Walk into your first jeopardy-style CTF and the scoreboard raises an immediate question: why does a challenge's point value sometimes go down while the competition is still running? That's dynamic scoring, and understanding it changes how you should prioritize which challenges to attempt.
Static scoring: fixed value, decided up front
The simplest model: each challenge has a fixed point value set by the organizers before the competition starts, usually scaled roughly to difficulty. Solve it, get exactly that many points, no matter when you solve it or how many other teams also solved it.
Dynamic scoring: value drops as more teams solve it
Under dynamic scoring, a challenge starts at some maximum value and decreases as more teams submit the correct flag, often following a curve that drops quickly at first and then levels off. The idea is to reward teams who solve something early or who solve something genuinely hard that few others crack, rather than letting an easy, heavily-solved challenge keep paying full value all event long.
Why this changes strategy
Under dynamic scoring, a challenge's displayed point value is a moving target — a 500-point challenge at the start of the event might be worth 50 by the end if hundreds of teams solve it. Watching how fast a challenge's value is dropping tells you roughly how many other teams have already solved it, which is itself useful information about its real difficulty relative to what the organizers assumed.
First-blood and other bonuses
Many platforms (CTFd included) layer a first-blood bonus on top of either scoring model — the first team to solve a given challenge gets extra recognition or points, visible on the scoreboard. This rewards speed specifically, separate from the challenge's base value.
Wrapping up
None of this changes what a flag actually requires technically — it only changes which challenges are worth your limited time first. Once you're ready for the format itself rather than just the scoring, our Getting Started with CTF guide covers how a jeopardy event is structured end to end, and flag formats explained covers the submission side.