Official Competition Rules

Entry & Acceptance

Entry in this Competition constitutes your acceptance of these Official Rules (the "Rules"). The PokéAgent Challenge (the "Competition") is a skills‑based event designed to advance research in reinforcement learning, large‑language‑model agents, and long‑horizon planning. By submitting any entry ("Submission") you agree to be bound by these Rules. If you do not agree, do not submit.

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1. Competition‑Specific Terms

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2. Competition‑Specific Rules

2.1 Tracks & Evaluation Weights

The Competition comprises two equally‑weighted tracks:

• Battling Track (50%) — Evaluates language‑based competitive agents on Pokémon Showdown™. This track comprises two battle modes; their scores are averaged for the final track score.
• Speedrunning Track (50%) — Evaluates autonomous Emerald speedruns in the provided emulator environment. Rankings are based on Adjusted Performance, combining raw performance metrics (milestone completion, time, actions) with a scaffolding penalty factor that accounts for external support structures (state information, tools, memory, feedback, fine-tuning). Detailed evaluation criteria are available on the Track 2 page.

Prizes and overall ranking are allocated per‑track as outlined in Table §1‑5.

2.2 Team Limits

1. Maximum team size: 10 members.
2. Team mergers are permitted until the Team Merger Deadline (see Timeline). After merging, the combined daily Submission quota must not exceed the cumulative allowance earned up to that point.

2.3 Submission Limits

1. Each team may make up to 5 Submissions per 24‑hour period.
2. Teams may designate up to 1 Final Submission for judging before the Final Submission Deadline.

2.4 Competition Timeline (tentative)

Dates are approximate and subject to change. The authoritative timeline will be maintained on the Competition Website.

2.5 Competition Data

a) Access & Use

Participants may use the provided datasets and tools only for (i) developing and evaluating Competition Submissions on the Competition Website and (ii) non‑commercial academic research or education. Any other use requires the Sponsor's express written consent.

b) Security

You must employ reasonable measures to prevent anyone who has not agreed to these Rules from accessing the data. Redistribution in any form is prohibited. Report suspected leaks immediately via the Competition forum or by email to pokeagentchallenge@gmail.com.

2.6 Winner License

1. You grant a worldwide, non‑exclusive, transferable, irrevocable, royalty‑free license to the Sponsor to use, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works of, publicly display and perform, and otherwise exploit your winning Submission and its source code for any purpose.
2. Open‑sourcing is strongly encouraged. You may release your code under any OSI‑approved license, provided it does not restrict the Sponsor's rights described above.

2.7 External Data & Tools

External data, pretrained models, and automated ML tools are permitted provided they are (i) publicly available to all Participants at minimal or no cost or (ii) satisfy the Reasonableness Standard set forth by the Host and are otherwise compatible with these Rules.

2.8 Submission Originality Requirements

Baseline Originality: Exact clones or trivial modifications of organizer-hosted baselines are not eligible for prizes. All prize-eligible submissions must demonstrate one or more of the following:

• Novel approaches: Original methods, architectures, or algorithms not present in organizer baselines
• Meaningful modifications: Substantial improvements, extensions, or adaptations beyond parameter tuning or simple refactoring
• Original implementations: Independent implementations with distinct design decisions and substantial engineering effort

Simple repackaging, minimal code changes, or straightforward combinations of existing baseline components will be disqualified from prize consideration. The organizing committee will evaluate all submissions for originality and may request additional documentation or code review to verify eligibility.

2.9 Eligibility & Prize Requirements

General Participation: Employees, interns, or contractors of the organizing committee may participate but are ineligible for prizes. All Participants are responsible for compliance with their employer's internal policies.

Prize Eligibility: For a team to be eligible to win, each member must satisfy all of the following conditions:

• Be at least 18 years old and at least the age of majority in their place of residence.
• Not reside in any region or country subject to U.S. export‑control regulations.
• Not be an organizer of this Competition nor an immediate family member of a Competition organizer.

Award Receipt: To receive any awards from our sponsors, Competition winners must attend the NeurIPS workshop (in‑person) and detail their solution in the retrospective paper.

2.10 Winner Obligations

Prize winners must, within 14 days of notification:

1. Deliver fully reproducible code, pretrained weights, and documentation sufficient for the Sponsor to regenerate the winning Submission.
2. Execute the license grant set forth in § 2.6.
3. Complete and return all required tax and eligibility forms.

2.11 Organizer Authority & Rule Changes

Rule Modifications: The Competition organizers may change these Rules, the timeline, evaluation metrics, prize structure, or any other aspect of the Competition at any time, without prior notice, before the Competition ends. This includes the right to modify game rules during the Competition to ensure fair play, balance, or maintain event integrity.

Disqualification Powers: Organizers reserve the right to disqualify participants or teams at any point—before, during, or after the Competition—if cheating, plagiarism, collusion, or other misconduct is discovered or suspected. Like retractions from academic journals, disqualification may occur even after results are announced if violations are later discovered.

Final Authority: All organizer decisions are final and binding. We want you to succeed—please reach out to us if you are uncertain about whether your current approach violates these Rules.

2.12 Governing Law

Unless superseded by local law, these Rules are governed by the laws of the State of California, USA, and any actions will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts of Santa Clara County, California.

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3. General Provisions

These Rules constitute the entire agreement between you and the Competition Sponsor regarding the Competition and supersede any prior understandings. If any provision is held invalid, the remainder will continue in full force and effect.