Pi Wars 2023 – a difficult decision

Following a lot of discussion and a lot of soul-searching, we have decided not to proceed with Pi Wars 2023. There are several reasons for this.

First of all, we are finding that because the 2022 event was in July, and the 2023 event would have been in March, we have not been able to take a little time off between the end of one and the start of another – in fact, we are already behind in the preparation stage and we don’t like to be trying to catch up the whole time. We have had to take a mini-break before, when we shifted from December to March/April in a previous year, so we hope that this is understandable.

Secondly, Mike has just been promoted at work and is finding the prospect of getting this new role started and helping to run Pi Wars at the same time a bit of a mental challenge. He felt that it was better to postpone for a year and then potentially start Pi Wars again once things had settled down.

Lastly, and importantly, it is currently extremely difficult to get hold of the Raspberry Pi microcomputer. Part of this is down to the global shortage of electronic components and part of this is because Raspberry Pi Ltd have decided to prioritise commercial and industrial customers, making stocks of the Pi for hobbyists and education hard to come by. We felt that this will prevent, especially, new teams being interested in the competition and being able to enter it.

We know that this is very disappointing – we feel it, too – but hopefully, with a little time, we will be able to re-launch Pi Wars in 2024 with renewed vigour.

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Mike, Tim & Dave