Maybe one for the Puzzle Competitions forum, maybe not, but I've decided against putting this there on this occasion as the context is "d'oh, just missed it, one to look out for next year".
There exists such a thing as the (titular) British Federation of Mathematical Games and apparently they had their annual final at Coventry University yesterday, Saturday 13th May. It turns out that that there has been an annual global (though focused around French-speaking countries, it would seem) contest since 1987 with national qualification tournaments in countries around the world, and the UK might even have started holding a national qualifier in 2022. It looks like the most enthusiastic countries even have semi- and quarter- final contests deciding who can participate in their national final; I'm not entirely sure whether the UK skips straight to the national final or not.
The exam consists of a paper with 18 questions, cleverly graduated in difficulty so that kids in year 5 or under can have a one-hour contest in which they seek to answer the first 5, kids in year 7 or under can have a 90-minute contest in which they seek the answer the first 8 and so on. The general public have three hours to seek the answer to the first 16, and mathematics professionals have three hours to seek the answer to all eighteen. Presumably experienced people will speed through the child's play and go a lot more slowly on the tough stuff. It's not Olympiad-style proof-based maths, all the questions have numeric answers; though some of the later questions, neatly, may have more than one solution and the question is to find how many solutions there are. I think that's actually quite a clever format.
Three-time World Memory Champion Ben Pridmore commented on his blog: I'd certainly never heard of the French competitions before, and everybody there had never heard of the various mental calculation and mind sports competitions that exist in this country, which reminds me just how much this kind of thing always runs in its own little circle, gradually expanding and maybe one day intersecting with something similar, to which I say Too Expletive Deleted Right, and even if I can't solve puzzles for toffee any more (I managed to get a perfect zero - a complete goose egg - in the UKPC last year, so my work here is done) then I can at least spread the news to people to whom this might be relevant. Looks like https://bfmg.maths.coventry.domains/ may have more information, and maybe the UKPA and the BFMG might mutually benefit from getting to know each other - or, at least, maybe some UKPA regulars might enjoy the BFMG competitions in future years.
The British Federation of Mathematical Games
Re: The British Federation of Mathematical Games
That looks very cool! Thanks for sharing.
Re: The British Federation of Mathematical Games
A friend points to the date and time of the 2024 UK event:
"The 2024 final of the Logic and Mathematical Games will take place on the campus of Coventry University, CV1 2JH, on Saturday, 25th May 2024, from 1pm to 4pm (time and number of problems vary by category).
The schedule for May 25th is:
11:00-12:45 arrival, registration;
13:00-16:00 competitions;
from 17:00 Closing ceremony, prizes, refreshments, discussion of solutions.
...
Participants around the world scoring high enough will qualify for the International Final, at its 38th edition in 2024, to be held on 25-26 August in Paris, France!
To participate, and for further information, just drop an email to info@bfmg.maths.coventry.domains with your name, surname, town, date of birth, and category. ((see the page for a description of categories))
...
No calculators, computers, phones, etc.
Allowed material: pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, protractors, compasses, scissors."
I'd bet on UKPA solvers to do some serious damage here!
"The 2024 final of the Logic and Mathematical Games will take place on the campus of Coventry University, CV1 2JH, on Saturday, 25th May 2024, from 1pm to 4pm (time and number of problems vary by category).
The schedule for May 25th is:
11:00-12:45 arrival, registration;
13:00-16:00 competitions;
from 17:00 Closing ceremony, prizes, refreshments, discussion of solutions.
...
Participants around the world scoring high enough will qualify for the International Final, at its 38th edition in 2024, to be held on 25-26 August in Paris, France!
To participate, and for further information, just drop an email to info@bfmg.maths.coventry.domains with your name, surname, town, date of birth, and category. ((see the page for a description of categories))
...
No calculators, computers, phones, etc.
Allowed material: pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, protractors, compasses, scissors."
I'd bet on UKPA solvers to do some serious damage here!
Re: The British Federation of Mathematical Games
Has anyone had a response from them? I've had radio silence.
Re: The British Federation of Mathematical Games
Fascinating — I hadn't come across the BFMG before either! The tiered format sounds really well thought out, especially the idea of scaling by age/experience level. It’s refreshing to see a competition that blends accessibility with genuine challenge. Definitely something to keep an eye on for next year — thanks for sharing this.
Hello I'm ManceJoan.
Re: The British Federation of Mathematical Games
Giving people more notice this time, the usual web site has updated with details of the 2026 contest, which "will be held on Saturday, 30 May 2026, 13:00 UK time at Coventry University." Looks like they got 36 entrants last year, about half aged 16+, which is not bad at all. I reckon this would be very likely to be up the boulevard of many people here.