We are proudly presents the new domain of our next amazing Challenge24 contest. :D

www.challenge24thelegend.com

The link is live! New website is under construction. In advance i'd say it will be shipped by this xmas :D

Have a nice day.

There are two new videos about the Final. One is a report in Duna Television (Hungarian), and the other one is the new trailer of this year Contest. Enjoy it!

The gallery has been updated with pictures taken on Sunday! Check it out!

You can download this year's problem set here.

Make sure you visit the gallery in the next few days, we are updating it as soon as we can ;-)

The award ceremony of the 9th BME International 24 hour Programming Contest has been held, where the official results have been announced.

The 6th team is Grötzsch men from Hungary, the 5th team is Mr. Hankey from Hungary and the 4th team is UPC - Si es que va! from Spain. Their prizes are a Soduku Electronic Game.

 

 

The 3rd place goes to qwertY from Poland. Their prizes are a Nintendo Wii Sports game, and a Netgear Router by Magyar Telekom Group.

The runner-up is The Teddyborg from the United Kingdom (and the Republic of South Africa). Their prizes are a Nintendo Wii Sports game, and a Netgear Router by Magyar Telekom Group.

The winner of the 9th BME International 24 hour Programming Contest is THREE-HEADED MONKEY from Sweden! Their prizes are a Navon N260 PDA with IGO Amigo by NavNGo, an MSI Wind Netbook, and a Netgear Router by Magyar Telekom Group.

Congratulations to every team!

All the conestants are invited to a lunch in the hall.

The full final standings can be found in the news section.

 

We asked some questions from the team winning this cup the second time: "The race was fun! We won the competition in 2007, that was a really good problem set, we really liked that, and this year's was similar in some ways. The presents are great!"

Well, see you next year!

 

The contestants are gathering up in the hall, waiting for the ceremony to start at 12 o'clock. 2/3 of the teams have checked out their hardware. The free WiFi Internet is turned on again.

 

 

 

About half of the teams have started packing up their stuff. In the competition rooms we can find good examples to a programmers workplace.

 

 As the teams start to check their hardware out, they can also regain access to their phones. These were confiscated for the time of the contest.

 

It looks like there are many things to discuss: there is an endless chatting party on the first floor - this time it is in person, and not over the IRC channel. :) Mr. Devil is also happy to learn some new tricks from the programmers. Meanwhile, the ceremony accessories are being prepared downstairs.

 

 

The contestants can now check their hardware out, if they want to. And who will get the trophy this year? We'll find it out at the award ceremony, commencing later on.

 

 

The participants now rushed the food, and they discuss their experiences while eating. Some of them have already started packing up, most of the rooms are full of abandoned workstations.

The 24 hours have elapsed! The contest is now over, and it's time for the judges to sum up the results.

 

 
Most of the teams had a rest for the last minutes, walking around and showing signs of tiredness. :)

 

 

As the challenge is approaching its end, some teams still try to complete tasks, while others seem to have some of the delicious breakfast and chill out.

 

"Ha-ha-ha...! Only one hour remaining!" - says Mr. Devil.

 

The breakfast is served and the teams try to do some final debugging.

 

As the sun is rising, some teams still fight with either the problem set or the force of the nature.

 

 

With only 3 hours left from the contest, everyone is invited to do some morning gymnastics, in front of the building. Although some were asleep, every contestant is following the three girls' lead. :)

 

 

Tonight we saw a couple of different styles to sleep here,

 

 but now it's time to wake up and do some morning exercise.

 

 

The remaining time is only 63, so the teams have to hurry!

The dinner is now over, everyone has gone back to the rooms to carry on working. The competition is exactly half time at these moments.

 

A request has arrived from one of the contestants to watch tonight's Champion's League match held in Madrid between Real Madrid and Barcelona. The organizers were happy to fulfill this, and a small audience containing both participants and organizers has gathered around the projector in the hall.

 

 

The dinner is served on the first floor. This time the meal is turkey fillet with four-cheese sauce with rice and corn. It looks delicious, I'm not surprised Mr. Devil didn't want to tell us this surprise. :) Meanwhile, the LEGO-robot made its first moves in the hall.

As the sun is slowly setting, the dinner is being prepared for the participants. Mr. Devil was happy to supervise the procedure, but he didn't tell us what the meal is going to be. The teams have been locked up in the building for more than 11 hours. 

 

 

 

As nearly 10 hours of the worktime has passed, everyone seems to be a little bit tired. Therefore the organizers go around the rooms and offer energy drinks: some participants are happy to accept it.

Down the hall, the only loud stuff is the Guitar Hero game, playing the song "Story of My Life" repeatedly as teams try their solutions. (In the last hour, the organizers had to listen to it continuously.) The guitar can be controlled via network with a computer having a small electric motor pushing the buttons. Although the teams can see the screen over the network using a webcam, many of them is watching the result of their work on site.

