Game of Nodes is KNIME's data science world tournament where the KNIME community engages in battles of nodes and workflows to tackle data analytics challenges. In the customary atmosphere of encouragement, learning and open-mindedness of the KNIME community, the idea is to replicate a sort of soccer world cup but placing data, nodes and visual workflows at the center.

The tournament follows a single elimination format where teams tackle diverse and engaging analytics endeavors in each round. From training ML models to reporting and web scraping, only one team will conquer the KNIME Golden Node!

There are many reasons for participating in Game of Nodes. It’s a great chance to discover new facets and capabilities of KNIME Analytics Platform, challenge your current knowledge, acquire new skills, share brilliant solutions, and connect with other members of the KNIME community.

But most importantly, because we think it could be fun!

The Game of Nodes tournament is configured as a single elimination tournament with an initial round of qualifications. 

At the end of the qualifications, only 16 teams will remain in the competition. In subsequent rounds (16, 8, 4 and finale), simultaneous matches will be played between two teams at the time.

In this tournament format, a team is immediately eliminated from the tournament after losing a single match or submitting an invalid solution. Defeated teams may play no further part after losing. Conversely, the winning teams move to the next rounds until only one winner is left.

Anyone in the KNIME community is welcome to participate – from newbies to expert users, data analysts, BI experts, data scientists, and more!

Participants are required to form teams (2-3 KNIME users max) and register their intention to participate. Teams that participated in the previous edition of Game of Nodes are welcome to register again. If you’re looking for teammates, consider asking on the KNIME Forum.

A maximum of 50 teams are allowed in the tournament. If the maximum team capacity is reached before the designated end of the registration period, registration will close ahead of schedule. Conversely, should the maximum capacity not be reached by the specified registration deadline, the tournament will proceed with the teams that have completed the registration process.

*Priority pass* In recognition of their long-standing commitment, the top Just KNIME It! KNinjas of the 2024 edition who wish to participate in the Game of Nodes tournament are granted direct access to the round of 16. In the interest of fair play for all teams in the tournament, each KNinja will have to form their own team. Participation of 2 or more KNinjas in the same team is not permitted. On par with any other team, KNinjas are required to register their teams.

The Game of Nodes tournament will be run fully remotely, allowing every team to join and engage from home.

The only exception is the finale, which will be hosted as a hybrid event (on-site/online) at the KNIME Spring Summit 2025 in Berlin, Germany.

The tournament will adhere to the following calendar:

Challenges will encompass a variety of topics within data analytics, spanning from training predictive models and web scraping to engineering AI-driven solutions, creating geospatial maps, crafting compelling reports, and much more.

Challenges will be disseminated through dedicated teams’ private spaces on the KNIME Hub. In the round of qualifications, the same challenge will be assigned to all registered teams.

In subsequent rounds, different challenges will be assigned randomly to competing teams. Teams in the same match will receive the same challenge.

KNIME Analytics Platform version 5.4 is the tool of choice of the tournament. Solutions submitted with tools other than KNIME Analytics Platform version 5.4 will not be accepted.

Solutions must be submitted in the team’s private space on the KNIME Hub. Only solutions submitted in a timely fashion will be assessed. Check the calendar of the tournament for the exact submission deadlines (we will verify the date and time of the latest workflow edits). Late submissions to the Game of Nodes tournament will not be accepted.

English is the official language of the tournament. Only workflow documentation written in English will be assessed.

No official KNIME solutions will be provided or shared publicly. 

*New*

In this season of Game of Nodes, the KNIME community is given the chance to evaluate the submitted solutions and decide what teams will advance to the next round by casting their vote on the KNIME Forum.

The KNIME community will vote for teams in the:

• Round of 16
• Round of 8
• Round of 4

To be able to vote, a free account on the KNIME Forum is required. Members of the competing teams are not allowed to cast a vote for their own team. However, they are allowed to vote for other teams.

The KNIME Team, composed of expert data scientists, engineers, and analysts, will evaluate the submitted solutions and collectively decide which teams advance through the following rounds:

*New*

To allow the KNIME community to access and evaluate the submitted solutions, the KNIME Team will create a public copy of each team's space after the submission deadline for each round has passed.

For the competing teams in the tournament, this means that your submitted solutions will be publicly visible for assessment. Teams are encouraged to submit polished and neat solutions to facilitate the task of the evaluators.

*New*

The KNIME community and the KNIME Team will assess solutions against the 5 following criteria:

• Adherence & Correctness: Adherence to the task described in the challenge and correctness of the implementation.
• Portability & Documentation: The seamless execution of the analytical solution across different operating systems without significant modifications or disruptions. The clarity, consistency and thoroughness of the supporting information related to the solution.  
• Automation: Meaningful strategies to reduce the need for manual labor in data operations.
• Results: The insightfulness and compelling quality of the outcomes. For challenges in predictive analytics, model performance will also be assessed.
• Creativity & Customization: The originality, interactivity and aesthetic appeal in the presentation of outcomes.

After completing the assessment, the KNIME community may proceed with voting on the KNIME Forum.

For the KNIME community, the criteria listed above serve as a compass for voting. The KNIME community is not required to assign scores. However, community members are encouraged to explain their choices by leaving comments in the designated section of the KNIME Forum, if they wish.

During the assessment of Qualifications, the KNIME Team will assign a score of 0-5 for each criteria listed above. Points are: 5 = Excellent, 4 = Very Well, 3 = Well, 2 = Fairly Well, 1 = Qualifies and 0 = Does Not Qualify.

Qualification scores will be published on the KNIME Forum.

Teams are strongly encouraged to submit high-quality work throughout the tournament in order to improve their chances of advancing to the subsequent rounds.

Teams that successfully submit their solutions will receive a celebratory digital badge. Additionally, the finalist and winner teams will receive KNIME goodie bags, a custom t-shirt of the tournament, and will be invited as guests on the KNIME webcast, My Data Guest.

The first-ranked team will be awarded with the KNIME Golden Node, the official trophy of the tournament, in recognition of the team’s outstanding performance.