FAQs on Odyssey of the Mind

Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program which provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems ranging from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. Odyssey of the Mind’s creative competitions combine the excitement of athletic competition with fun-filled often zany mental gymnastics. Teams match wits and abilities together to develop creative solutions to broadly defined problems. It allows students to work with others and provides them with the opportunity to learn creative problem solving, brainstorming, and teamwork. Students form teams of up to seven members to develop a solution to one of six Long Term Problems over several months. During this time, teams are also working on developing their skills for other aspects of the competition.

There are three parts to Odyssey of the Mind tournament day.

1. There is a LONG-TERM portion of the tournament in which the team will select one of the long-term problems to solve. This is generally an 8-minute skit with technical requirements.
2. There is an element of STYLE which is scored during the Long-Term performance.
3. There is the SPONTANEOUS component of the tournament during which the team will solve an unknown problem made especially for the tournament.

The team created performance lasts for eight minutes and presents the team’s solution to a problem. The team creates all parts of the problem’s solution such as props, costumes, and backdrops. The team will also participate in a spontaneous thinking portion at a competition. Teams then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

In the Long Term Problem portion of the competition, teams create a theatrical and engineered solution to one of the specific problems that they choose to solve over several months. Team members will develop an 8 minute performance that will involve costumes, props, and problem specific requirements that will demonstrate the solution they have created. Once the team selects one of the long-term problems to solve, they will spend months brainstorming their solutions, writing scripts, building backdrops, creating sets and props, designing costumes, rehearsing lines, and finally performing their solutions at the local, state, and international level. Although the five problem categories remain the same year to year — Vehicle, Technical, Classical, Structure, and Performance — the specific requirements change annually. Long-Term problem synopses are revealed each May for the following year competition season and the full long-term problems are released sometime in September. All requirements and scoring information are listed in each respective long-term problem included with the membership packet from Creative Competitions, Inc.

• In the Spontaneous portion of the competition, teams will be given a problem on competition day they must solve. Typically, students have around 5 minutes from first hearing the problem to having to complete it. These problems challenge students to think on their feet and solve problems very quickly without any outside influence. Spontaneous problems are done in a closed area so that each team has the same amount of time to see and solve the problem. Spectators of any kind are not allowed to view this portion so that the competition aspect can remain fair and consistent.
• While Long-Term and Style can be worked on for six or seven months as the tournament approaches, spontaneous is exactly that, spontaneous! On the day of competition, the team will be assigned a time to compete in the spontaneous portion of the tournament. There are three types of spontaneous problems: verbal, hands-on, and hands-on/verbal. The team will receive their problem when they enter the room. No spectators are allowed inside the room with the team (including coaches). While all seven team members may compete in the long-term portion, only five members may participate in spontaneous. The spontaneous problems can vary in scope and format but have included verbal problems like, “Name things that are red.” Hands-on problems may require teams to complete tasks or build weight-bearing structures out of toothpicks and straws, and hands-on/verbal performance problems that require teams to put on a 5-minute fully improvised commercial using random items on a table as props. No two problems are ever alike, so teams should practice for spontaneous in the months preceding competition by solving each of the three types of problem. The purpose of spontaneous is to encourage creative, quick, improvisational thinking, while also fostering a sense of teamwork and grace under pressure. Spontaneous also keeps teams in suspense, as no one can ever know how a team fares in the Spontaneous room!
• Each team will receive a score for its Long-Term solution, its Style, and its Spontaneous performance. The raw scores are presented, as well as calculated scores which are based on a percentage of the top-scoring team’s performance in each of the three areas. The team with the highest overall (combined) calculated score wins 1st place, etc. The top-scoring teams at regional tournaments earn the right to compete at the state level, and the top-scoring teams at the state level earn the right to compete at the World Finals competition.

Style is presented within the Long-Term solution and can best be thought of as a team’s unique approach that provides their own “flair”, “technique”, or the best artwork or prop that was not asked for or required within the Long-Term problem. Style is about standing out over and above the competition. It can be through art, props, song, dance, membership sign, costume, technique, or set. You want the judges and audience to remember your team and say, “That was the team that had the costume that ________ or the set that _________.”

Odyssey of the Mind is open to any child. Great “OMER’s” include those who work well with others, are willing to make the time commitment, and are creative. Students should be able to balance academic, family, church, and extra-curricular commitments. Special talents such as spontaneous thinking, acting, music composition, singing, dancing, comedy, art, sewing, building, painting, and mechanical skills are desired collectively in team members. Students who are already involved in numerous, time consuming after-school activities may not wish to try out. ONCE A TEAM MEMBER IS CHOSEN and the individual’s name is submitted to Odyssey of the Mind, HE OR SHE CAN NOT BE REPLACED. Therefore, it is helpful for the student to remember he or she is making a commitment to the team. His or her absence may negatively affect the team’s progress.

Teams, problems, and competitions are organized into five different divisions by age group (Primary, I, II, III, IV).

• Division I is elementary aged competitors.
• Division II is middle school age students
• Division III is high school age students
• Division IV is for college students.
• The primary division/problem is an exhibition only and is not judged competitively. Primary teams will only perform at regional competitions and is setup to be an introduction to the program for young students.