Odyssey of the Mind, often abbreviated as OM or OotM, is a creative problem-solving program where team members present their solution at a competition to a predefined long-term problem that takes many months to complete and involves writing, design, construction, and theatrical performance. A spontaneous portion of the competition has the team also generate solutions to a problem they have not seen before.

The program is now international, with teams from Argentina, Australia, Belarus, Canada, China, Czech Republic, DODDS, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Switzerland, Togo, the United Kingdom, and Uzbekistan, regularly competing in addition to teams from the United States.

Odyssey of the Mind is a trademark of Creative Competitions. Competitions are administered by a mixture of regional non-profit associations and the for-profit Creative Competitions corporation. History

Organization Odyssey of the Mind teams are divided into four divisions. Division I – Grades 3–5 (U.S.): Less than 12 years of age on May 1 of the competition year (Other International) Division II – Grades 6–8 (U.S.): Less than 15 years of age on May 1 of the competition year (Other International) Division III – Grades 9–12 (U.S.): Oldest team member does not qualify for Divisions I or II and is attending regular school (not a college, university, or anything similar) (Other International) Division IV – Collegiate for all teams. All team members must have a high school diploma or its equivalent and be enrolled in at least one course at a two- or four-year college or university.

The oldest team member determines the team's division.

There is also a non-competitive primary division for young children (grades K–2 U.S.), who are given a simplified problem and fewer constraints than the higher divisions. They present and are given feedback at the first level tournament and cannot advance, except for special occasions where officials invite a team to perform again at the state level.

In the United States, each participating state has its own Odyssey association. Most states are further broken down into regions. Teams compete at the regional level first. The highest-scoring teams progress to the state level. In the U.S. there is no national level. State-winning teams go directly to the World Finals, which have always been held in the United States, usually at the end of May.

Event structure There are five categories of problems that participants can solve.

Vehicle: building vehicles of different sizes to perform specified tasks Technical: building "innovative contraptions" Classics: incorporates knowledge of architecture, art, and literature; can be a documentary or behind-the-scenes feature Structure: designing and building a structure using only balsa wood and glue to support the highest weight load Performance: acting, singing, and/or dancing based on a given theme

World Finals All teams who advance from their state finals, or their national finals if they are from outside of the US, are invited to World Finals. World Finals is the culmination of the entire year of Odyssey of the Mind. The dates and locations of previous world finals are listed in the table below.

Year School Location Dates # teams # US States # International countries 2026 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 27–30 TBD TBD TBD 2025 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 21–25 704 TBD TBD 2024 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 21–24 674 32 10 2023 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 24–27 600+ 31 10 2022 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 25–28 2021 Orange County Convention Center Orlando, Florida June 11–13 2020 Held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic 830+ 27 14 2019 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 22–25 894 14 2018 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 23–26 832 13 2017 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 24–27 833 15 2016 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 25–28 828 13 2015 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 20–23 847 16 2014 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 28–31 836 15 2013 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 22–25 826 12 2012 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 23–26 800+ 7+ 2011 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland May 27–30 856 9+ 2010 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 26–29 750+ 6+ 2009 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 27–30 787 34 13 2008 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland May 31 – June 3 2007 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan May 23–26 810 31 12 2006 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 24–27 787 13 2005 University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado May 21–24 763 33 16 2004 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland May 29 – June 1 765 34 14 2003 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 28–31 645 31 6 2002 University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado May 22–25 687 35 13 2001 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland June 2–5 677 33 15 2000 University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee May 31 – June 3 550+ 42 11 1999 University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee May 26–29 1998 Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex Lake Buena Vista, FL May 27–30 1997 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland June 4–7 730 17 1996 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 1 – June 1 727 15 1995 University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee May 24–27 724 15 1994 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa June 1–4 710 14 1993 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland June 2–5 706 18 1992 University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado May 28–30 15 1991 University of Tennessee Knoxville, Tennessee May 23–25 648 10 1990 Iowa State University Ames, Iowa May 31 – June 2 1989 University of Colorado at Boulder Boulder, Colorado May 25–27 1988 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland June 2–4 602 1987 Central Michigan University Mt Pleasant, Michigan May 28–30 602 45 2 1986 Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, Arizona May 28–30 1985 University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland June 5–7 1984 University of Akron Akron, Ohio May 30 – June 1 416 1983 Central Michigan University Mt Pleasant, Michigan May 26–27 1982 Glassboro State College Glassboro, New Jersey May 27–28 1 1981 Glassboro State College Glassboro, New Jersey June 4–5 0

References

External links

COU – Creative Opportunities Unlimited