Official Rules and Regulations

No purchase necessary to enter or win. Void where prohibited.

Summary of the Tournament
The DoubleClick™ 2004 Coding Challenge ("DCCC") is being offered by DoubleClick Inc. ("DoubleClick") and TopCoder, Inc. ("TopCoder"). The DCCC will take place between Monday, February 2 and Friday, February 27, 2004. It begins with a two-week online registration, after which all registered individuals will participate in a Qualification Round to determine who will compete in the subsequent two rounds of the programming tournament. The entire tournament consists of a Qualification Round, one (1) main competition round, and one (1) onsite final round. All participants who compete in the main competition round will receive a DoubleClick 2004 Coding Challenge T-shirt. In addition, DoubleClick will award $10,000 in cash prizes to the 10 finalists in the tournament.

Eligibility
Students meeting the following criteria are eligible to compete in the DoubleClick 2004 Coding Challenge:

• Must be at least 18 years of age (as of February 2, 2004)
• Must be matriculated full-time at either Columbia University (2960 Broadway, New York, NY 10027) or New York University (22 Washington Square North, New York, NY 10011)

Registration
Registration will open on Monday, February 2 at 12:00PM ET and will close on Sunday, February 15 at 12:00PM ET. Individuals can only register once.

Competition Advancement
At the end of Round 1 (Qualification), all participants with positive (i.e., greater than zero) scores will be eligible to compete in Round 2 (Main Competition). All participants competing in the main competition round will be randomly assigned to specific virtual rooms, with up to 10 people in each room. TopCoder will determine all room assignments prior to the start of the main competition round. The top 10 scorers from across all virtual rooms in Round 2 will advance to Round 3 (Final), which will be held onsite at DoubleClick's headquarters in New York, NY, USA.

Qualification Round
Round 1, the Qualification Round, will be open for two (2) 12-hour sessions. The first session will be open from 9:00AM through 9:00PM ET Monday, February 16, 2004. The second session will be open from 9:00AM through 9:00PM ET Wednesday, February 18, 2004. Participants can only attempt to qualify one time during one of the two sessions.

The Qualification Round will consist of two phases: the Coding Phase and System Testing Phase.

• The Coding Phase is a timed event where participants are presented with one of two possible problems. Points for the problem are awarded upon submission of any solution that successfully compiles and are calculated based on the total time elapsed from the time the problem was opened to the time it was submitted. Participants will have 60 minutes to complete the problem. The timer in the coding window will count down to the end of the 60 minutes. A participant who begins the round within the final 60 minutes of either session will have less than 60 minutes to attempt qualification.
• The System Testing Phase is a series of automated tests applied to all submitted code at the conclusion of the Qualification Round. If the TopCoder System Test finds code that is flawed, the author of that code submission will lose all of the points that were originally earned for that code submission. The automated tester will apply a set of inputs, expecting the output from the code submission to be correct. If the output from a participant's submission does not match the expected output, the submission is considered flawed. The same set of input/output test cases will be applied to all code submissions for a given question.

Upon logging in to the Competition Arena during the Qualification Round, each competitor who has registered for the DCCC will receive a message indicating which problem he/she has been assigned. All participants who score positive points on the problem during the Qualification Round will be eligible to compete in Round 2 (Main Competition) of the DCCC.

About the Tournament
Use of Plugins in the Competition Arena
The use of external TopCoder Arena plugins or any modifications to the Competition Arena functionality is strictly prohibited.

Logging In to the Competition Round
All participants in Round 2 must log in to the Competition Arena no later than ten minutes prior to the start of the online round. If a participant does not participate, for any reason, in the online round he/she has advanced to, it will be treated as an automatic loss in that round of competition.

Scoring and Advancing
After the results of Round 2 are compiled, the top 10 scorers from across all virtual rooms will be identified and will advance to Round 3, the final round. Each participant must have positive points to advance, so if there are less than 10 participants who score positive points, only those competitors with a positive point total will advance. Participant advancement is determined by comparing the total point values from all three phases of the round (see Structure of Rounds 2 and 3) for each participant.

NOTE: In the event of a tie for an advancing position from Round 2 to Round 3, the tie will be resolved in the following manner:

• Total points acquired (higher is better) during Round 1, the Qualification Round
• If a tie still remains, all tied participants will advance to the next round

Structure of Rounds 2 and 3
Rounds 2 and 3 consist of three phases: the Coding Phase, Challenge Phase, and System Testing Phase. Round 1, the Qualification Round, will consist only of the Coding Phase and System Testing Phase. (See Qualification Round for details.)

• The Coding Phase is a timed event where all contestants are presented with the same three questions representing three levels of complexity and, accordingly, three levels of point earning potential. Points for a question are awarded upon submission of any solution that successfully compiles, and are calculated based on the total time elapsed from the time the question was opened to the time it was submitted.
• The Challenge Phase is a timed event wherein each competitor has a chance to challenge the functionality of other participants' code. A successful challenge will result in a loss of the original problem submission points by the defendant, and a 50-point reward for the challenger. Unsuccessful challengers will incur a point reduction of 50 points as a penalty, applied against their total score in that round of competition.
• The System Testing Phase is a series of automated tests applied to all submitted code that has not already been successfully challenged. If the TopCoder System Test finds code that is flawed, the author of that code submission will lose all of the points that were originally earned for that code submission. The automated tester will apply a set of inputs, expecting the output from the code submission to be correct. If the output from a participant's submission does not match the expected output, the submission is considered flawed. All successful challenges from the Challenge Phase will be added to the global set of test cases that are used in the System Testing Phase to test all submitted code.

