Rules

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HKSC casual and tournament races, unless otherwise determined before the race, are played with the speedrunning NMG Ruleset with some modifications. You will want to familiarize yourself with the list of banned/allowed glitches for the NMG ruleset. Note that most of the guidelines for submissions and timing runs do not apply due to the nature of randomizer races. Usually, the winner of a randomizer race is based on RTA rather than in-game or load-removed time, due to the in-game timer being very inaccurate, and the difficulty in factoring a "knowledge advantage" into a non-RTA race.

Banned Glitches

Some of the common banned glitches are summarized below:

Any Invulnerability glitch

Any Out of Bounds glitch

Any glitch that results in an invisible character or will result in a invisible character with no additional player input

Any form of item duplication

Inventory Storage

Inventory Scream Skips

Wallcling Storage

Float glitch

Superslides

Quick Map stalls/storage

Dreamgating in a way that allows a Dirtcarver to spawn in a room it would not ordinarily spawn in.

In addition to these NMG banned glitches, the randomizer community has voted to ban Shriek Pogos (AKA "Shrogo" or "Shwings") and Slopeballs/Stallballs. This differs from the NMG ruleset used in speedrunning.

Minor glitches such as inventory drops and lever skips are allowed within the rando ruleset. QOL settings should be left default unless otherwise agreed.

NMG Rules Doc

Accidental use of glitches may be ignored if the player realizes and attempts to fix the problem quickly. For tournament races, this is usually left up to the TOs and may result in a disqualification or automatic loss.

General Rules

There are no forced checks in the game, but players should make sure they are using the same seed and randomizer version by confirming their hash with the other player(s)/team(s).

A player can only cross off an objective after that objective is actually completed. In a lockout setting, players are not forced to cross off or claim completed objectives. The first player/team to claim an objective is the one to earn the point for it, even if the opposing player/team technically completed it first, and the opponent/opposing team can no longer claim that objective.

For other formats such as blackout and 3-lines, even though there’s no incentive to marking goals until the end of the game, mark obtained goals ASAP. Failing to do so is considered goal hiding and is disallowed.

Benchwarping is permitted to any bench that the player has already sat on. However, both deploy bench and unlock all are disallowed.

The default ruling does not allow for Flower Quest to be benchwarped, and instead players should do the quest as they would normally.

In races requiring Radiance, a team has finished the race when both players have dealt the final hit to the Radiance in the cutscene with the void tendrils (so NOT the one right at the end of the climb). You can type gg in the race chat when you finished your Radiance this way, ggs from both players signify the team’s finish.

The final hit to the Radiance can only be dealt when all other goals for the format have been completed by a team (25 goals for blackout, all major items for all majors, etc.). One teammate is allowed to start the fight before the goals are completed as long as they delay the final hit until the other player has finished the remaining goals.

RandoMapMod, Helper log and Tracker log are allowed for all races. Spoiler log is only allowed in spoiler formats.

Goal Marking Rules

As of an October 2024 vote, the following rules determine when goals can be marked.

Bosses are counted as defeated on the last hit on the boss. Collector is considered defeated on the final hit that turns it into a puddle, not the hit that causes its HP to reach 0.
For goals such as "defeat two soul warriors", the same Colosseum enemy can only be counted once. Godhome fights are considered a separate fight, rather than a refight, so fighting a boss in the Hall of Gods count towards these goals.
Shops are considered visiting upon opening the shop menu. This means that for Leg Eater the player must spend geo to open the shop before the goal can be marked.
"Interact with Mr. Mushroom" requires talking to him; smacking him does not count as an interaction.
Both opening Salubra's shop and "listening" to her can count as talking to Salubra.
Taking a bath in a hot spring is defined by being in the water for any amount of time.
Pantheon hot springs are counted as separate hot springs for the goal. However, the lake in godhome atrium is not a hot spring.
Swatting Tiso’s shield is counted as hitting the shield with left slash, right slash, a spell, or Thorns of Agony.
Ride the stag to…” goals are completed on the load of the new transition,
"Check [location]" goals only require the player to preview what is there, if applicable. "Get the check" goals require the player to obtain the check, even if it is previewable.

Goals for bingo formats should be marked by the person who completed them. Only one person needs to complete a goal, but both need to kill Radiance to finish. Goals that have multiple components in them can be shared in certain cases:

If a goal’s other component physically cannot be done by the other player (for example because the shiny has already been picked up by their teammate), then that goal can be shared (eg.: Two pale ore checks).
If all of a goal’s components can be done by a single player in any scenario, that goal needs to be fully completed by a single player (eg.: 4 different hot springs, kill two Soul Warriors).

If grubs are shared between the two players (by having grubs randomized in their own pool, most likely will be the case), Check/Free all grubs in […] goals can be shared.

If mimics are randomized, the mimic needs to be killed in order for its location to count for a Check/Free all grubs in […] goal.
The Kill 4 mimics goal requires visiting the mimics’ vanilla locations and breaking the jar / killing the mimic there, even if mimics are randomized.

Cheating

There is a zero-tolerance policy for intentionally cheating, and users will be punished accordingly, be it in a tournament match or a casual race. Due to the severity of cheating and the punishment it carries, don't make joke accusations and intentional malicious false accusations will be met with just as severe consequences.

Cheating includes, but is not limited to (Unless otherwise agreed):

Use of Spoiler log outside of spoiler log formats.

Marking goals you don't currently have.

Calling finished early.

Stream sniping.

Using banned mods such as Debug.

Randomizer racing is inherently volatile, and upsets are common. Assume good faith, and if someone accidentally marks a goal early or takes a route you deem unusual it isn't proof that the person is cheating.