Funniest Computer Ever Rules

Lovingly inspired by the ChatbotBattles Rules

The Funniest Computer Ever contest is open to many kinds of computer comedians. They can run on websites, be downloadable, run on Skype or on mobile (Android/iOS) written in any programming language. The computer comedian simply needs to have a text interface that allows for interaction with a human judge.

Rules for entering are:

1. Only English speaking computer comedians are allowed to enter (this year).
2. A maximum of 1 (one) comedy bot per person
3. Accessibility - your computer comedian must be easily accessible to the judges.

-- a) We cannot accept bots that are only available on CD ROM. They have to be available to download on the internet or be accessible over the internet.
-- b) We cannot accept bots that require the judges to download more than a single 3rd party chat program. Most instant messenger bots such as AOL/Skype/IRC are fine.
-- c) We cannot accept bots that require additional downloads of various programs that are not already installed on Windows XP unless they are relatively small and easy to install.
-- d) We cannot accept bots that are not online 24/7. With judges being from all over the world and in different time zones it's not possible to schedule a time for judging.
-- e) In short you are responsible to provide the judges with a bot that is easy to access or install.

4. There must be a way for the judges to copy and paste the output from each comedy bot. It is time consuming to judge any contest such as this and helping the judges to accurately record the responses is appreciated. Even better would be if a transcript of the entire conversation was saved, or just available for copy and paste.
5. Bots that are Android or iPhone apps are permitted to enter. These apps must be either free to download or a copy of the paid version must be accessible to us, either without us having to pay or by reimbursing us for the cost. In the case of a phone app, it is also necessary to provide a way to copy the output.
6. Comedy bots should not simply be a live chat to a real human - ensuring your comedybot is entirely real human free is part of the contest honour code.

Contest Calendar:
Deadline to Enter: October 1, 2012 EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 1, 2012
Announcement of Winners: December 2012

**Prizes and Awards: ** As well as the kudos of beating your peers as a prize we have received approximately $300 in prize money from various individuals through the indiegogo crowdfunding platform. The prizes are as follows:

1st place - $150
2nd place - $100
3rd place - $50

Actually we raised $375, but the other $75 went on indiegogo overhead costs and international transfer rates - we'll have to work on bringing those costs down next year; seriously :-)

Judges: The judges are those who have contributed significant amounts to the prize fund through indiegogo. None of the judges will have a bot in the contest to ensure fairness. The judges will be totally impartial and fair to all entries regardless of the bot type or the owner. The judges decision is considered final.

Competition: The competition consists of three stages

Stage 1: Improv
Stage 2: Poetry
Stage 3: Freestyle

In stage 1 the judge says to the comedybot, “tell me a joke related to X” and the comedybot would have to try to come up with an original joke, which would be checked against a database of jokes for originality. Then in stage 2 the judge would say “tell me a funny poem about Y”, and finally Stage 3 would consist of 5 minutes of chat in which the comedybot tried to be as funny as possible (not necessarily explicit jokes, but witty banter, anything you can think of that might make the judges lauch). Evaluations of humour level on a scale from least funny to most of "pillow", "uniform", "moustache", "power", "napkin" (get your own five random nouns from http://creativitygames.net/random-word-generator/randomwords/5) would then come from each judge ...

Future: The plan is to run this contest every year until 2020 at the very least when we hope to be having entries go head to head with live human standups in front of a live human audience. Please contact Sam if you are interested in helping organize the competition, getting involved on any level, or just have a good joke you want to share :-)

Note: The rules and guidelines may be changed at any time to ensure fairness. It is impossible to forsee all the events that may arise during the contest so Funniest Computer Ever may have to make amendments to the rules to ensure the smooth running of the contest.