King of the Hill: hold the machine to score
Every team attacks the same machines. The first to break in writes its name to the king file and scores every minute it stays king, while every other team tries to take the machine back. On CTF7, King of the Hill is a managed event: you tell us the audience and the time slot, we quote it, and our team builds the hills and runs the checker, the resets and the scoreboard on the day.
Illustrative scoreboard from a managed KotH round (sample data)
What is a King of the Hill CTF?
A King of the Hill CTF (KotH) is a competition where all teams target the same shared machines, called hills. A team claims a hill by gaining access and writing its name into a designated king file. An automatic checker reads that file at fixed intervals and awards points to whoever is named. Rivals score by taking the hill over, so the holder has to defend what it just captured.
Unlike attack-defense, nobody starts with a vulnbox of their own: there is one set of hills and many challengers. That makes KotH easy for an audience to follow, which is why it works on a conference stage. Compare it with other formats in our CTF formats guide.
At a glance
- Players: solo or teams of 2 to 5
- Duration: 1 to 6 hours, often in rounds
- Hills: 1 to 5 machines of rising difficulty
- Scoring: points for every interval you hold a hill
- How you get one: a managed event, quoted per event
How a KotH round plays out
One set of machines, a king file on each, and a checker that reads every king file at a fixed interval.
Compare CTF formatsHills go live on a shared network
Each hill is a machine with its own intentional weaknesses and a king file. Players reach the hills over VPN or the venue network, and every team sees the same targets.
Race for the first foothold
When the round starts, every team works on the same machines. The first to gain sufficient access writes its team name to the king file and becomes king.
The checker confirms ownership
An automated checker reads each king file every 30 to 60 seconds, confirms the hill is healthy and credits points to the named team. It plays the same role as an attack-defense checker, so no human judging is needed.
Hold and harden the hill
The king closes the doors it came through, within the rules, while challengers look for another way in. A hill can change hands many times in a round.
Reset, then the next round
At the end of a round the hills are restored to a clean state, so every team starts the next round level. Points carry over to the overall leaderboard.
KotH scoring: points for every minute you hold
Each ownership check credits the team named in a hill's king file. Harder hills pay more per minute held, so the board rewards teams that take on the tough machines:
score = Σ hills (minutes held × hill rate)Ties are broken by total time held. We agree the check interval and hill rates with you, and publish them in the rules.
Shorter check intervals make takeovers more visible, which suits a live audience. Longer intervals favor teams that hold steadily.
| Hill | Difficulty | Points per minute held |
|---|---|---|
| hill-01 · gateway | Easy | 1 |
| hill-02 · ledger | Medium | 2 |
| hill-03 · forge | Hard | 3 |
Example: holding "ledger" for 20 minutes and "forge" for 10 earns 20 × 2 + 10 × 3 = 70 points.
Fair-play rules for shared machines
Because every team shares the same machines, one destructive move can ruin a round for everyone. Clear rules, enforced by the checker and by organizers, keep the game about skill.
Allowed
- Patching the weaknesses you used to get in
- Closing other entry points to slow challengers down
- Watching the hill for signs of rivals
- Retaking a hill you lost, as often as you can
Not allowed
- Shutting down, rebooting in a loop or otherwise disabling the hill
- Deleting, locking or breaking the king file or the service that manages it
- Denial of service against hills, other teams or the scoring infrastructure
- Attacking players' own machines or the CTF7 platform
If the checker cannot read a healthy king file, nobody scores that hill and organizers are alerted. Violations can mean a hill reset, point penalties or disqualification, with logs as evidence.
KotH variants
We plan the structure with you based on audience, venue and time slot.
Timed rounds
For example, four 45-minute rounds with a reset between each. Late joiners and weaker teams get a fresh start every round.
Multi-hill
Several hills of rising difficulty at once, so beginners fight over the easy box while experts go for the hard one.
Bracket finals
Top teams from a jeopardy qualifier face off on stage in short, head-to-head KotH rounds.
