Contest Rules
Last update: 3 September 2026
Rules
Competition rules are based on ICPC Regional Rules for Regionals 2025/26, partly adjusted to suit the competition area. Competitors and coaches must strictly conform to the rules to ensure equality and fairness.
Team requirements
Each team must have 1 coach (1 follower allowed) and 3 competitors from the same institute.
Non-compliant teams
Teams that don't meet the requirements will not be ranked and cannot receive rewards or advance in the competition. They may still compete with organizer approval.
Attendance
All three contestants of each team must attend all mandatory contest activities specified in the official Schedule, including registration, ceremonies, briefings, practice/setup sessions, the contest, and any other activities designated as mandatory by the Contest.
The team coach is expected to attend or be available by phone or other communication methods during contest activities.
Failure of any contestant to attend a mandatory contest activity without prior approval from the Contest Director may result in disqualification of the team and loss of eligibility for awards, prizes, or advancement.
The Contest Director may grant exceptions in cases of unforeseen circumstances at their discretion.
Competition
Contest structure covering problem format, time limit, and language options.
Duration
5 hours
Problem language
English
Problem order
Any order
Allowed languages
Competition Environment
Specifications for permitted materials, prohibited items, and contestant conduct during the contest.
Competition Environment
Each team will be provided with a dedicated workstation for the competition, as shown below.
Printed reference materials
- Up to 25 pages, single-sided, A4 size
- Pages numbered on every page; team & university name on page 1
- Up to 3 identical copies
All materials must be submitted at the practice session on September 5th. Materials will be left in the competition room. Anything not submitted before the competition is not allowed inside.
Allowed personal items
- Stationery (pens, pencils, erasers, rulers)
- Medicines/Inhalers
- Candies only - no drinks allowed
- Jackets
- Mascot dolls
Prohibited items & behaviors
- No electronic devices: phones, digital watches, calculators, flash drives, MP3 players, personal mice/keyboards
- No internet access
- No communication with anyone outside the team (except designated staff)
- On competition day (Sep 6), only empty-handed entry is allowed
Restroom
Team members may request restroom breaks with proctor supervision — max 15 minutes per visit.
During the competition
Procedures governing submissions, clarifications, and live scoreboard visibility.
Submissions (runs)
Each submission is judged as accepted or rejected. Judges compile and test against pre-prepared test data.
Rejection reasons
- Runtime Error - program crashed during execution
- Time Limit Exceeded - exceeded the time limit
- Wrong Answer - incorrect output (includes presentation errors)
Clarifications
Contestants may submit clarification requests via DOMjudge. If judges confirm an ambiguity or error, a clarification is issued to all contestants.
Scoreboard
Live scoreboard is visible to all teams and the public. It is frozen during the last hour of the competition. Judges' responses still arrive normally during the freeze. Balloons are awarded for each solved problem.
Disqualification
Teams may be disqualified for dislodging extension cords, unauthorized modification of materials, or any behavior that disrupts the contest.
Judgement
Criteria and procedures used to rank teams and resolve disputes.
Ranking criteria (in order)
- Most problems solved
- Least total time
- Time of the last solved problem (without penalty)
- Previously solved problems (considered subsequently)
Penalty time: Time from contest start to first accepted run + 20 penalty minutes per rejected run. Unsolved problems have no time penalty.
Protests & appeals
All inquiries and protests must be raised to the Contest Director and Chief of Judges within 30 minutes after the competition ends. All decisions are final.
Hardware Specification
No hardware substitutions allowed. Teams may not bring their own keyboards or peripherals. All teams use identical equipment.
CPU
8 cores
RAM
29 GB
OS
Ubuntu 24.04.1
Desktop
GNOME
Software Specification
Language runtimes, compiler configurations, and IDE options provided during the contest.
Java - OpenJDK 21.0.4
C - gcc 13.2.0
C++ - g++ 13.2.0
Python - PyPy3 7.3.15
Editors & IDEs
Awards
The best team from each university is eligible to compete for a scholarship
Winning team
฿18,000
First runner-up team
฿12,000
Second runner-up
฿9,000
First to solve bonus
The first team to solve each problem receives an additional ฿2,400 scholarship.