Who can enter?
- The challenge is open to both teams and individuals.
- Each team must consist of no more than five participants. In addition to the five team members, each team is allowed one mentor. The mentor does not count towards the team size limit.
- All participants must be U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents.
- All entrants must be 5-18 years of age at the time of entry.
- Entrants under 13 years old are not allowed to register for this competition or provide any personal information on the registration form. Parents or guardians must register on their behalf and manage their account.
- All Team Members under 18 must upload a signed copy of the parental/guardian consent form, available on the submission website.
- Entrants are permitted to submit more than one game entry, but it is recommended to focus on a single submission entry.
- Employees, contractors, officers, or judges of Ensemble Government Services, the U.S. National Science Foundation, or any partner organizations and their legal dependents are not eligible to enter the challenge.
Entry requirements
- Each Team Lead will need to invite all team members to register. After all Team Members have registered, then all Team Members under 18 must have their parents/guardians sign the parental/guardian consent form and upload them prior to/at the time of submission.
- The age of the oldest team member will determine your team’s age category.
- The order in which names are listed on the entry form and their spelling is how the names will appear on the submission platform and any associated websites/materials.
- Entries must be appropriate for all ages. Entries must not include human-on-human or human-on animal violence; offensive, discriminatory, and/or hateful content; overtly political content; or sexual themes. Games that include any of these elements will be disqualified.
- Each entrant certifies, through submission to the contest, that the entry is their original creative work and does not violate or infringe the creative work of others, as protected under U.S. copyright law, trademark or patent law. Entries must not contain any reference to or likeness of any identifiable third parties unless consent has been obtained from all such individuals.
- Entries must not use the NSF logo within the contents of their submission.
- If entries were developed with generative artificial intelligence (GAI), submissions should indicate this in the submission and how the GAI technology was used.
Additional information
- A contest entry constitutes an agreement to adhere to the rules and stipulations set forth by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
- Prizes will be equally divided among team members and distributed to each individual member of the team.
- Winners and their parents or guardians are responsible for all taxes or other fees connected with the prize received and/or travel paid for by the sponsoring organization.
- Should NSF decide to bring winning contestants to Washington, D.C., or any other location for promotional and other purposes, expenses paid by NSF will be within the limits outlined in law according to federal travel regulations.
- NSF will not adjudicate or be held responsible for disputes among team members.
- Any entrant or entry found violating any rule will be disqualified at the sole discretion of the contest sponsors.
- By entering the contest, the entrants agree to hold harmless NSF for all legal and administrative claims, including associated expenses that may arise from any claims related to their submission or its use.
- All judges’ decisions are final and may not be appealed.
- Entrants retain all copyright and equivalent rights but grant NSF a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, nonexclusive license to publicly display, distribute, reproduce and create derivative works of the entries, in whole or in part, in any media now existing or later developed, for any purpose as well as nonexclusive rights to use their names, likenesses, quotes, for educational publicity and/or promotional purposes. These include, but are not limited to, website display, print materials and exhibits.
- NSF will not be responsible for any claims or complaints from third parties about ownership disputes regarding the ideas, solutions, images or video.
- All third parties must implement and maintain robust security measures to protect data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. The third party must adhere to government-specified data protection protocols and provide documentation verifying compliance, as needed.
- NSF reserves the right to modify or cancel the challenge at any time during the duration of the challenge for any reason, including but not limited to an insufficient number of qualified entries received.
- All contestants agree that they, their heirs and estates shall hold harmless the United States, the employees of the federal government, and all employees of NSF for any injuries and/or claims arising from participation in this contest, including that which may occur while traveling to or participating in contest activities.
- Challenge sponsors have the sole authority to resolve any dispute or alleged ambiguity associated with the challenge, including the meaning or application of these rules.