Use when: (1) Entering a new Kaggle competition and unsure what type it is,
(2) Need to choose between forking public kernels vs building custom,
(3) Deciding how to allocate submission quota across the competition lifecycle,
(4) Determining which evaluation/validation strategy to use.
Covers 6 competition types (Standard Tabular, Code Competition, Simulation,
Research, Prediction, Playground), each with distinct: submission mechanism,
scoring system, public kernel value, GPU requirements, and optimal strategy.
Includes a decision tree for first-48h actions and a quota allocation framework.
Validated across 20+ competitions Jun-Sep 2026.
