These are the official rules for the Vibers League pilot episode. Read them before you apply. Applying means you accept them.
This contest is run and sponsored by Vibers League, operated by its founders Ashish Shetty and Ashutosh Tiwari pending incorporation in British Columbia, Canada, referred to in these rules as Vibers League, we, or us. The registered office address will be published here when incorporation completes.
This contest is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with YouTube, Twitch, X, LinkedIn, Instagram, or any other platform on which it is published, promoted, or discussed. Any question about the contest goes to us, not to a platform.
Contest questions and correspondence: ash@idxstudioz.com.
We may ask for proof of age or identity before confirming a seat. If you cannot provide it, we may withdraw the seat and offer it to an alternate.
There is no entry fee and no purchase of any kind is necessary to enter or to win. Buying something, subscribing to something, or paying for an AI tool does not improve your chance of being selected or of winning.
This is a contest of skill. The outcome is decided by what each viber builds and demonstrates on the night, not by chance. 20 of the 30 points come from the 2 judges, who rank the 4 builds against the published criteria in section 10, applying professional judgement to a build they have used themselves. They reflect the assessment of the people who watched that same demonstrated work: the guests in the room. The crowd votes only after all 4 demos. The remaining 10 sit on the crowd card, which ranks the 4 vibers by the vote for 4, 3, 2 and 1, so the crowd can open a gap of at most 3 points between 2 vibers, while the 2 judges together can open a gap of 6. There is no draw, no lottery, no wager, and no gambling element in this contest.
You cover your own costs of taking part, including internet access, a backup connection, hardware, electricity, and any subscription to an AI tool or hosting service you choose to use. We do not reimburse them.
Applications are open and close at 23:59 Pacific Time on 2 October 2026. Applications received after that are not considered.
To enter, complete the application form at the apply page. You are asked for:
We also record the date and time you submitted, the page you submitted from, and the user agent string your browser sends, so we can spot duplicate and automated entries. The form asks for nothing else. The privacy notice lists the same fields and says what happens to each one.
1 application per person. Duplicate and automated applications are void. Your application must be your own work and must describe your own experience accurately. We are not responsible for applications that are lost, delayed, incomplete, or not received for a technical reason.
Availability is a gate, not a score. An application that does not confirm both dates in section 2 is not considered. The founders read every application that passes the gate and score it against 4 criteria. Each is marked 1 to 5 and then weighted. The 4 do not carry equal weight, and the weighting is published on the apply page. 2 founders score independently.
Selection is a judgement made by the founders in good faith against those criteria. It is not a draw. We may ask you for a short conversation before deciding. 4 vibers and 2 alternates are selected and notified by email on 6 October 2026. If a selected viber does not confirm within 72 hours of notification, withdraws, or does not complete the dress rehearsal on 18 October 2026, the first alternate takes the seat.
We do not give individual feedback on unsuccessful applications. The selection decision is final.
4 vibers compete remotely on Saturday, 24 October 2026. The emcee, the 2 judges and a small audience are in a room in Vancouver, and each viber's screen and webcam are carried there on a private production feed. The programme is filmed. It is not live streamed to the public. Section 14 sets out how it is released. The programme runs 105 minutes in 4 blocks: 15 minutes for the brief, 60 for the build, 20 for the demos, and 10 for the call.
The challenge is secret until the brief block. No viber knows it before the whale reads it, and nobody outside the production team does either. You may research, practise, and build general skill before the event. No work on the competition project starts before the bell.
What we publish in advance is the technical frame. It applies whatever the challenge turns out to be:
Rules of the build:
We give selected vibers the exact start times for the dress rehearsal on 18 October 2026 and the pilot, and the technical requirements, in writing before the event. If the event has to be postponed for a technical, safety, or force majeure reason, we reschedule it and tell every selected viber. We are not liable for costs arising from a postponement.
An additional requirement may be added at the halfway mark, at minute 30. It is disclosed here, in advance, as a contingent rule of the contest. By entering, you accept that it may happen.
The twist is written by us before the event. It is not invented during the programme and it is not a reaction to any viber's progress. It applies identically to all 4 vibers at the same moment, and every viber has the same 30 minutes remaining in which to answer it.
The twist is our content, not a viber contribution. We may choose not to use one. If no twist is issued, the challenge stands as the whale read it. Either way, the 60 minute clock and the scoring in section 10 do not change.
Every viber starts from the same empty page and is watched the same way. These rules bind every viber from the dress rehearsal to the end of the call. A breach is dealt with under section 13.
A backup connection, for example a phone hotspot, is required. We test it with you at the dress rehearsal on 18 October 2026.
30 points decide it, from 3 scorecards.
Each judge places every viber. No 2 vibers share a place on a judge's card.
