ranked according to the most problems solved. For the purposes of awards, or in determining qualifier(s) for the World Finals, teams who solve the same number of problems are ranked by least total time. The total time is the sum of the time consumed for each problem solved. The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the submittal of the accepted run plus 20 penalty minutes for every rejected run for that problem regardless of submittal time. There is no time consumed for a problem that is not solved.
    It is the responsibility of the Regional Contest Director to specify any additional tie-breakers. Tie-breaker policies must be announced to contestants before the contest begins.

  • Regional Contest Computing Environment

    • The programming languages of the regional contest will include C/C++. Additional programming languages may be used. The programming languages of the World Finals are Java, Kotlin, Python and C/C++. Prior to the World Finals, the judges will have solved all problems in Java and C/C++.
    Each team will use a single workstation. The regional contest director is responsible for determining that teams have reasonably equivalent computing resources.

    Do not cross the rules

    Contestants are not to converse with anyone except members of their team and the organising team. Systems support staff may advise contestants on system-related problems such as explaining system error messages.