Welcome to Al Zimmermann's Programming Contests . You've entered
an arena where demented computer programmers compete for glory and for
some cool prizes.
I run one or two contests per year. Each contest asks that you come up with your
best solutions to a set of computationally intensive problems, generally involving
sophisticated heuristics. And, although I speak
of "programming" contests, you don't need to write a computer program to
enter. You can enter whether you use a computer, manual calculations, or tea leaves
to solve the problems. You send me solutions, not programs.
To enter a contest, you must
register .
Once registered, you submit your solutions through this website. You get instant
feedback and your name immediately appears on the contest's standings page where, if
you've done well, you can start to bask in some of that aforementioned glory.
Current Contest
Contest
Started
Ends
Prizes
Powerful Sums
22 Nov 2025
21 Feb 2026 16:00
Gift certificates for Art of Play , as follows:
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Place:
$500, $250, $100, $50
You must be logged on to submit entries.
All times are in
UTC. Please log on
to see times in your local time zone.
Upcoming Contests
Contest
Starts
Ends
Prizes
Yosemite
18 Jul 2026 15:00
17 Oct 2026
TBA
Yellowstone
20 Mar 2027 15:00
19 Jun 2027
TBA
A contest's description is not available until the contest begins.
All times are in
UTC. Please log on
to see times in your local time zone.
Previous Contests
Contest
Started
Ended
First Place
Second Place
Nearly Magic Hexagons
15 Feb 2025
21 Jun 2025
Hans-Werner & Matthias Paulsen
Roy van Rijn
Magic Hexagons
23 Mar 2025
21 Jun 2025
Ralph Pulletz
Bert Dobbelaere
Balto's Puzzle
5 Oct 2024
4 Jan 2025
Rafaël Bocquet
Jeremy Sawicki
Stepping Stones
6 Aug 2022
5 Nov 2022
Rafaël Bocquet
Spencer / Spencer
Oddly Triangular
7 Sep 2022
8 Sep 2022
Tomas Rokicki
Benjamin Butin
AP Math
25 Sep 2021
27 Dec 2021
Jarek Wroblewski
Hans-Werner & Matthias Paulsen
Monochromatic Triangles
19 Jun 2021
18 Sep 2021
Hans-Werner & Matthias Paulsen
Rikuya Tomii
Sums of Powers
28 Mar 2020
18 Jul 2020
Martin Piotte
Rafaël Bocquet
Reversing Nearness
27 Jul 2019
26 Oct 2019
Tomas Rokicki
Martin Piotte
Hexagonal Neighbors
3 Nov 2018
2 Feb 2019
Tom Sirgedas
Tomas Rokicki
Primorial Soup
23 Sep 2017
23 Dec 2017
Jarek Wroblewski
Jeremy Sawicki
Polygonal Areas
10 Dec 2016
11 Mar 2017
Tomas Rokicki
Tom Sirgedas
Non-Coplanar Points
5 Mar 2016
4 Jun 2016
Tim Foden
Tomas Rokicki
Sums and Products II
28 Nov 2015
27 Feb 2016
Tomas Rokicki
Gil Dogon
Sums and Products I
14 Nov 2015
13 Feb 2016
Tomas Rokicki
Oleg Vlasii
Delacorte Numbers
4 Oct 2014
3 Jan 2015
Hermann Jurksch & Hugo Pfoertner
Arch D. Robison
Alphabet City
18 May 2014
17 Aug 2014
Ivan Kazmenko
Igor Dimitrijevic
Graceful Graphs
21 Sep 2013
21 Dec 2013
Tomas Rokicki
Jarek Wroblewski
Factorials
19 Jan 2013
20 Apr 2013
Tomas Rokicki
Hermann Jurksch
Topswops
13 Nov 2010
12 Feb 2011
Jarek Wroblewski
Tomas Rokicki
Son Of Darts
20 Jun 2009
20 Jun 2010
John Morris
Herbert Kociemba
Retaining Water
13 Mar 2010
12 Jun 2010
Walter Trump
Hermann Jurksch
Point Packing
11 Jul 2009
10 Oct 2009
Hugo Pfoertner
Hermann Jurksch
Unsolicited comments about Al Zimmermann's Programming Contests
"Perhaps the best way to proactively procrastinate I have yet to find!"
– Benjamin Laken, Madrid, Spain
"Here I am, so much actual work to do, but totally entranced by yet another Al Zimmermann programming contest."
– Tom Rokicki, Palo Alto, California
"Your competitions are, without doubt, the best. I may have lost months of my free time but, by Jove, it has been worth every second."
– Mathew Davies, Luton, England
"For this I sent him to college? Oy."
– Al Zimmermann's mother
