The Ultimate Question and the Contest Inspiration

The concept of a 42-minute time limit is derived from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," a book by Douglas Adams. In the story, a unique computer named Deep Thought is programmed to answer the "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" and provide the key to solving all the problems in the universe. After seven million years of continuous calculations, the computer finally revealed the answer: "42."

Another concept inspired by the book is the name of our Spring competition. It's called the Towel Contest and is held on Towel Day, celebrated worldwide every year on May 25th as a tribute to the author Douglas Adams by his fans.

It has become a tradition for participants to come to the May competitions with towels. A towel is the most helpful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have because, as Douglas Adams writes, "Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still know where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with."

Place and Time

The contest is held twice a year – Towel Day on May 25th and the Proggy-Buggy Contest at the end of October.

Registration is required to participate in the competition. Registration opens approximately one month before the start of the competition. One day before the contest, all registered participants will receive two links: one to the contest page, which will become active at the start of the competition, and another to the live stream, where the official start of the competition will be announced.

You can practice solving problems on the Training page. You can use your previous registration or create a new account to access it. To do so, follow the link to one of last year's contests.

Participants Categories

In the Autumn contest, solo participants and teams of up to three people can participate. The Spring Contest is for solo participants only. In each contest, there are three different categories - experienced competitors, mid-level, and beginners.

The contest has three types of participants:

Amateurs

Participants aged 16 and above. May have competed in programming competitions other than international ones, such as university, city, regional, or national-level Olympiads (excluding ACM ICPC International Programming Contests or International School Olympiads in programming of any level).

Professionals

Participants in the National Student (ACM ICPC) or School (IOI) Olympiad in programming and other international programming competitions, but not finalists or winners.

Superheroes

Participants who ranked in the top 10 of the National Student Olympiad (ACM ICPC) or School Olympiad (IOI) in programming and past winners of the Proggy-Buggy Contest in all categories.

Contest Rules

1. Participation is free: after providing us with your email, you'll receive the link to complete the registration process and join the contest.
2. All participants will have 13 problems and 42 minutes for completion. We will start the final countdown on the YouTube stream. You will receive a link to it in the e-mail the day before the launch, along with a link to the contest page. Be ready to join us on time and ensure you have a stable network connection.
3. The competition and all tasks are conducted in English.
4. If a team cannot gather in one room, it is permitted to use instant messengers (Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, etc.) solely for communication between participants.
5. Each participant or team can use only one device from which the solutions will be sent to the server for verification.
6. The solution code can be written in one of many languages. You can find the complete list in the Programming Languages and Compilers section.
7. The Standings will become available after the official announcement of the results, as answers are automatically scored on the dedicated server.
8. Participants residing in the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as in other sanctioned territories, are not allowed to take part in the Proggy-Buggy Contest.

Winning Categories

The winner is the individual participant or team that solves the maximum number of tasks with the lowest penalty.

The penalty is the total time used to solve a task, calculated as follows: 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 submission of the first accepted run, plus 20 penalty minutes for every previously rejected run for that problem. No time is consumed for a problem that is not solved. These rules are consistent with the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).

We determine the winners in the following categories:

Honorary 1st place (Team or Individual Participant) Honorary 2nd place (Team or Individual Participant) Honorary 3rd place (Team or Individual Participant)

Additionally, we have these extra categories:

• Prize for the very first correct solution to a problem.
• Prize for the shortest answer to a problem with a solution.
• Prize for the first correct answer to a problem with no solution.
• Honorable Mention for the team or participant with the most penalty points.
• Honorable Mention for the team or participant with the fewest penalty points.