TACO

The Andover Computing Open

The Andover Computing Open (TACO) will be held on August 29-30, 2026

TACO is a beginner-friendly coding contest organized by the Phillips Academy team

Join Discord to join our community of coders

Solve Fun Programming Puzzles!

TACO is an individual coding contest that is open and friendly to programmers at all levels. We welcome programmers from all over the world!

Join us for a day puzzle solving to learn cool algorithms and sharpen your critical thinking skills! Find a community of young coders and meet new friends! And come listen to Computer Assembly from Pranav Srinivasan, a junior at UIUC, interested in Defensive Security Engineering.

What do we do?

The Andover Computing Open consists of 2 short rounds, each 1.5 hours in length. There are 2 divisions for participants to choose from: Beginners and Advanced. Between the two rounds of contests, there will be speaker events and workshops on topics like App building, Artificial Intelligence, and of course Competitive Programming.

🎉 Prizes for TACO 2026 🎉

Beginner Division

  
    1st Place
    $300 + Arduino Kit + Beaver Works
      Swag
  
    2nd Place
    $200 + Jane Street Swag
  
    3rd Place
    $100 + Jane Street Swag
  
    4th Place
    $50 + Jane Street Swag
  
    5th Place
    $25 + $25 AoPS Gift Card + Jane Street Swag
  
    ALL top 5
    Interview Cake full access license

Advanced Division

  
    1st Place
    $500 + Arduino Kit + Beaver Works Swag
  
    2nd Place
    $250 + Jane Street Swag
  
    3rd Place
    $150 + Jane Street Swag
  
    4th Place
    $100 + Jane Street Swag
  
    5th Place
    $50 + $25 AoPS Gift Card + Jane Street Swag
  
    ALL top 10
    Interview Cake full access license

Additional Prizes:

Grace Hopper Award: The top female-identifying contestants in the Beginner and Advanced divisions will receive an additional $50 and an Interview Cake full access license (if not already eligible).

3× 4-year subscription licenses to TI-Nspire™ CX Student Software and 2x $25 AoPS coupons will be given out through a raffle at the end of each of our events.
The top 3 non-precollege participants in the Advanced Division will win $125, $75, and $25, respectively.

Contest Schedule 2026

  
    Event
    Time (EST)
  
    Contest Round 1
    12:00 PM -- 1:45 PM
  
    Lunch Break / Brain Break
    1:45 PM -- 2:15 PM
  
    Contest Round 2
    2:15 PM -- 4:00 PM
  
    Workshop
     4:15 - 5:15 PM

Event	Time (EST)
Contest Round 1	12:00 PM -- 1:45 PM
Lunch Break / Brain Break	1:45 PM -- 2:15 PM
Contest Round 2	2:15 PM -- 4:00 PM
Workshop	4:15 - 5:15 PM

Saturday August 29th

Sunday August 30th

  
    Event
    Time (EST)
  
    Closing Ceremony + Winner Announcements!
     ~ 9:00PM

Event	Time (EST)
Closing Ceremony + Winner Announcements!	~ 9:00PM

Guide for contestants new to competitive programming:

Competitive programming tests our ability to write efficient codes. All problems must be solved by a program that terminates within a strict time limit. For most problems, the time limit is 1 second, which is sufficient time for a C++ program to execute about 10^8 computations. Java is twice as slow. And Python is much slower.
To solve a problem, your program should inputs from the inputstream and print out the required answers. You may google how to do input and output. And we have also curated a short guide for you.
Problem difficulties in a contest are ranked approximately from easy to hard. But the difficulty of a problem is subjective. So, if you feel stuck on a problem, just checkout a different one!

Enjoy, and best of luck!