Game of Nodes

Game of Nodes is the first world tournament where the KNIME community will engage 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 and no-code/low-code solutions at the center.

The tournament follows a single elimination format where teams will 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 a community workflow tournament. 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.

Any member of the KNIME community –be they a newbie or an expert user, a data analyst or a ML engineer –is welcome to participate. 

Participants are required to form teams (2-3 KNIME users max) and register their intention to participate. 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 ten top Just KNIME It! KNinjas of the 2023 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 remotely, allowing every team to join and engage from the comfort of their home.

The only exception is the finale, which will be hosted as a hybrid event both on-site at the KNIME Spring Summit 2024 in Austin, TX (US) and online.

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 5.2 is the tool of choice of the tournament. Solutions submitted with tools other than KNIME Analytics Platform version 5.2 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. 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.

Solutions will be assessed against 5 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 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.

The assessment committee 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. Teams are strongly encouraged to submit high-quality work in order to improve their chances of getting maximum points.

Upon completion of assessments, teams are welcome to publish and share their solutions publicly. Doing so prematurely might give the opposing team a competitive advantage.

A committee of expert data scientists, engineers and analysts from the KNIME Team will assess the submitted solutions and collectively determine the winning team that advances to the next round.

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.