Continuous hill
One long session with no resets, for experienced teams who want the full take, hold and harden cycle.
Built for a projector and a crowd
A live audience can follow a takeover on a shared machine far more easily than a jeopardy board.
KotH gives a live audience a simple story: who holds each hill, for how long, and who just took it. Put the scoreboard on the main screen, announce takeovers and let a host commentate the final round. Short rounds fit neatly between talks. That is why KotH is a favorite for security conferences and campus fests, and it pairs well with CTF7's RSVP and pass management.
Illustrative main-screen view from a managed event (sample data)
How to host a King of the Hill event
You bring the audience, the prizes and, if you like, your own hill designs. Our team brings the hill machines, the ownership checker, the reset automation, network access and the main-screen scoreboard, and staffs them for the whole slot. Player registration runs on a normal CTF7 event page.
| When | 3-hour conference KotH |
|---|---|
| T − 6 weeks | Scoping call: audience, rounds, hills, on-site or online |
| T − 5 weeks | Quote agreed: hills, staff hours, venue network needs |
| T − 4 weeks | Registration opens; our team builds the hills |
| T − 1 week | Playtest every hill, tune check interval and rates |
| 00:00 | Briefing on rules and scoring |
| 00:15 | Rounds 1–3, 40 minutes each, reset between rounds |
| 02:30 | Final round on the main screen with commentary |
| 03:00 | Winners, certificates and hill walkthroughs |
KotH strategy, at a high level
Speed
The first minutes decide who holds the easy hills. Warm up on similar machines and have your recon routine ready before the round starts.
Holding
Claim the king file immediately, then make sure you can get back in if you are pushed out. Every check you hold is points.
Hardening
Fix the weakness you used, and others you find, without breaking the hill. A crashed hill scores nobody and may cost you a penalty.
Split the team
One player defends the hill you hold while the rest go after the next one. Rotate when a hill falls.
What a King of the Hill event needs
KotH looks simple on screen, but behind it sit hill machines, an ownership checker, reset automation and network access. Jeopardy scoreboards don't include any of that, which is why we run KotH as a managed event rather than a dashboard setting.
Hill machines
Our team builds, hosts and monitors the hills for your event.
Ownership checks
A checker credits the team named in the king file at the interval you choose.
Resets
Clean resets between rounds, so every team starts from the same position.
Scoreboard and sign-up
Teams register on a CTF7 event page; our team puts the hill scoreboard on your screen.
A KotH for dozens of teams, with your branding, rounds and rules, has to be planned as an event: hills sized to the number of teams, a check interval tuned for the audience and a clean reset between rounds. The scoping call settles those, and the quote follows from them: the number of hills, whether we design them, and how many hours our staff run the event. Hill design is done by our challenge development team. KotH isn't part of the Free or Standard plans.
King of the Hill vs attack-defense vs jeopardy
The three formats reward different skills, and many events run them in sequence: an open jeopardy round first, then a KotH or attack-defense final for the top teams on the main screen.
| Aspect | King of the Hill | Attack-defense | Jeopardy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Targets | Shared hills for all teams | Each team's own copy of the services | Independent challenges |
| How you score | Time held on each hill | Attack + defense + SLA per tick | Points per solve |
| Spectator appeal | Very high | Medium | Low |
| Typical length | 1 to 6 hours | 6 to 48 hours | 4 to 48 hours |
| Skills trained | Speed, persistence, hardening | Patching, monitoring, teamwork | Breadth across categories |
| Getting started on CTF7 | Managed: scoping call and quote | Managed: scoping call and quote | Self-serve; see pricing |
Who hosts King of the Hill CTFs
Our team also scopes and runs the other managed formats: attack-defense and SOC simulation. Self-serve events start from the format overview.
Book a hill for your finale
A King of the Hill round works well as a short closing game on a conference or fest stage. Send the date and expected crowd, and we will scope the machines and the scoring.
