The Universal Cup is an organization aiming at serving the competitive programming community, dedicated to provide high quality training resources and host onsite global events. The 3rd Universal Cup Semifinals (hereinafter “Semifinals”) is a qualification contest for The 3rd Universal Cup Finals (hereinafter “Finals”), which is a part of our Finals Qualifications

The following document defines the rules of the semifinals. You must read and follow the following rules. Violating the rules might cause you disqualified from the Semifinals and your future finals qualifications.

Please note! We introduced a desktop capture requirements for all teams who wishes to qualify to the Finals thourgh Semifinals. Raed “Proctoring Recordings” section carefully for more details!

Contest Format

1. The competition will last five hours. In case of unforeseen circumstances, the chief judge has the authority to modify the contest duration. If any changes occur regarding the contest format or duration, participants will be notified in a timely and uniform manner.
2. There will be at least ten (10), but no more than fifteen (15) problems in the contest.
3. Teams may submit claims regarding potential mistakes in a problem via a clarification request. Clarification requests must be written in English only.
4. Clarifications may be issued during the competition. These clarifications may include explanations of problem statements, additional details, extra examples, or modifications to a problem (including additions, removals, or changes).
5. All clarifications will be provided in English only, in the contest index page of the contest platform.

Problems

1. All problem statements will be provided in English only.
2. Teams may use dictionaries or online translation tools to translate the statements into other languages. No official translations will be provided.
3. No partial scores will be awarded for any problem.
4. The types of problems in the competition include:
   • Standard I/O problem: Your program must read input from the standard input and write output to the standard output.
   • Interactive problem: The program interacts with an interactor through standard I/O.
   • Multiple-Run Problem: The program will be executed multiple times, each with a different input.
   • Output-Only Problem: Teams do not submit a program but instead submit the final answers directly.

Submissions

1. The Semifinals will be hosted on QOJ, which is also the contest system we used in the Online stages of the Universal Cup.
2. You are allowed to submit solutions implemented in C, C++, D, Go, Haskell, Java, Kotlin, Pascal, Python 3, or Rust. Output-only tasks might be provided. In such case, you only need to submit your output file instead of a solution source code.
3. The detailed language specifications should be referred to in the TechNote document (will be published later).
4. Each submission is judged as accepted or rejected. No partial scores or test previews will be given to the teams.
5. Rejected runs will be marked with one of the following:
   • Compilation Error
   • Runtime Error (RE)
   • Time Limit Exceeded (TL)
   • Memory Limit Exceeded (TL)
   • Wrong Answer (WA)
   • Judgement Failed, which means our judge is broken and not functioning properly.
6. If you receive a Judgement Failed verdict, do not re-submit. Judges and the SC will handle the issue.

Scoring, Ranking, and Awarding

1. Teams are ranked according to the most problems solved.
2. Teams who solve the same number of problems are ranked first by the least penalty, with the following tie-breakers in order:
   • the tied teams will be ranked according to their last AC time, in milliseconds. Teams has the earlier last AC time will be ranked higher. Teams did not solve any problems will have the last AC time as 00:00:00.000.
   • if there is still a tie, the tied teams will be ranked according to their ratings on The 3rd Universal Cup.
   • if there is still a tie, the tied teams will be ranked according to an additional play-off task.
   • if there is still a tie, SC will decide the ranking of the tied teams.
3. The penalty is the sum of the time consumed for each problem solved plus the penalty in that problem.
4. The time consumed for a solved problem is the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the submission of the first accepted submission, in minutes.
5. The penalty in a problem is twenty (20) minutes times the number of non-accepted submissions before the first accepted submission, excluding the ones with a compilation error verdict.
6. There is no time consumed for a problem that is not solved.
7. The leaderboard will be frozen 4 hours after the contest starts, and the results submitted after 4 hours will be shown as pending on the leaderboard.

