Odyssey of the Mind

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.

There are five categories of problems that participants can solve.^[1]

• 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

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.^[2]