MIT's Premier Programming Competition

Battlecode 2024 ended on February 3rd, 2024!

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What is Battlecode?

In Battlecode, two teams of virtual robots roam the screen, managing resources and executing different offensive strategies against each other. Plan, code, and compete throughout the month of January for a chance at more than $15,000 in prizes!

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Want to sponsor Battlecode 2025?

Contact us at battlecode-sponsorship@mit.edu for more information! We offer multiple sponsorship tiers which can include tech talks, final tournament booths, and more.

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Who can participate?

Anyone is welcome to participate in Battlecode! Any team is eligible to participate in the Sprint Tournaments for prize money. However, only student teams (including non-MIT student teams) are eligible for the remaining tournaments and prize money.

Full Eligibility Rules

Battlecode 2024: Breadwars

In Battlecode: Breadwars, civilization has eroded away after millenia, giving way to a beautiful oceanic world teeming with life. Small feet splash through the water and metallic feathers fall as the robots, now two opposing flocks of avian adversaries, prepare to fight. Spring is coming, and with it, the annual avian bread battles.

The first player to capture all three slices of the opponent’s bread wins the game. Teams can build traps and dig water to defend their bread. Each team has a fixed amount of units that level up and specialize in performing actions over time, making them more powerful as the game progresses.

Read these postmortems that provide a competitors’ view of the game!
2024 Postmortem by “cout for clout” (HS 1st)

Other links:
Battlecode 2024 Statistics, compiled by team “camel_case”
A Guide to Battlecode, by Ivan Geffner

Final Standings

Place Team(s) Prize Amount
1st Gone Sharkin’ $5000
2nd camel_case $2500
3rd don’t eat my nonorientable shapes $1200
4th om nom $900
5th It’s A Trap?, Post Modernism $800
7th Baby Ducks, buhg $700
9th Goose, Goobie Woobies, wololo, placeholder name $600
13th Pat, WeStoleYourWaifu, hadoop, muskellunge $500
Sprint I & II Winner Gone Sharkin’ $250 x 2
MIT Newbie 1st Shiba Inu $600
MIT Newbie 2nd place Funky Guy $400
MIT Newbie 3rd place Loaf Sharks $200
MIT Newbie 4th place BLACC $100
HS 1st place cout for clout $600
HS 2nd place Super Gopher Powers $400
HS 3rd place SPAARK $200

Silver Sponsors

Hudson River Trading

Hudson River Trading (HRT) brings a scientific approach to trading financial products. We have built one of the world’s most sophisticated computing environments for research and development. Our researchers are at the forefront of innovation in the world of algorithmic trading. At HRT we welcome a variety of expertise: mathematics and computer science, physics and engineering, media and tech. We value openness and transparency, and celebrate great ideas from HRT veterans and new hires alike. At HRT we’re friends and colleagues – whether we are sharing a meal, playing the latest board game, or writing elegant code.

Jane Street

Jane Street is a quantitative trading firm with offices worldwide. We hire smart, humble people who love to solve problems, build systems, and test theories. You’ll learn something new every day in our office—whether it’s connecting with a colleague to share perspectives, or participating in a talk, class, or game night. Our success is driven by our people and we never stop improving.

Spark Investment Management

We are creating a groundbreaking data science system for our next-generation hedge fund. For over a decade, our outstanding people, many of whom have PhDs, have been developing the next generation of technologies, ideas, and strategies. We have been highly successful because of both our technically superior strategies and our brilliant people. We have a close-knit group, distinguished by their interest in our shared success, half of whom are graduates from Harvard, MIT, and Cornell. We have experience with H-1B and green card sponsorship, and visa status is not a constraint.


Bronze Sponsors

Roblox

 

The D.E. Shaw Group

 

Citadel

 

Other Sponsors

Wilkens Family