 

A photograph of each team has been uploaded to the gallery. Check it out!

We would like to thank Team Itello for their big wave! We're all waving back to you! :)

 

 

Only three hours after the lunch, the afternoon snack is now prepared. The teams keep on working hard, with only 2/3 of the time remaining. The only event worth mentioning is a member of the Russian team Wx, who keeps running up and down the stairs to check the solution for the Guitar Hero exercise.

The gallery has been updated with today's pictures, and we'll soon be back with team photos.

http://www.challenge24.org/gallery/2009_TeamPhotos

 

The lunch is now served, the meal is chicken stew with noodles and pickle. It looks like the teams are happy to eat, and they discuss problems with each other meanwhile. And of course, those who feel snowed under with the tasks, eat in front of their computers. :) Most participants think the tasks are pretty tough to solve, but they hope the best for the remaining 18,5 hours.

 

 

 

The LEGO Robot exercise is now launched. This gives some meaning to the big blue 'sea' arranged in the hall. The competitors have to find a treasure using the robot's clipetty claws.

 

 

 

The participants are digging deeper and deeper into the exercises, and the first ones trying to program the Guitar Hero have arrived to the hall, asking questions from the mongers.

 

 

Meanwhile, upstairs the lunch is being prepared. It is going to be served from 2PM.

 

The first breakfast has been served, and thanks to the teams' quick havoc, the tables are nearly empty now. After the first two hours, all we can hear is the sound of keyboards and the noise of the turning cogs in the brain of the participants.

 

Together with the participants, we gained access of the problem set at 9AM. It contains 10 exercises, but none of them is compulsory for the teams. Some of these will be verified during the contest, except the main one, which has to be finished by the end of the contest.

The list of exercises:

1., King of the island (66000 pts)
Controlling a kingdom as a king.

2., 256 (10 000 pts)
The main idea of this exercise is the attack or protection of a castle or something else.

3., Cheap labour (14 000 pts)
This exercise is about a color coding technique.

4., PPPoS - Pirate to Pirate Protocol over the Sea (10 000 pts)
The contestants have to create an encoding mechanism.

5., Colossus of Gramming (10 000 pts)
A sculpture has been cut in pieces, and it has to be rebuilt wihout the help of the engineers who cut it apart.

6., Deathtrap Dungeon (10 000 pts)
Help some seaman to defeat the labyrinth and find the treasure.

7., Master of Voices (10 000 pts)
Controlling the game 'Guitar Hero' with a program.

8., Sail race (Fast and Furious (10 000 pts)
Winning a boat race.

9., Shopping (10 000 pts)
Help the docking of pirate ships as soon as possible.

10, Treasure Island (10 000 pts)
Controlling a Lego MindStorm robot through a track to find the treasure.

 

The official clock of the contest was started by Gábor Péceli. The teams are now allowed to tear the envelopes open and check the problem set inside...

 

 

 

 

 

The 9th BME International 24-Hour Programming Contest is now officially open. The contest was opened by Gábor Péceli, rector of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics. The main organizers, Gábor Mádi and József Mészáros also introduced themselves. The teams now pull back to their rooms and do the final preparations, with 30 minutes left to relax.

 

The site is open again, and some late registrants are wiring up their computers right now. 15 minutes before the opening ceremony, an arrangement of exciting equipment can be seen in the hall - is it in connection with the problem set? Who knows...!

The registration desk has closed at 8PM, the last arrivers were from Ukraine. (@19.51) Only 7 people didn't show up today, they still have a chance to register tomorrow morning at 7.30, before the contest. Although some had a good rest, the building is now closed for participants, and all the equipment brought in is now safe in the rooms. 

 

 

The wandering trophy of the Challenge24 cup has arrived to the building. The last years' winning team, qwertY brought it back with themselves as they're competing in this year, too!

Meanwhile, the others are enjoying the last bits of free Internet, or the foosball table brought by one of the sponsors.

 The registration desk will close at 8PM, although four teams had not shown any sign of themselves. Hurry up!

About 50% of the participating teams have already arrived and registered - we have competitors from Lithuania, South-Africa and Finland as well. The ones who have finished wiring up their computers and network are planning various acitivities for this sunny afternoon to relax themselves. Some would like to go to spa, some may go and party all night. :) Not!

Everyone is very excited what is the exercise going to be tomorrow. For those, all we can tell, it is forged behind one of the doors...

 With approximately three hours left to register, Mr. Devil is waiting for every invited team!

 

 

The registration started at 2PM, and six teams have registered so far. Polish, Swedish and also Hungarian competitors arrived. After the hardware check, they started to wire up their computers in one of the eight rooms on the first floor.