Recorded live at midnight EST, December 6, 2022, from Boston, Gothenburg, and Stockholm, via the Spotify Live app. In this special Advent of Code episode, we try to solve the Day 6 puzzle the moment it’s released. Host Dave Zolotusky and Spotify’s chief architect, Niklas Gustavsson (aka, ngn), play against Spotify’s reigning champ, the one and only, unstoppable Jimmy Mårdell. Entering today’s challenge behind ngn in the standings, will Jimmy reclaim his rightful place atop the Spotify leaderboard? Play along with us and find out!

Plus, Spotify engineers share what makes this friendly, low-stakes coding competition so much fun every year, Jimmy answers questions from the live audience (including offering some speed tips), and more.

The Advent of Code season is upon us once again:

• Advent of Code 2022 — Day 6: The puzzle we’re attempting to solve in this episode. Play along with us — when you hear the boxing bell ring in the episode, click the link above and see how fast you can come up with a solution. Can you beat us to it?
• 05: Advent of Code: Listen to our previous episode about this annual Spotify tradition and learn more about the community that’s grown up around it.
• adventofcode.com: It’s never too late to join in the fun. Start on Day 1 and see how far you can go.

Special thanks to Eric Wastl for creating such a fun thing.

Read what else we’re nerding out about on the Spotify Engineering Blog: engineering.atspotify.com

You should follow us on Twitter @SpotifyEng and on LinkedIn!