Sorry if this is OT, but these types of contests exist! I went to one of these[1] maybe two years ago in Stockholm and I had a blast. I think the format was 32 people competing, 8 on stage at a time being shown a design which they had 15 minutes to mimic without previewing, then the crowd voted for winners using their smartphones. Two winners from each group of 8 went on to the finals. The competitors screens were mirrored on screens facing the crowd, so everyone could see how people tackled the problem in real-time. One guy did an ASCII representation of the design, which the crowd enjoyed enough to send him to the finals.
A large audience, smoke machine and lots of lasers, hard techno, and free beer. They did an amazing job setting the mood. They even have their own IDE[2] that everyone competing is required to use (with combo-counter and cool rave-y visual effects).
A large audience, smoke machine and lots of lasers, hard techno, and free beer. They did an amazing job setting the mood. They even have their own IDE[2] that everyone competing is required to use (with combo-counter and cool rave-y visual effects).
[1] http://codeinthedark.com/
[2] https://github.com/codeinthedark/editor