About the Galcon Prize
The Galcon Prize is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to improve the Galcon rankings system! Galcon is a winner-takes-all multi-player game for 2-4 players. Entries are to be written in python. The prize is an 8GB iPod Touch. Entries must be uploaded by Oct 5.
Download the contest information - This .zip includes the sample data, the judging software, and several example entries of rather poor quality.
Part of README.txt
SUMMARY
The current Galcon-iphone rankings system doesn't work very well! It's
too slow and not very accurate. Galcon is a multi-player game for 2-4
players. In each round there is one winner and no second place. I need
you to code a new rankings system in python!
I'm running this contest because:
- I'm low on ideas for making a good rankings system
- Several people have expressed interested in trying this
So here it is! So keep it friendly, have a good time, and may
the best rankings-guru win! :)
PRIZE
FIVE BILLION US DOLL... I mean, you get an 8GB iPod Touch !!! Wooo!
I know in contests there is a pretty big drive to be super secretive,
but I think it would be great if there was a bit of discussion going
on to generate some good ideas :)
DATES
Sept 20. - Contest Begins TODAY!
Sept 28. - Midterm Eval (optional)
mid-eval, submit entries by end of Sept 28 if you want to see
how you are doing compared to the other entrants. Although you
can share you entries with others before then, I won't be doing
that at this point. Upload your entry to the website.
I will also update the data.txt at this point, so you'll have
even MORE data to run your tests against.
Oct 5. - Final Entries
You must upload your entry to the website by the end of
the day.
Oct 6 - Preliminary Results
if a top entry has "issues" I will give the author a day
to try and resolve those, otherwise, I'll go to the next
best, etc etc .. I will post a .zip of all the entries so
you can see exactly what everyone else did at this point.
Oct 8? - Implementation
implementation on my website will happen ASAP after that - weather permitting
Fine print: I'm no lawyer, so the rules might not be fool-proof. My common-sense will decide how to handle any "stuff" that comes up. All dates are relative to MST. The upload system doesn't have any magical shut-off, so you might be able to squeeze in entries a few hours late. But if it's past mid-night my time, and I've decided to cut things off, don't complain.