General Festival Rules

1.Festival window and access

1. All nine competitions open at 00:00 UTC on Friday 25 September 2026 and close at 00:00 UTC on Monday 28 September 2026.
2. No KFL subscription, festival registration or ticket is required. Every account receives free festival access only during this window.
3. Starting shortly before closing does not provide extra time. Timed play, answer review and final submission must take place before the deadline.
4. After signing in at kflquiz.com/app, look in the Festival tab. If it is unavailable, the competitions will appear under Upcoming.
5. Accounts, Pairs and Teams may be created before or during the festival, but KFL strongly recommends preparing them in advance.

2.Eligibility and accounts

1. The festival is open worldwide to people aged 18 or over. Entering a competition confirms that the player is at least 18.
2. New and existing KFL players compete on the same terms. Every participant, including every Pair or Team member, needs their own account.
3. Players must use their real names. Pseudonyms, account sharing and multiple accounts are prohibited.
4. Selecting a country flag in the KFL profile is strongly recommended. The Russian flag is currently banned in KFL; accounts displaying it cannot participate.
5. Players subject to a KFL ban may not participate. KFL may also refuse or suspend an account based on reliable information about serious disciplinary action elsewhere.
6. Organizers, question writers, testers and moderators with access to festival material may not compete.
7. KFL may refuse, suspend or remove an entry without publishing evidence or reasons. Its decision is final and cannot be appealed.

3.Permitted entries

1. A player may enter any number of the nine competitions, from one to all nine, but may enter each competition only once.
2. A player may belong to only one Pair and one Team, but may participate in both formats.
3. A Pair or Team roster may be changed before its first round only with KFL approval. It is fixed once the first round begins.
4. Using another account, Pair or Team to replay a competition may result in removal of every associated result.
5. Players should finish one competition before starting another to avoid technical conflicts between active attempts.

4.Pair & Team Finder

1. The KFL Pair & Team Finder is an optional introduction service for eligible players who do not already have a partner or Team. It is not festival registration and does not create an entry on kflquiz.com.
2. Finder applications close at 23:59 UTC on Sunday 20 September 2026. Submitting again with the same KFL account email updates the existing application.
3. Shared availability is the main matching criterion. Communication language and other supplied preferences may also be considered, but KFL cannot guarantee a match.
4. If KFL proposes a Pair or Team, the introduction email is sent to all proposed members. Players should reply to everyone by 18:00 UTC on Wednesday 23 September to confirm whether they agree to play together.
5. After confirming, the players must still create their Pair or Team on kflquiz.com, accept the website invitations and schedule the game under the applicable rulebook.
6. By using the Finder, a player permits KFL to share the contact and matching information supplied in the form with players in a proposed match. Personal Finder data will be deleted after 31 October 2026.

5.Starting and playing a round

1. Pressing Play opens the quiz-information page and does not start the timer. Start Quiz begins the timer immediately; questions cannot be viewed beforehand.
2. All questions in the current round appear on one scrolling page. Answers are free text, and questions may include images, audio, GIFs or video.
3. Players may move freely among questions and edit answers until the round is submitted or time expires. Blank answers score zero.
4. Submitting early ends the round and cannot be reversed. Check every answer and do not rely on an additional confirmation message.
5. When time expires, the round and the answers currently entered are submitted automatically. Rounds must be played in their prescribed order.

Important: the timer starts immediately after Start Quiz. Make sure the device, audio and connection are ready first.

6.Interruptions, breaks and completion

1. The timer continues during a refresh, lost connection, closed browser or device restart. Unsubmitted answers may not be preserved.
2. If time expires during an interruption, only that round ends. Later rounds remain available.
3. Breaks between rounds are untimed. Players may close the website and continue later, even on another festival day, while the festival remains open.
4. Unplayed rounds score zero. Players should nevertheless complete every round whenever possible.
5. After a non-final round, review and challenge answers before pressing Next Round.
6. After the final round—or the single Specialists round—press Submit for Review even when no challenges were made. This completes the competition; there is no third submission.
7. Forgetting Submit for Review is player error and does not justify a reset. A verified website failure after pressing it correctly may be reviewed as a technical problem.

Do not leave the final answer-review page without pressing Submit for Review. Otherwise the paper remains pending.

7.Answer standards

1. Every correct answer is worth one point. There are no partial points, negative points or difficulty weighting.
2. Give only the information requested. Additional explanation may stop an answer being recognized automatically.
3. Information in brackets is disregarded and cannot complete an otherwise insufficient answer.
4. A surname is normally sufficient unless a full name or distinction is requested. A ruler’s correct regnal number is required.
5. Minor spelling errors may be accepted when the intended answer remains phonetically clear. Short answers and errors that create another real word, name, place or meaning are judged strictly.
6. Capitalization, punctuation, accents and articles are normally ignored. Singular and plural forms are normally accepted unless the distinction matters.
7. Commonly recognized abbreviations and initials may be accepted.

