MidnightCodeCup's blog

Midnight Code Cup is here
By MidnightCodeCup, 19 months ago, In English

Neapolis University Pafos

The Qualification round has started! Cheer for your favourite team: https://ranker.codeforces.com/ranklist/602915

We’re excited to launch the first-ever Midnight Code Cup (MCC) — a team competition featuring an online Qualification round and a 24-hour onsite Final. Expect algorithmic challenges, optimization puzzles, cutting-edge computer science, and some just plain weird problems. It’ll be exhausting. And fun.

Who are we?

A team of problem solving geeks veterans enthusiasts, eager for the return of this contest format. The idea of Midnight Code Cup was born at Recraft.AI (AI image generation and graphic design pioneers) with huge support from JetBrains (creator of Kotlin, intelligent IDEs, and AI-driven developer tools) as well as Neon (developer-first open-source database) and Pinely (HFT company powered by competitive programmers).The sponsor list is not final and will be updated.

We are also thankful to have Codeforces as our hosting partner.

Who can participate?

Teams of 3 ready to rock and roll! No programming language, affiliation or problem solving methods restrictions. You only need to be at least 18 years old and have a slightly concerning enthusiasm for coding challenges.

Save the Date

April 12, 2025: Online Qualification (4 hours) – here at Codeforces, starts at 13:00 UTC

June 7–8, 2025: Onsite Final (24 hours) – Belgrade, Serbia

Problem setters and jury: Aksenov239, isaf27, NALP, Taube, Gassa, cdkrot, PavelKunyavskiy, tourist, qwerty787788, MaxBuzz, pvs, Solenoid555, nsychev, naagi

Registration opens soon – you have enough time to find a team. Leave your email here and you will be the first to register.

See you at Midnight!

Update: We've set the start time for the qualification round (13:00 UTC). The duration has been changed to 4 hours to accommodate participants across multiple time zones, although covering all regions globally remains a challenge.

Update 2: The registration is open now: https://midnightcodecup.com

Update 3: The registration will close on April, 9th

Update 4: The Qualification round has started! Cheer for your favourite team: https://ranker.codeforces.com/ranklist/602915

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Comments Comments (52)
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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +58 Vote: I do not like it

Thanks for reviving the craziest and the most fun programming competition format!

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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +42 Vote: I do not like it

Could you please provide more details?

  1. At what time does the qualification round begin, and what are the requirements to qualify?
  2. How do you plan to host a 24 hour onsite round? Will you provide a place to sleep during the contest?
  3. More details about the challenge itself would be helpful. I understand it’s not a conventional competitive programming contest, but a clearer description would help participants decide whether they want to take part in the contest or not.

Thanks!

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    19 months ago, hide # ^ |
     
    Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    Hey — sure!

    1. We're finalising the schedule and will announce the start time and qualification requirements shortly. Stay tuned for updates!
    2. There will definitely be a lounge zone in the event venue where participants could go to to take a nap. The venue is a hotel, so we are also looking into options of providing rooms/getting discounted rates for those. The idea of course is to have an all-nighter with your team, which is part of the fun (somewhat crazy, we know). We will do our best to make this as comfortable as possible.
    3. In terms of inspiration we can name Challenge 24, Deadline24, IPSC, ICFPC and similar competitions. We do not plan to limit what tools the participants can use to solve problems, which should help with this broad format. The creative process is always ongoing with these types of problems, but we'll aim to give more information closer to the contest date.
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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

Dumbs like me eligible or not?

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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Is this round rated??

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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

Hoping for some really interesting problems, especially from the 8th problem setter!

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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Solo/Individual participation not applicable ?

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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

age limit why

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    17 months ago, hide # ^ |
     
    Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    (Not an organizing committee but I've seen many high-school-friendly events running)

    It requires considerable additional paperwork/organization effort to make it possible.

    Secondly, for this event, 1 kid in the room full of adults on the finals would not be great idea. We don't want you to have a bad time.

    Competing for qualifications just for fun should be fine (in my personal view).

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19 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

How many gets qualified for the finals?

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18 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Teams of 3 ready to rock and roll!

By this, do the teams need to have exactly three participants? Would we be able to compete as individuals or teams of two?

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18 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

What is the format of the qualification round? Will it be like an ICPC contest?

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    18 months ago, hide # ^ |
     
    Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    Most problems will be not in ICPC-style but in marathon-style instead: you will get a score instead of WA/AC. Also, most of the problems will be in the "local" format as Google Hash Code: you will need to produce an output on your machine and submit it instead of the code.

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18 months ago, hide # |
← Rev. 2  
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Looking for team. I'm decent at heuristics and stuff

(Edit) I found one

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18 months ago, hide # |
← Rev. 2  
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Looking for a team. Found the team!

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18 months ago, hide # |
← Rev. 3  
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

When will the registration open?

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18 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

What's the deadline for the registration?

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18 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

will there be some kind of legit certification for competing?

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18 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Also will the problems be like the regular CF contests or we should expect something different

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18 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

“ No programming language, affiliation or problem solving methods restrictions.”

Does this allow the use of AI?

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18 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +36 Vote: I do not like it

A bit unrelated but it's great to see people like Gassa still doing CP related stuff.

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18 months ago, hide # |
← Rev. 2  
Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

Hi, can I check whether it is possible to add teammates? Is it okay if I resubmit the form again with the new teammates? Thanks!

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

Is it possible to extend registration deadline?

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it +45 Vote: I do not like it

How many problems are there?

The contest is just 2 days left, so please provide more information!

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17 months ago, hide # |
← Rev. 2  
Vote: I like it -15 Vote: I do not like it

I missed the third update that says the registration closes on April, 9th. So my team and I missed the opportunity to register :( Why close the registration two days before the contest date?

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Is it allowed to use 3 PCs at the same time? If yes, what about cloud computing?

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

i cant access the contest link page when i login my cf account on link page and it show access denied . It notify me you cant view this page while you are not group member. how i can fix this issue please help me

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    17 months ago, hide # ^ |
     
    Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

    You need to login with the team credentials that were sent to your email, not with your standard cf account.

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it -10 Vote: I do not like it

Is it possible to add another member in my team as of now?

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Do I need to submit a source code and the answer during the contest?

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it -24 Vote: I do not like it

WHERE DO WE GET CONTEST LINK

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17 months ago, hide # |
 
Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

AI was able to solve problem C1. I gave the assembly program to Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 03-25 (you can try this model here) and it found the correct formula.

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