The Countermove Cup.
A free monthly challenge between universities. Once a month, one Today's challenge becomes the Cup: every student plays the same world, and universities rank by their players' average score.
The first Cup opens in November 2026
The exact day will be posted on this page before it opens. Every Cup after that runs once a month, on Today's challenge.
- One day a month is Cup day
That day's challenge is the Cup: the same market, rivals and headlines for every player, as on any day.
- Play the year and post your result
Pick a seat, make four quarterly calls, and post your result at full time. One result per player.
- Add your university
Save your university as your group, here or on the year-end screen. Your posted result counts towards its average.
- Universities rank by average score
Any university with 3 or more players gets a row on the Cup board.
How scoring works
Your score
Exactly the score Today's challenge gives: the board's targets for the Cup world, out of 100.
Meet every target for 85 points (grade B). Beat them for up to 15 more: A takes 95. Volume bought with extra deals, or loaded into retailers' stock, costs points in proportion (up to 45), because it unwinds next year.
- A
- 95 or more
- B
- 85 to 94
- C
- 75 to 84
- D
- 60 to 74
- E
- Under 60
Your university's score
The average score of everyone who posted a Cup result and added your university. Only universities with 3 or more players are ranked.
Ties go to the higher best single score, then to the university with more players.
An average rewards the whole group, not one star player: bringing ten classmates who play carefully beats one lucky year.
The Cup board
The Cup board opens with the first Cup. It is the group board from Today's challenge on Cup day, and stays up for seven days after it, as every daily board does.
Until then, here is today's group board, scored exactly as the Cup will be. Groups here are teams, schools and companies as well as universities.
Groups of 3 or more players: average and best score. Who is in a group is never shown.
Rules
Playing
- Free to enter. No sign-up and no account: you play in the browser.
- One result per player per Cup. The server replays your four decisions in the Cup world and works out the score itself, so a result can't be edited or made up.
- Results count if posted on Cup day (UTC), or by 06:00 UTC the next morning for a year started before midnight.
- Play on your own. Talk about the ideas all you like, but each player makes their own calls.
- Use your first name or a nickname on the board. Names that break the site's naming rules are refused.
- No prizes with money value. The Cup is for the standings and a certificate.
Who can enter
- Students at any university, business school or college, at any level, anywhere.
- Teachers and staff can play too; please give your result to a staff group rather than your university's student row.
- A university appears on the board once 3 of its players have posted and added it. Fewer than 3 and its results still count for each player, but the row stays hidden so no one can be picked out.
- Group names are typed by players and are not checked. The board runs on trust: please use your university's usual name so your scores land in one row.
The Cup certificate
The plan: everyone who posts a Cup result can download a certificate card, like the Academy's, with their name, university, the Cup month, their score and grade, and their university's place on the board. It is not built yet; it will arrive with the first Cup.
For teachers: the card is meant to sit alongside a class session, as evidence a student took part. It is not an assessment or a qualification.
Running a whole class through it? Teams and classes has a private class board, and the facilitator kit a 90-minute run of show. Questions: hello@playcountermove.ai.