Voting opens only after all 4 demos, and each person has 1 vote. The crowd vote is cast by the guests in the room. The pilot is not live streamed, so there is no online vote.
Vibers on the same number of votes share the points for the places they cover. 2 tied for first take 3.5 points each. 2 tied for third take 1.5 points each. A viber with no votes still takes the points for their place. The crowd card is announced as places and points only. We do not read out or publish the number of votes each viber received.
Ranking is what limits a surge in the vote. The crowd card can open a gap of at most 3 points between 2 vibers. The 2 judges together can open a gap of 6. A viber that both judges place 2 or more places clear of another cannot be caught by the crowd. When the judges are closer than that, the crowd decides.
Vibers are encouraged to bring an audience. Anyone in the crowd may vote, whether or not they know a viber. The no-connection rule in section 6 applies to the audience member who drives a build, not to voters.
The highest total wins, after any deduction under section 13. If 2 or more vibers finish level, the one the whale ranked higher wins, because the whale is the customer this show claims to serve. The same rule settles second, third and fourth place.
People's Choice. The viber with the largest share of the crowd vote takes the People's Choice award. It is announced in the call, separately from the main result. A viber can win both. A tie on votes means the award is shared. Section 11 sets out what the award is.
Judges weigh 5 criteria when they rank the vibers:
The ranking is a judgement, not a formula. The criteria say what a judge weighs. They do not derive the order. The crowd holds 10 of the 30 points and never decides the prize on its own. Decisions of the judges are final and are not subject to appeal. We explain the scoring and how the crowd vote is cast to the room before voting opens.
The prize for the pilot episode is a cash prize and a trophy. Details of the cash prize, including the amount, will be announced soon, in an updated version of these rules published before the vibers are named on 6 October 2026.
The People's Choice award in section 10 is a trophy or recognition only. No cash attaches to it unless a published version of these rules says otherwise.
The cash amount is whatever the published version of these rules states. Nothing said anywhere else, including on social media or in the room, changes it.
The cash prize is paid in Canadian dollars by bank transfer within 30 days of the event, and the following applies. Winners resident in Canada may receive a T4A. Winners resident outside Canada are subject to withholding on Canadian source payments under Part XIII of the Income Tax Act, currently 25 percent unless a tax treaty reduces it, and receive an NR4. The prize is stated gross and any withholding is deducted at source. You are responsible for your own taxes. We tell you the net figure before payment.
The trophy is not exchangeable for cash. Prizes are not transferable. We may substitute a prize of equal or greater value if the stated prize becomes unavailable.
Before the event, every selected viber signs a builder agreement. Under it you assign to Vibers League all copyright and related rights in what you build during the competition, and you waive your moral rights in that work, in exchange for your seat in the competition and your eligibility for the prize. The assignment applies whatever the challenge turns out to be. The builder agreement is the operative document. This section describes it and does not replace it. You receive the full text before you are asked to sign, and you do not have to sign it. If you do not sign it, you cannot compete.
In that agreement you confirm that what you build is your own work, that your AI tool plan tier allows commercial use of the output, and that you have not knowingly included code under a copyleft licence without telling us. You keep everything you built before the event and everything you build after it. We may run a licence scan on a build before we use it.
Nothing in these rules gives you any right in the Vibers League name, the Clock V logo, the format, the challenge, the twist, or the recordings.
Compete straight and behave well on camera. Proctors flag breaches. The founders decide what happens, and their decisions are final.
Yellow cards. A minor breach costs 1.0 point off that viber's final total. Picking up your phone, leaving a messaging app open, and disclosing a tool, account, or template late are all minor breaches. A yellow card is announced in the programme and recorded. A second yellow card is a disqualification.
Disqualification. Deliberate cheating is a disqualification straight away. We may disqualify a viber, before, during, or after the event, for any of the following:
A disqualified viber forfeits any prize, including the People's Choice award. A viber who is disqualified or absent before the cards are read is removed from every scorecard, and the remaining vibers are ranked first to third for 4, 3 and 2 points. If a disqualification happens after a result is announced, we may withdraw the result and name the next placed viber. Our decision on disqualification is final. Disqualification does not release you from the builder agreement or the release you have signed.
Judge conflicts. Each judge discloses any connection to any viber, by work, household, business, or shared project, before selection is announced on 6 October 2026. A judge with a conflict is replaced, not recused.
This is a filmed competition. If you compete, you appear in it. The pilot is not live streamed to the public. It is recorded and released afterwards in 2 forms: an edited episode, and the full unedited recording of the programme.
During the programme your screen and webcam are carried to the venue on a private production feed. The production crew, the judges and the guests in the room see it as it happens. Nobody else does until the recordings are released.