Onsite Final Round
The 10 advancers from Round 2 will travel, at their own expense, to DoubleClick's headquarters to compete in the final round of the tournament being held on Friday, February 27, 2004 at 1:00PM ET. Each finalist must confirm his/her attendance in the final round by 5:00PM ET on Tuesday, February 24, 2004. If a participant does not confirm his/her attendance in the final round by this time, he/she will forfeit eligibility to receive a prize, and his/her spot in the tournament will be given to the next highest scorer from Round 2.

The final round will consist of a single virtual room of 10 participants, all 10 of whom will win a cash prize, depending on how each places in the round. The participant with the highest point value in the final round will be declared the first place winner. In the event of a tie in the final round, the tie will be resolved in the following manner (in order):

• Total points acquired (higher is better) during Round 2
• If a tie still remains in the final round, then the prize money will be distributed equally among the tied participants.

About the Prizes
All participants who compete in Round 2 will receive a DoubleClick 2004 Coding Challenge T-shirt. In addition, the 10 finalists in Round 3 will receive cash prizes. Any and all applicable taxes on prizes are the sole responsibility of the prizewinner. Prizes will be distributed as follows:

Conditions of Participation
By participating in the tournament, you agree to be bound by these rules and to all decisions of DoubleClick and TopCoder, which are final, binding and conclusive in all matters.

Participants must not cheat or work in teams. All ideas for any code and/or challenge submitted must be the participant's alone.

DoubleClick may use the results of the DCCC to identify possible employees or interns.

All decisions relating to the viability of submissions, the ranking of submissions and all other matters pertaining to the tournament shall be within the sole discretion of TopCoder or its designee and shall be final and binding in all respects.

As a condition of participation in the tournament, all information provided by you upon registration must be comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date. DoubleClick and/or TopCoder may require you to complete an additional registration form to register for the tournament. In order to be eligible to participate in the tournament, you must have completed any and all registration forms required by DoubleClick and TopCoder.

Prizewinners will be announced upon completion of the final round. Any prizewinner claiming a cash prize must complete the appropriate legal documents onsite before claiming the prize (DoubleClick will provide the prizewinners with these documents prior to the start of the final round).

All prizes will be sent to winners within two weeks after the conclusion of the final round as long as the necessary legal documents have been received. All T-shirts will be sent to participants within six weeks after the conclusion of the final round using the address given during registration. Unclaimed or undeliverable prizes will not be awarded.

Legal Documents
As a condition of winning and redeeming a cash prize, winners will be required to complete and provide to DoubleClick a completed (i) Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and Publicity Release (the "Affidavit"), and (ii) IRS Form W-9 or W-8BEN, as appropriate. In completing the Affidavit, a winner (a) confirms his/her eligibility, (b) represents and warrants that he/she has not cheated; that the idea for the code and/or challenge submitted is his/hers alone, (c) verifies the accuracy of the information submitted in the DoubleClick 2004 Coding Challenge registration process, (d) authorizes TopCoder and DoubleClick to publicize the tournament's results, (e) agrees to sign any applicable forms required by tax authorities, (f) licenses to TopCoder and DoubleClick rights to all information submitted during the tournament (including rights to source code and other executables), and (g) releases TopCoder and DoubleClick from liability arising out of any prize won. DoubleClick requires contestants to complete Form W-9 or W-8BEN, as applicable, for tax reporting purposes.

Prize Disclaimers
If prize notification is returned as undeliverable, or if the winner fails to return the Affidavit or the applicable tax form, the winner will be disqualified and the prize money won by the disqualified winner will be forfeited. Providing false information in the registration process or in the required forms described above will disqualify a winner.

By participating in a tournament and redeeming a prize, a winner releases and agrees to hold harmless DoubleClick and TopCoder, their affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotion agencies, sponsors, and prize suppliers, and all of their respective directors, officers, employees, representatives and agents, from and against any and all liability for any loss, property damage or damage to person, including without limitation, death and injury, due in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, from or arising out of participation in this tournament, or participation in any tournament-related activity, or the receipt, use or misuse of a prize. DoubleClick and TopCoder specifically disclaim all liability associated with, and make no warranties with regard to, any prize given.

In addition, all prizewinners agree to cooperate with DoubleClick's and TopCoder's publicity efforts, without further compensation. This includes the agreement to use their name, handle, address (city and state) and likeness for publicity purposes, where legal, for this or similar future tournaments, and to use the statements made by, or attributed to, the winners relating to DoubleClick and TopCoder and any and all rights to said use, without further compensation.

DoubleClick and TopCoder reserve the right, in their sole discretion, to revoke any and all privileges associated with competing in this tournament, and to take any other action it deems appropriate, for no reason or any reason whatsoever, including if TopCoder suspects competitors of cheating, tampering with the entry process, the operation of the Web site, or the tournament process, or otherwise being in violation of the rules. DoubleClick and TopCoder reserve the right to cancel, terminate or modify the tournament if it is not capable of completion as planned for any reason, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention or technical failures of any sort.

Other
The tournament is void in whole or in part where prohibited by law.

This tournament is brought to you by TopCoder, Inc. (http://www.topcoder.com/) 703 Hebron Avenue (now 95 Glastonbury Blvd), Glastonbury, CT 06033 and DoubleClick Inc. (http://www.doubleclick.net) 111 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10011.