Welcome to GopherCon 2024 Challenge Series!

We're thrilled to have everyone here in Chicago to compete once more - We have a new set of challenges to complete, and a new set of prizes to win.

Getting Started

Registration

Click on the 'Registration' button on the top-right of this page to get started!

Joining A Team

Need to find a team? Reach out in #gophercon-cs in Gophers Slack!

Already have a team? The Team Captain will need to send you an invite to join.

Accepting The Challenge

Explore the 'Challenges' section to see the list of available challenges. Some challenges will be released at different times throughout the competition, so check back often. Solve the challenges and submit your flags to earn points.

Rules

  1. Flag Locations: Unless the flag is specified as physically on-site, or part of the Gno.land challenges, it will be on a subdomain of mentats.org. DO NOT ATTACK INFRASTRUCTURE OUTSIDE OF THIS DOMAIN.
  2. Respect the Platform: Do not attempt to attack the platform or infrastructure. Focus on solving the challenges provided.
  3. No Sharing Flags: Do not share flags with other teams. Each team must solve the challenges independently.
  4. Fair Play: No cheating or use of unfair means to gain points. Play honestly and ethically.
  5. Challenge Restrictions: Some challenges may have specific restrictions. Please read the instructions carefully before attempting.
  6. Reporting Issues: If you encounter any issues or bugs, report them to the competition organizers immediately.
  7. Environmental Respect: Respect the venue, other participants, and staff. Follow all venue rules and guidelines.

Violating these rules can lead to disqualification from the competition.

Prizes

Team-Based Prizes

Our winning team takes home four (4) tickets to GopherCon 2025, while our second place team gets some new hacking hardware through a set of four (4) gift cards to mechanicalkeyboards.com, and our third place team gets a set of four (4) copies of the new book "Go Programming: From Beginner to Professional" by Samantha Coyle. As well, our three winning teams each receive a cash prize!

The winning teams are determined as the three teams which have the highest score in points at the close of the competition. In the event of a tie, number of challenges solved will be utilized as a tiebreaker. In the event that further tiebreaker is required, the tied teams will be called to the Challenge Series area for a final tiebreaker challenge.

Individual Achievement Awards

We have a set of nine (9) individual Achievement awards that players can acquire by meeting certain achievements throughout the course of the competition. The criteria for these challenges will be shown when they've been achieved.

Prizes

Each Achievement award comes with a prize of one year's subscription to 2600 Magazine, plus $100 in Google Cloud Platform credits.

Achievements

  • First Blood
  • Under The Wire!
  • Master Spy!
  • Night Owl, or Early Bird?!
  • Sharpshooter!
  • High Score!
  • Prolific!
  • Hooked on the Sidequest!
  • Efficiency Expert!

Participation Prizes

We have a variety of other prizes that are open for anyone who completes any challenge. These participation prizes include vintage copies of 2600 Magazine issues, security and programming books, and more! These prizes will be awarded at random to players who have solved at least one challenge, are present at the time we're presenting prizes on Wednesday, and have not received either a winning team prize or an individual Achievement award.

Contact

Leading up to, during, and after the competition, you can reach out for help in the #gophercon-cs channel in Gophers Slack.

Throughout the competition, one of the Challenge Series admins will be present at the designated location to offer assistance.


Thanks to our Sponsors

We would like to take a moment here to thank our generous sponsors for their support:

CodePros, Gno.land, and Google Cloud Platform!

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