The MiniZinc Challenge
The MiniZinc Challenge is an annual competition of constraint programming solvers on a variety of benchmarks. It has been held every year since 2008, with the winners being announced at the annual International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming.
If you use benchmarks from the MiniZinc Challenge in your publication or you want to have reference for the challenge, please refer to at least one of following publications.
- Peter J. Stuckey, T. Feydy, A. Schutt, G. Tack, J. Fischer (2014). The MiniZinc Challenge 2008-2013. AI Magazine 35 (2), 55-60.
- Peter J. Stuckey, R. Becket, J. Fischer (2010). Philosophy of the MiniZinc challenge. Constraints 15 (3), 307-316.
A list of all problems and MiniZinc globals used in previous challenges is available here.
Current Challenge
MiniZinc Challenge 2025
Announcements
- 2025-02-11 Official Call for Problems for the MiniZinc Challenge.
Dates
- Registration opens: Now.
- Problem submission deadline: Fri, 16 May 2025.
- Solver submission begins: Mon, 26 May 2025.
- Solver submission deadline: Fri, 11 July 2025.
- Announcement of results at CP2025: 10 - 15 August 2025 (Glasgow, Scotland).
Medals
MiniZinc Challenge 2024
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools CP-SAT | Choco-solver CP-SAT | SICStus Prolog |
| Free | OR-Tools CP-SAT | PicatSAT | iZplus |
| Parallel | OR-Tools CP-SAT | PicatSAT | Choco-solver CP |
| Open | OR-Tools CP-SAT | PicatSAT | Choco-solver CP |
| Local Search | OR-Tools CP-SAT LS | Yuck |
MiniZinc Challenge 2023
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools | SICStus Prolog | Choco 4 |
| Free | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | iZplus |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | Choco 4 |
| Local Search | Yuck |
MiniZinc Challenge 2022
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools | SICStus Prolog | JaCoP |
| Free | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | Choco 4 |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | Geas |
| Local Search | Yuck |
MiniZinc Challenge 2021
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools | JaCoP | SICStus Prolog |
| Free | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | iZplus |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | iZplus + Choco 4 |
| Open | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | iZplus + Choco 4 |
| Local Search | Yuck | OscaR/CBLS |
MiniZinc Challenge 2020
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | SICStus Prolog | JaCoP | Choco 4 |
| Free | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | Mistral 2.0 |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | PicatSAT | Mistral 2.0 |
| Open | OR-Tools | sunny-cp— | PicatSAT |
| Local Search | Yuck | OscaR/CBLS |
MiniZinc Challenge 2019
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools | JaCoP | SICStus Prolog |
| Free | OR-Tools | iZplus | Picat SAT |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | iZplus | Choco 4 |
| Open | OR-Tools | sunny-cp— | iZplus |
| Local Search | iZplus | Yuck | OscaR/CBLS |
MiniZinc Challenge 2018
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools | JaCoP | Choco 4 |
| Free | OR-Tools | Picat SAT | Choco 4 + HaifaCSP |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | Choco 4 | Picat SAT |
| Open | OR-Tools | sunny-cp— | Choco 4 |
| Local Search | iZplus | Yuck | OscaR/CBLS |
MiniZinc Challenge 2017
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools LCG | JaCoP | Choco 4 |
| Free | iZplus | OR-Tools LCG | Picat SAT |
| Parallel | Choco 4 | iZplus | OR-Tools LCG |
| Open | sunny-cp— | Choco 4 | OR-Tools LCG |
| Local Search | iZplus | Yuck | OscaR/CBLS |
MiniZinc Challenge 2016
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools | JaCoP | Choco |
| Free | HaifaCSP | Picat SAT | iZplus |
| Parallel | HaifaCSP | Picat SAT | iZplus |
| Open | sunny-cp—— | HaifaCSP | Picat SAT |
| Local Search | OscaR/CBLS |
MiniZinc Challenge 2015
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Opturion CPX | OR-Tools | JaCoP |
| Free | Opturion CPX | iZplus | OR-Tools |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | Opturion CPX | Choco |
| Open | sunny-cp—— | OR-Tools | Opturion CPX |
MiniZinc Challenge 2014
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | OR-Tools | Opturion CPX | SICStus Prolog |
| Free | iZplus | Opturion CPX | Choco |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | Opturion CPX | Choco |
| Open | OR-Tools | Opturion CPX | Choco |
MiniZinc Challenge 2013
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Opturion/CPX | OR-Tools | Gecode |
| Free | Opturion/CPX | OR-Tools | izplus |
| Parallel | OR-Tools | Choco | Opturion/CPX |
| Open | OR-Tools | Choco | Opturion/CPX |
MiniZinc Challenge 2012
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Gecode | JaCoP | OR-Tools |
| Free | Gecode | Fzn2smt | izplus |
| Parallel | Gecode | Fzn2smt | izplus |
MiniZinc Challenge 2011
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Gecode | JaCoP | B-Prolog |
| Free | Gecode | fzn2smt | JaCoP |
| Parallel | Gecode | fzn2smt | JaCoP |
MiniZinc Challenge 2010
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Gecode | JaCoP | |
| Free | Gecode | fzn2smt | JaCoP |
| Parallel | Gecode + fzn2smt | JaCoP |
MiniZinc Challenge 2009
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Gecode | SICStus Prolog | |
| Free | Gecode | SICStus Prolog |
MiniZinc Challenge 2008
| Category | Gold | Silver | Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | Gecode | Eclipse Prolog |