Odyssey of the Mind

Odyssey of the Mind is a world-wide competition based on creative problem solving. It is a fairly complicated competition and in the United States not many people understand the premise of it. The purpose of this website is to explain all of the components of Odyssey of the Mind for the beginner and the outsider.

The Basics

Teams consist of 5-7 people of the same age [5].
The goal is to solve given problems in the best and most creative way.
There are two sections of competition: long-term and spontaneous.

Terms to know:

Outside Assistance

When a team gets ideas or help from anyone other than the 5-7 members (including the coach) [8].

Odyssey/OM/Ootm (pronounced oo-tim or just spelled)

Nick names for the competition.

Style

Part of the long term score where teams choose what they want to have scored-usually what they think is the most creative.

OMer (pronounced ohm-er)

A participant in Odyssey of the Mind.

OMER (pronounced the same as OMer)

The racoon mascot of Odyssey of the Mind