8.Languages and translation

1. Players may answer in any language. Write the answer directly in that language and do not add the language name in brackets.
2. A rejected native-language answer should be challenged using Correct in my native language. No translation or explanation is required.
3. KFL may use internet references or consult a fluent speaker. Transliteration is accepted when the intended answer is identifiable.
4. Google Translate, DeepL and built-in browser translation may be used solely to translate language—not to research, interpret or answer a question.
5. The original English question and English rules remain authoritative. KFL is not responsible for automatic translation errors.

9.Answer review and challenges

1. After submission, players see the question, their answer, the official answer and whether their answer was accepted.
2. Only answers marked incorrect can be challenged. Blank answers cannot be challenged, and a challenge must be made during that round’s review stage.
3. Choose the reason that best fits: an acceptable alternative, a typo, a correct native-language answer or another issue.
4. An explanation is required when claiming another valid answer. Supporting links are optional but useful; AI-generated answers are not acceptable evidence.
5. There is no point penalty for an unsuccessful challenge, but frivolous mass challenges or abusive use may lead to disqualification or a permanent ban.
6. When KFL accepts an alternative, every player who submitted the same answer receives the point. If nobody challenges it, KFL may never review it.
7. KFL may accept multiple answers, award everyone a point or remove a defective question. Challenge decisions are final.

10.Fair play

For remote Pairs and Teams, KFL recommends a video call with cameras enabled where practical. Cameras are optional and do not replace the Fair Play Rules.

11.Confidentiality and conduct

1. Festival questions must not be copied, recorded, photographed, downloaded, reproduced or distributed while the festival is open.
2. Specific questions and answers must not be discussed outside an active Pair or Team before closing, including on social media, Discord and private community chats.
3. After closing, questions may be discussed privately, but questions, screenshots and Q&A files must not be published or redistributed openly.
4. Participants must act respectfully. Harassment, threats, discriminatory abuse, deliberate disruption, identity misuse and knowingly false allegations are misconduct.
5. Serious misconduct may result in disqualification and a permanent KFL ban.

12.Technical problems

1. Computers and tablets are recommended. Smartphones are permitted but may be less convenient.
2. Test image, audio and video playback before starting. Use stable internet and power, and close unnecessary programs and tabs.
3. Connection, electricity, device and browser failures are normally the participant’s responsibility. Lost time is not normally restored.
4. Report problems immediately by email, ideally before leaving or continuing beyond the affected part of the quiz.
5. Include the real name and account email, competition, Pair or Team name, round, approximate UTC time, device, browser, detailed explanation and a private screenshot where available.
6. KFL may reset an attempt or round, correct a score, remove a question, award a point, extend the window or take no action when evidence is insufficient. Only KFL may authorize a reset.
7. Any extension is valid only when announced on the hub, Facebook and Discord. It is never automatic. Reports after official results will not change those results.

13.Accessibility

1. Accessibility software may be used when it helps operate or read the website without searching, interpreting questions or supplying answers.
2. Another person may help with setup, signing in or joining a communication platform, but must not read, explain, discuss or enter answers.
3. Any other adjustment must be agreed with KFL before play. Accessibility arrangements do not automatically provide extra time.

14.Standings and results

1. There are nine principal standings: Individuals, Pairs, Teams and one for each of the six Specialists quizzes. A combined Specialists standing is also produced.
2. There is no overall ranking combining Individuals, Pairs, Teams and Specialists.
3. Other players’ live standings are hidden. Pairs and Teams may see separate round scores but not their five-round total.
4. Official results will be published by the end of Monday 28 September after challenges and integrity checks.
5. Equal scores share a position; no tie-breaker is used. Standard ranking applies—for example, 1st, 1st, 3rd.
6. The top three in each standing are recognized. Tickets, subscriptions or archive files may be announced separately as non-cash prizes.
7. Results may remain public permanently. They will not be recalculated for later question or marking discoveries, but KFL may remove a result for suspected cheating.

15.Festival materials

1. Participants may download Q&A files for all festival competitions after the festival closes.
2. Questions, answers, images, audio and files remain the intellectual property of KFL or their credited owners.
3. Downloads are for personal study and private, non-public practice only. Reselling, uploading, publishing or distributing them without written permission is prohibited.

16.Administration

1. The organizer is Knowledge Facts Ladder (KFL). Vadym Bondar is the festival organizer and administrator.
2. The KFL Code of Conduct and Anti-Cheating Policy form part of these rules. Festival-specific rules prevail where they conflict.
3. Entering confirms acceptance of the General Rules, the relevant format rulebook, the Code of Conduct and the Anti-Cheating Policy.
4. KFL may amend the rules. Material changes will be announced on the hub, Facebook and Discord; continued participation constitutes acceptance.
5. KFL may extend, postpone, modify, replace or cancel a competition because of an outage, force majeure or another exceptional circumstance.
6. English is authoritative. The organizer’s interpretation and decisions are final.