Contest Environment

1. Contestants may print out problem statements or use their own computers and electronic devices to read them during the competition.
2. During the contest, each team member can use their own computer at the same time, but only one computer is allowed to be used to write code at the same moment.
3. Team members are not permitted to use their own electronic devices simultaneously for coding or employing other problem-solving applications.
   • This includes, but is not limited to, writing code for solving problems, using scientific computing software for calculations, or running self-written programs for extended calculations.
4. Contestants should not submit malicious codes, including but not limited to attacks on the evaluation machine and malicious occupation of evaluation system resources.
5. Teams are allowed to browse the Internet to access any materials, but prohibited from communicating with anyone outside their team during the contest. The distribution of any problem-solving materials, including ideas, codes, or auxiliary programs, on the Internet is strictly forbidden.

Proctoring Recordings

1. All teams seeking to qualify for the Finals via the Semifinals must provide screen recordings of all workstations (i.e. computers) used by all team members. Failure to provide a valid recording might cause you to be disqualified from competing for Finals quotas.
2. Recordings must capture the full desktop from before the contest begins until after it ends.
3. You must record all the computers for all team members.
4. Recording software must capture all on-screen activity; browser-only or editor-only recordings are invalid.
5. You do not need to record faces, desks, or scratch work on tablets. Only screen-recording is required.
6. Videos must be uploaded within 48 hours after the contest ends via one of the following:
   1. Upload videos to your YouTube Channel; in case if you do not wish others see your recordings, you can upload them as unlisted
   2. Upload videos to your bilibili Channel
   3. Upload your videos to one of the following Netdisk services:
      • Google Drive, Dropbox, Yandex Disk, Mediafire, MEGA, Baidu Netdisk
7. Your video must satisfy the following minimum recording quality:
   • Resolution: 720×480 or higher
   • Frame rate: ≥ 10 FPS
8. If you cannot upload within 48 hours, email admin@ucup.ac with your situation and the SHA-1 hash of your recordings.
9. In case if you meet any technical difficulties on preparing your recordings, please send an email to admin@ucup.ac

Q&A:

1. What is the purpose for introducing a recording? It is very annoying.
   • A: The recording is only used to validate your performance in the Semifinals. If serious concerns are raised by the committee or other contestants, we need some materials to prove you are following our rules, especially the usage of only one computer for solving.
2. Do I have to provide a full recording? What if my system crashed and I lost some parts of the videos?
   • A: The only purpose of the recordings is to prove that you are not violating the rules. In case your system crashes or your participation is stopped for unforeseen reasons, you can have an incomplete recording without those moments, as long as you are not using that device for solving purposes. We only monitor how your team produced all the solutions.
3. My computer is very slow. Recording the screen while solving problems will make me intolerable for participating in the contest.
   • A: We set a very generous recording minimum requirement: 720×480p for at least 10 frames per second. This should not affect performance for any modern computer system. If you still cannot record the screen properly, you can use another camera to record your computer monitor as an alternative solution.
4. I have serious privacy concerns. How will you use my recordings?
   • A: The recording will only be used for validation purposes. If no concerns are found for your participation, we will not view your recordings at all. In either scenario, the recordings will not be shared with anyone else.
5. Are we allowed to publish our recording publicly?
   • A: You are free to publish them.

Appeal

1. Teams may submit an appeal regarding potential mistakes in any problems, verdicts of the submissions, or other contest decisions.
2. Appeals must be written in English only.
3. Appeals should be sent to admin@ucup.ac within 24 hours after the end of the contest session.
4. Judges will give a decision to an appeal, which might change a verdict given during the contest.
5. If you are still not satisfied with the results given by the judges, you may file a final appeal with the Universal Cup SC. The decision of the Chair of the SC shall be final.

We are excited to announce the onsite final competition for the 2nd season of the Universal Cup. This document outlines the season's structure and the criteria for progressing to the Finals.

Online Stages

The online stages last from September 2, 2023, to April 20, 2024. For details on the rules, schedule, and ratings, please visit the following links: rules, schedule, and ratings.

The online stages of this season will end on Apr 20, 2024. The ratings of the online stages will be finalized and published on Apr 23, 2024.