Every selected viber signs a model and appearance release before going on camera. Under it you grant us a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty free licence to record, archive, edit, clip, publish, stream, and use your name, image, voice, likeness, and performance, including what is visible on your shared screen and the AI tool output and code you produce, for the episode, the unedited release, the archive, clips, and the marketing of Vibers League. If you are selected we also ask you for a headshot, and we publish it with your name on this website, in the episode, and in promotion under the same licence. That licence survives the event and does not depend on the result.
The recording of the event is our work and we own it. The episode and the unedited recording are published on third party platforms which may store and process footage outside Canada. Section 17 and the privacy notice explain what that means for your personal information.
Do not put anything on your shared screen that you are not willing to have permanently public. Close your email, your messages, your password manager, and anything holding another person's private information before the bell. The room scan at the bell is recorded, so clear anything from the room you do not want seen. The full unedited recording is published, so assume nothing is cut. Once a recording is published and copied by others, we cannot reliably recall it.
The local screen recording you hand over under section 8 is for audit. We do not publish it.
Audience members in the venue are filmed as part of the crowd. Entry signage says so, and there is an area outside camera view for anyone who does not want to appear.
An audience member is brought on camera in the demo block to use a viber's build. That is a larger appearance than being part of the crowd, so we ask anyone taking that seat before the programme starts, and they sign the audience release covering it. Nobody is put in that seat without agreeing to it first, and anyone who would rather not can say no and stay in the room.
This section is the licence you grant in your application video. It applies to every applicant, selected or not, and it takes effect when you submit your application.
You keep ownership of your application video. You grant Vibers League a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty free licence to store, reproduce, edit, excerpt, and publicly display your application video, in whole or in part, for these purposes and no others:
You confirm that you own or control everything in the video, that everyone appearing in it has agreed to appear, that it contains no third party music, footage, or other material you do not have the right to use, and that it contains no confidential information belonging to your employer or a client.
This licence lasts for 2 years from the date of your application. You may withdraw the promotional part of it at any time by emailing ash@idxstudioz.com. We stop using the video in new material within 30 days and delete our copy under the retention rules in the privacy notice. We cannot recall material already published or already distributed by a platform.
You are not paid for this licence. You may decline to submit a video. An application without one is still considered, and scores the lowest mark for video presence under section 5.
The winner is announced in the room on 24 October 2026, in the call, once the 3 scorecards are totalled and any yellow card deduction is applied. The People's Choice award is announced in the same call. The result is then published on this website and posted to the Vibers League social accounts within 48 hours, and emailed to every viber who competed.
The winner is identified by first name and last initial, or by a stage name agreed in advance. The trophy is shipped to the winner at our cost, or handed over in person if the winner is in Vancouver. If a winner cannot be reached at the email address on their application within 14 days, or the trophy cannot be delivered after 2 attempts, we may treat the prize as forfeited.
If you want to see how the points were awarded, email us within 14 days of the event and we will show you the 3 scorecards, any yellow card deductions, and the totals.
The private rating each judge records about a viber, described in the privacy notice, is not part of that disclosure. It is never read out and we do not publish it. It is still personal information about you, so the access right in the privacy notice covers it and you can ask for a copy of what we hold at any time.
We collect personal information from you when you apply, when you compete, and when you attend or join the list. The privacy notice sets out what we collect, why, where it is stored, how long we keep it, who sees it, and how to ask for a copy or a correction. It forms part of these rules.
In short: application data is held in Google Sheets and Google Drive on an account held in Canada, Google may process it outside Canada, only the founders see full applications, judges see the shortlist, and unsuccessful applications are deleted after 24 months. The screen recording and agent configuration a viber hands over are seen only by the founders and are deleted 90 days after the event unless they are evidence for a penalty or a disqualification.
These rules, and anything arising from them, are governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada that apply in it, regardless of where you live. You agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of British Columbia, sitting in Vancouver.
Before starting a court proceeding, both sides agree to try to settle the dispute by good faith discussion for 30 days, and then by mediation in Vancouver, which may be held by video.
Version 1.0, published 6 September 2026. First publication of these rules. Operator and contact details were added on 8 September 2026 without a version change.
Version 1.1, 9 September 2026. The 105 minute programme in 4 blocks replaced the earlier run of show. The demo became hands-on: both judges and 1 audience member drive each build, the audience member is chosen before the programme and drives all 4, and section 11 now covers interference with that seat. Scoring became 3 10 point scorecards allocated across 4 vibers, published to 1 decimal place with the remainder going to the largest crowd share, and the whale breaks a tie however many vibers are level.
