Advent of Code 2026: Dec. 1 Start and the Puzzle Release Time in Every Time Zone

Advent of Code 2026 unlocks its first puzzles on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2026 at midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST), which is 05:00 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), according to the event’s own site, adventofcode.com. For readers in the Pacific, Mountain and Central zones that moment falls on the evening of Monday, Nov. 30. The table below converts it for 17 rows of cities, from Honolulu to Auckland, and a printable at the end tracks the open.

What time does Advent of Code 2026 start?

The Advent of Code 2026 home page says the first puzzles go live on “December 1st at midnight EST (UTC-5).” Eastern Standard Time has applied since U.S. clocks went back on Nov. 1, so midnight in New York is 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) on Dec. 1.

The About page explains the day numbers: “The puzzles still start on December 1st so that the day numbers make sense (Day 1 = Dec 1).” It also gives the reason for the hour. Asked why midnight EST, the creator, Eric Wastl, answers: “Because that’s when I can consistently be available to make sure everything is working.”

Advent of Code 2026 release time in every time zone

The table converts 05:00 UTC on Dec. 1 for each place. All offsets are the ones in force on that date, so London is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) and Sydney and Auckland are on summer time.

City	Local time of the Day 1 release	Offset
Honolulu	7 p.m., Mon., Nov. 30	Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time (HST), UTC-10
Anchorage	8 p.m., Mon., Nov. 30	Alaska Standard Time (AKST), UTC-9
Los Angeles	9 p.m., Mon., Nov. 30	Pacific Time (PT), UTC-8
Denver	10 p.m., Mon., Nov. 30	Mountain Time (MT), UTC-7
Chicago	11 p.m., Mon., Nov. 30	Central Time (CT), UTC-6
New York	12 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	Eastern Standard Time (EST), UTC-5
São Paulo	2 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	UTC-3
London	5 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), UTC+0
Berlin and Paris	6 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	Central European Time (CET), UTC+1
Helsinki	7 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	Eastern European Time (EET), UTC+2
Moscow	8 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	UTC+3
Dubai	9 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	UTC+4
India	10:30 a.m., Tue., Dec. 1	India Standard Time (IST), UTC+5:30
Singapore and Beijing	1 p.m., Tue., Dec. 1	UTC+8
Tokyo	2 p.m., Tue., Dec. 1	Japan Standard Time (JST), UTC+9
Sydney	4 p.m., Tue., Dec. 1	Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT), UTC+11
Auckland	6 p.m., Tue., Dec. 1	New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT), UTC+13

These times are our conversion of the site’s 05:00 UTC, not a list published by Advent of Code. Anyone in a place not listed can subtract or add their UTC offset to 05:00.

Which places get the first puzzle the evening before?

Five of the cities above: Honolulu, Anchorage, Los Angeles, Denver and Chicago. In those zones the puzzle appears on Monday, Nov. 30, between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. local time. New York gets it exactly at midnight. Everywhere else in the table it is already Tuesday, Dec. 1 when the puzzle goes live.

Do puzzles open at midnight ET every day?

The site says “puzzles come out every day (ending mid-December)” and that Day 1 is Dec. 1. It states the midnight EST time for the first puzzles only. If the schedule repeats, the first week looks like this.

Day	Date	Release if midnight ET repeats	UTC
Day 1	Tue., Dec. 1	12 a.m. ET (stated by the site)	05:00
Day 2	Wed., Dec. 2	12 a.m. ET	05:00
Day 3	Thu., Dec. 3	12 a.m. ET	05:00
Day 4	Fri., Dec. 4	12 a.m. ET	05:00
Day 5	Sat., Dec. 5	12 a.m. ET	05:00
Day 6	Sun., Dec. 6	12 a.m. ET	05:00
Day 7	Mon., Dec. 7	12 a.m. ET	05:00

The table stops at Dec. 7 on purpose. The site says only that the puzzles end mid-December. It does not give a last date or the number of puzzle days, so neither appears here.

What changed for Advent of Code 2026?

The About page says: “After keeping a consistent schedule for ten years(!), I needed a change.” It also says that after ten years the global leaderboard was removed, and the leaderboard page confirms “Advent of Code 2026 doesn’t have a global leaderboard.” Private leaderboards remain: “you should find a new private leaderboard or start your own!”

The site describes itself as free: “Advent of Code is free to use.” It also adds “not free to copy.” Sign-in works through other services, and the About page says “you only ever give your credentials to that service - never to Advent of Code.” The page for 2026 does not name the providers in the text we read.

On artificial intelligence (AI), the About page asks “Should I use AI to solve Advent of Code puzzles?” and answers “No.” Its reasoning: “Advent of Code puzzles are designed to be interesting for humans to solve.”

Free Advent of Code 2026 puzzle tracker to print

The printable lists the Dec. 1 release with a box to mark when you solve Day 1, plus what the site has not stated. It is one US Letter page with no site art or logos. For the holiday around it, see our December 2026 printable calendar, the December 2026 important dates story and the Advent calendar 2026 dates guide. Game launches in the same month are in video game release dates for December 2026.