Note: As we mentioned in the rules, if you participated in the onsite event of an online stage and would like to add your onsite standings to the ratings, you must reach out to the organizing committee before April 22, 2024. We will not accept submissions after the publication of the results.

Semifinals

The 2nd Universal Cup Semifinals will take place online, in order to select teams for the Final Contest. The contest is scheduled on one of the last two weekends of June (June 23 or 30), with the same rules of the online stages, except the time windows part. There will be only one window for the Semifinals and it will be an original, fresh contest, which was not used in any other events. The exact time will be announced soon.

Universal Cup Finals

The 2nd Universal Cup Final event will invite at least 20 teams. The promotion process will start at least three months before the event. The promotion process is as follows.

Part 1: Online Stages (up to 10 teams)

The top 10 teams from the season's ratings will be invited to the Finals. The teams will have to choose whether to accept the invitation in the first week of the promotion process.

Part 2: Contributors (up to 2 teams)

In appreciation of teams contributing contests during the online stages, up to 2 slots are reserved. This applies to teams that submitted at least one contest but didn't qualify in Part 1. The highest-rated two among them will advance to the onsite finals. In cases where a contest is contributed by multiple teams, only one may advance using this contribution. Teams that would like to compete for the contributor slots will have to apply within the first week when the promotion process begins.

Part 3: Semifinals (at least 8 teams)

Subtracted by the number of teams promoted from Part 1 and 2, all other finals slots will be distributed through the Semifinals. Excluding teams that are already invited, teams will be invited in the order of the semifinals result. Each team will have up to 3 days to decide whether to accept the invitation. This process will start after the promotion process of Part 1 and 2 finishes and terminate when all slots are distributed.

The total number of onsite slots will be at least 20. However, the Universal Cup committee reserves the right to distribute slots if there are more.

The 2024 Universal Cup Summer Summit

The Summer Summit event will have 10 slots in total and it will only be based on the season rating. Teams will be invited in the order of the season’s rating. Each team will have up to 3 days to decide whether to accept the invitation. Note that being invited to the Summer Summit doesn’t guarantee a slot for the onsite Finals.

我们很高兴地宣布 The 2nd Universal Cup 的决赛（Finals）。本文将概述本赛季的结构、以及晋级总决赛的标准。

线上赛

本赛季的线上赛从 2023 年 9 月 2 日 到 2024 年 4 月 20 日。有关线上赛的规则、日程、排名，可见：rules, schedule, and ratings.

本赛季的线上赛将于 2024 年 4 月 20 日结束。本赛季线上赛的 Rating 将于 2024 年 4 月 23 日被汇总并最终发布。

请注意：正如我们在 rules 中所提及，如果你参加了线上赛的现场比赛，并希望将你的现场排名加入排名中，你必须在2024 年 4 月 22 日之前联系组织委员会。结果公布后，我们将不再接受提交。

Universal Cup Semifinals

The 2nd Universal Cup Semifinals（半决赛）将会在线上举办，并选拔出部分进入决赛的队伍。这场比赛计划于六月的最后两个周末之一（即 6 月 23 日或6 月 30 日）举办，并具有和线上赛除 Time Window 外相同的 规则。本场比赛将只有一个 time window，且会是一场全新的，没有在任何其他活动被使用的比赛。半决赛的具体日期将在稍后被公布。

Universal Cup Finals

The 2nd Universal Cup Finals（决赛）将会邀请至少 20 支队伍。晋级的过程将在活动前至少 3 个月开始。晋级的流程如下：

第一部分：线上赛 (至多 10 支队伍)

本赛季 Rating 排行榜的前 10 名将被邀请进入决赛。所有队伍都必须在晋级过程开始的第一周内确定是否接受邀请。

第二部分：贡献者 (至多 2 支队伍)

为了感谢贡献比赛的队伍，有 2 个 Finals 的名额被贡献给了出题人。这适用于提交了至少一场比赛但在第一部分中未能晋级的团队。其中排名最高的两支将晋级到 Finals。如果一场比赛由多支团队共同贡献，只有一支可以凭借这一贡献晋级。所有申请以这种方式晋级的队伍必须在晋级过程开始的第一周内申请。