Version 1.2, 9 September 2026. Section 4 now describes the application form as it stands, including the entry tape link and the 2 acknowledgements. Section 5 names the 4 selection criteria and no longer claims they carry equal weight. Sections 6, 11 and 12 no longer say 1 person drives all 4 builds; the seat is still chosen before the programme and still has to be unconnected to every viber. Section 8 drops the remainder rule: crowd points are a share of the crowd vote multiplied by 10, published to 1 decimal place, and the 4 figures may not add up to exactly 10. Section 3 states that the crowd's 10 reflect the room, and the online audience with it wherever online voting is open. Section 14 states that the judges' private rating sits outside the scorecard disclosure and inside the access right in the privacy notice.
Version 1.3, 13 September 2026. Section numbers in the entries above are the numbers in force at the time; in this entry they are the version 1.3 numbers. The challenge is secret until the whale reads it in the brief block, and these rules no longer name the subject of the pilot brief in advance. Section 6 publishes the technical frame instead, and section 12 keeps the builder agreement assignment unchanged without that rationale. Section 2 makes both the dress rehearsal on 31 October 2026 and the pilot on 7 November 2026 mandatory, section 4 asks applicants to confirm both dates, and section 5 makes availability a gate and scores time zone fit in its place. New section 8 sets out fairness and integrity: a fresh start on camera, templates public before applications closed, personal tooling disclosed and frozen at the dress rehearsal, the snapshot when the clock stops, everything visible, no programme feed with the stream on a delay, 1 proctor per viber with a local screen recording handed over for audit, and both running orders drawn on air. New section 9 sets out what happens when a connection or a platform fails. Section 10 gives every viber a floor of 1.0 crowd point and splits the other 6.0 by vote share, explains why the judges outweigh a crowd surge, opens voting only after all 4 demos with 1 vote per person, and adds the People's Choice award, which section 11 makes recognition only. Section 13 adds yellow cards, the new grounds for disqualification, and judge conflicts. Section 4 asks applicants what part of the work they link to was theirs, and section 5 weighs that answer under portfolio quality. The sections that follow are renumbered.
Version 1.4, 13 September 2026. Section 10 replaces point allocation with ranking. Each judge ranks the 4 vibers and first place earns 4 points, second 3, third 2 and fourth 1; the crowd card follows the order of the vote on the same scale, with tied vibers sharing the points for their places. The floor of 1.0, the 6 points split by vote share, the whole point and maximum 5 rules, and publication to 1 decimal place are all gone. Ties in the total go to the viber the whale ranked higher, at every position. Vote counts are recorded but not read out or published. Section 13 says a disqualified or absent viber is removed from every card and the rest are ranked for 4, 3 and 2. Section 3 restates the crowd and judge gaps as 3 and 6.
Version 1.5, 13 September 2026. Section 4 no longer asks for your city, a GitHub link, or the AI tools you build with. The answer on what part of the linked work was yours and the entry tape link are now optional; an application without a tape scores the lowest mark for video presence under section 5.
Version 1.6, 17 September 2026. The pilot moves to Saturday, 24 October 2026, and every date that hangs off it moves with it: applications close on 2 October 2026, the vibers are named on 6 October 2026, the dress rehearsal is Sunday, 18 October 2026, and any sponsor prize funds have to arrive by 9 October 2026. Section 4 no longer gives an opening date, because applications are already open. The pilot is no longer live streamed. Section 6 says the night is filmed with the judges and a small audience in the room, and section 14, now Filming and release, says it comes out afterwards as an edited episode and as the full unedited recording, and that a selected viber is asked for a headshot. Section 8 drops the stream delay and keeps the ban on watching the room feed. Section 10 makes the crowd the guests in the room and removes online voting. Section 15 no longer says an application without a video is not considered, which contradicted section 4 since version 1.5.
Version 1.7, 17 September 2026. Section 11 confirms a cash prize for the pilot alongside the trophy, with the amount to be announced in an updated version of these rules before the vibers are named. The cash prize no longer depends on a sponsor funding it by 9 October 2026. This is the version in force.
Official contest rules, version 1.7, published 6 September 2026, operator and contact details added 8 September 2026, format and scoring updated 9 September 2026, application form description, selection criteria, demo driver seat and crowd rounding corrected 9 September 2026, secret challenge, both dates mandatory, People's Choice award, integrity rules and the contribution question added 13 September 2026, rank scoring adopted 13 September 2026, application form shortened 13 September 2026, pilot date moved and live stream replaced by a filmed release 17 September 2026, cash prize confirmed 17 September 2026. Pilot episode, 24 October 2026. Sponsor: Vibers League, operated by its founders Ashish Shetty and Ashutosh Tiwari pending incorporation in British Columbia, Canada. Earlier versions are superseded. Questions: ash@idxstudioz.com.