Each school can enter no more than two teams. Of this year's 2,770 teams, sixty selected from over 89 sites worldwide will qualify for this year's World Finals. Only one winning team from each institution may advance to the World Finals. Sixty teams from around the world competed at the 2000 World Finals in Orlando, Fla., representing close to 67 countries around the world. Teams represented universities from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, the United States, and hosting sites for the first time included teams from Spain, South Africa, India and Iran.
Competitors race against the clock in a battle of logic, strategy and mental endurance.
Students collaborate with their team to write a software program, test and debug it. These problems can generally be solved by careful analysis and application of algorithms taught in undergraduate computer science courses. There is a 20-minute penalty for each incorrect problem submitted. The team that solves the most problems in the fewest attempts in the shortest period of time is declared the winner. In 1997, IBM's first year of sponsorship, the company helped to bring the competition into several Latin American and Asian countries.