第三部分：半决赛 (至少 8 支队伍)

通过半决赛分配的名额即为总名额减去第一部分和第二部分已晋级的队伍数量。除了已经被邀请的队伍外，其他队伍将根据半决赛的结果被邀请。每支队伍有最多 3 天的时间决定是否接受邀请。这个过程将在第一部分和第二部分的晋级过程结束后开始，并将在所有名额分配完毕时结束。

决赛的名额将会至少有 20 个。然而，如果会有更多的名额，Universal Cup 组委会将保留分配剩余名额的权利。

The 2024 Universal Cup Summer Summit

The Summer Summit（夏季峰会）总共有 10 个名额，且仅通过本赛季的 Rating 进行邀请。队伍将被按照在本赛季 Rating 的排名从高到低进行邀请。每支队伍将会有 3 天的时间来决定是否接受邀请。请注意，被夏季峰会邀请并不代表获得保送 Finals 的名额。

As a Christmas/New Year special event, the 2nd Universal Cup Prime Contest is scheduled from Dec 24 (after the end of the last window of Stage 15) to Jan 6 (before the start of the first window of Stage 17). Registration of the contest will be opened soon.

We hope that this contest will be a great entertaining event for the Christmas to New Year period. Wish you all a good time!

Contest format

The contest will start on Dec 24, 2023, at 12:00 (UTC +8) and end on Jan 6, 2024, at 00:00 (UTC +8). It will last 300 hours in total.

There will be about 40 problems in total, which were the tasks that were not solved by anyone during the contest in the following contests:

• The Universal Cup regular stages in 2023.
• The contests written by the Universal Cup committee members in 2022 and 2023, including ICPC Regional Contests, CCPC Contests, training camp contests, and (Chinese) Olympiad in Informatics.
• Other contests submitted by the contest authors.

Additional tasks might be added during the contest.

Rules

Due to the special format of the contest, the rules of the contest will be different from the regular stages.

• You are allowed to use any internet materials and any pre-written codes written by your team.
  • In particular, you are allowed to submit any tasks that were previously solved by your team, as long as they were finished by yourself. Copy-pasting other's solutions is strictly prohibited in the contest.
• There will be no restrictions on the number of computers you used in the contest.

Ranking

The competition will be ranked in descending order of the first keyword by the number of solved problems, and ascending order of the second keyword by the time penalty.

The Penalty rules are different from the regular universal cup stages.

The penalty for a problem is the the time elapsed from the beginning of the contest to the submission of the first accepted run. The total penalty of the team is the maximum penalty of all solved problems.

Every wrong submission of a solved problem will add the total penalty by $20$ minutes.

The scoreboard will not be frozen in the contest. It is available during the whole contest window.

In the interest of contributing to the community and bridging the gap between competitive programming and industry, we are happy to announce that in the future, Universal Cup will be cooperating with Huawei in many areas.

Huawei will support Universal Cup in future seasons. In the meantime, we will explore the cutting-edge challenges from the industry together as an additional activity during the Universal Cup season. These events might also serve as parts of other official programming competitions. Moreover, we intend to run some interviews and other events together, providing opportunities for communication between participants and the industry. We also hope that in the future, we can invite the top competitive programming teams to compete in the Universal Cup Onsite Final. It will definitely be one of the best events ever! Please stay tuned and support Universal Cup!

About Universal Cup

The Universal Cup is a non-profit organization dedicated to offering training resources for competitive programming teams. Up to now, there are more than 2600 teams from all over the world registering for Universal Cup. With the permission of contest setters and without involving copyright disputes, the Universal Cup will hold mirror contests for some undisclosed competition sets. We will simulate the actual situation in the competition, executing the board freeze in the last hour. At the same time, we will provide an overall rating board, which will help the team to make a reasonable assessment of itself.

