Schedule
Registration: Friday 25th September 2026
Teams must register by 1700 on Friday 26th September 2026. The organizer will then be in contact with the team and teacher to allocate a mentor to support throughout the process.
Design Checkpoint: Friday 9th October 2026
Teams must submit their design proposal form by 1700 on Friday 9th October 2026. Mentors will then give feedback the following week to allow students to progress to the build stage (where possible) or reiterate their designs where needed.
Design Checkpoint (2): Friday 13th November 2026
For those teams needing to readjust their proposals significantly following feedback, a light-touch 'check in' update is recommended before building.
Build Checkpoint: Friday 4th December 2026
All teams must submit a video of their safe demonstrating current build status and fundamental physics principles working in action. Any final steps needed should be outlined.
Test Checkpoints: Friday 22nd January 2027
A final check-in with mentors to confirm safe reliability and any final issues before competition day, to demonstrate readiness before competition.
Competition: Sunday 7th February 2027
Teams are responsible for getting to/from the competition with their safe, which this year will again be held at Dulwich College (SE21 7LD). All teams will be accompanied by at least one teacher who will be a required to act as a time-keeper for the competition. The competition lasts from approximately 0900-1600 with parents welcome to attend the exhibition and prize-giving from 1400 onwards.
Principles
The locking mechanisms should rely on extended secondary school physics. Safe cracking should rely on solving no more than two non-trivial (as perceived by the coordinators) physics phenomena within 10 minutes. Generally speaking all parts should be visible. Sketches of any unseen parts should be attached along with their functions (e.g. ‘amplifier’, ‘voltage generator’) and relevant characteristics (e.g. power, voltage).
Reversibility:
Irreversible changes caused by a reasonable cracking attempt that would block any further cracking attempt should be prevented; allowing unlimited number of attempts to break in.
Robustness and Reliability:
The safe and its locking mechanism should function for at least several hours of repeated cracking attempts, unlocking when the correct sequence of steps is applied and remaining locked otherwise.
Safety:
The safe should be harmless. Any use of high voltage, gas, chemical agent or any other hazardous material should comply with the applicable safety regulations and have the prior approval of the mentor and organiser. A risk assessment is submitted by all teams in the weeks running up to the competition day.
Maintenance:
The safe should be ready for a new cracking team within 5 minutes following the conclusion of the previous attempt. Thus safe maintenance and reset time should both be simple and reliable. An alternative, quick safe opening procedure should be devised for maintenance.
Dimensions:
Safes should be 'table-top', measuring no more than 60cm x 30cm x 40cm. Any changes to the dimensions should be discussed and agreed with the team’s mentor in advance.
Design
Scoring
Judging Committee: 45%
The judging committee comprises a number of former participants, university professors, and teachers. Each team demonstrates their safe and answers questions about its underlying physics principles and construction for 15mins with 3x separate judges. The judges assess 4x core areas:
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Sophistication and elegance of physics principles
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Application of physics concepts
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Understanding of the physics principles and manufacture of the safe
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Structure, functionality and aesthetic quality
Defence of the Safe: 10%
Number of unsuccessful attempts by other teams trying to crack the safe
Peer ranking: 20%
Peer scores attributed to the safe by attacking teams
Cracking of Other Safes: 25%
Number of successful cracking attempts of other safes within the 10mins allocated time.