If you want to find a more detailed introduction or participate in this season, please visit: https://ucup.ac

About Huawei

Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. We have 207,000 employees and we operate in more than 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world.

Our vision and mission is to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world. To this end, we will work towards ubiquitous connectivity and inclusive network access, laying the foundation for an intelligent world, providing diversified computing power where you need it, when you need it, to bring cloud and intelligence to all four corners of the earth; build digital platforms to help all industries and organizations become more agile, efficient, and dynamic; and redefine user experience with AI, making it smarter and more personalized for people in all aspects of their life, whether they're at home, on the go, in the office, having fun, or working out.

For more information, please visit Huawei online at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/Huawei, http://www.twitter.com/Huawei, http://www.facebook.com/Huawei, http://www.youtube.com/Huawei

This post is a brief manual for the Universal Cup Contest System, detailing the system interface's functionality. We recommend every team familiarize themselves with this guide to get the most out of our system. This post will take approximately 5 minutes to read.

Log in to the System

To log in, click on the Login button located in the top right corner of the website. You must use the login credentials provided to you. You will not be able to enter the contest if you have not logged in with the account we have provided you with.

Usernames follow the format: ucup-teamXXX or ucup-teamXXXX. If you possess credentials from the previous season of the Universal Cup, remember to prefix your username with ucup-. For instance, if your old username was team001, it should now be ucup-team001.

If you have any problems logging into the system, please contact the committee for assistance.

Register for the Contest

Browse the contest list to see past and upcoming contests. If you wish to participate in a future contest, click on its name to navigate to the registration page.

On the registration page, you will have the option to select a time window for participation. Please select the contest window carefully. You will not be able to make changes once the contest has started.

If you would like to change your chosen time window before the start of the contest, you can see a deregister button near the contest name. Click on this button to deregister in order to reselect the time window.

Participate in the Contest

Once your chosen time window begins, you can access the contest page and view the tasks. A live scoreboard is also available for tracking the current standings.

The contest page's bottom right corner will list any attachments pertinent to the contest, typically containing the complete PDF statements for all tasks. You can download and print the complete problemset.

For each problem, the problem page might feature up to 4 tabs:

• Statement: the PDF statement for this problem. It should be the same as the one in the complete .pdf problemset.
• Submit: submit your solution in this problem. You can select the language you would like to use and fill in the codes, or submit a file directly. In the output-only tasks, you might be asked to upload the answer file directly.
• Custom Test: the way to run your solution in the judging server. You can run any code and customize the input in the Custom Test tab. Your solution will be running in the same judging server as the grading one. This can help you solve problems that may arise due to the varying performance of the machines.
• Attachments: the attachments for this problem. It will contains the sample testcases in this problem. Other resources, such as large samples, source codes in the statements or any other files that needed to be distributed, will also be included in the attachments.

Submitting Your Solutions

Once you have finished your solution, you can submit it to the corresponding problem. The judging will be started once you submit your solution successfully. The verdict AC (or score 100) means you solved the problem perfectly. Otherwise, you will receive the corresponding verdicts.

You can view the judge details by clicking the submission ID. It will show the judging details on each test case.

Once the contest has been finished, you will be able to see the preview of the testcase by clicking the status bar.

Asking Questions and Receiving Clarifications

If you have any questions about the tasks, judging systems or contest participation, you can ask the questions in the contest page. You will be able to receive notifications as soon as the clarifications are available.

The contest page will also contains the list of all the clarifications were made. Any important information about the tasks and judging systems will be available there.

Upsolving and Virtual Contests

After your contest window finishes, you can continue solving problems. However, these submissions won't influence the scoreboard.

If you missed some contest, you can participate in it virtually. Virtually doing a contest won't update the rating of your team, so it is just for practice. To do that, you can enter the contest page and found the virtual contest bar in the right corner of the page. Virtual contest will be available after all the windows of the contest finished.

Code Visibilities

You can change whether or not to share the solution code on the Personal Information page. By default, the solution is hidden to others. If you choose to share your solution code, others will be able to view your solution by accessing your submission.