Proxy, welcome to the Zenless Zone Zero Strategy Station! That line hit my screen in July 2024 like a vending machine that only accepts compliments—confusing, oddly charming, and impossible to ignore. I’m a first-person kind of guide writer, so let me tell you about the version 1.0 Strategy Guide Contest, how it worked, and why in 2026 it still matters. Spoiler: the Polychromes were shiny, but the real prize was learning how to explain a Hollow Zero run without sounding like a Bangboo reading a tax form.

🕹️ The Contest That Launched a Thousand Bangboo Pillows

The Strategy Guide Contest for version 1.0 ran from 2024/07/04 10:00 to 2024/08/12 23:59 (UTC+8). Judging happened from 2024/08/13 to 2024/08/25, and winners were announced on 2024/08/26 at 18:00. The pitch was simple: submit a guide, help fellow Proxies, and maybe win enough Polychromes to make your account look like a dragon’s hoard. If valid submissions reached 1,000, everyone unlocked a milestone reward of 30 Polychromes.

The prizes were not subtle. They were the kind of loot that makes a hoarder’s heart flutter like a moth in a lamp factory:

Tier	Winners	Prize
Exceptional Proxy	5	Polychrome ×5000 + Random Acrylic Character Stand ×10 + Bangboo Pillow ×1 + Fridge Magnet Collection - City NPCs Edition ×1 + Strategy Guide Contest Avatar Frame (90 days) ×1
Senior Proxy	10	Polychrome ×2000 + Random Acrylic Character Stand ×4 + Bangboo Pillow ×1 + Fridge Magnet Collection - City NPCs Edition ×1 + Strategy Guide Contest Avatar Frame (90 days) ×1
Rising Star Proxy	50	Polychrome ×1000 + Random Acrylic Character Stand ×1 + Fridge Magnet Collection - City NPCs Edition ×1 + Strategy Guide Contest Avatar Frame (90 days) ×1

🗂️ Pick Your Poison: The Five Categories

The contest split guides into five categories. Choosing one felt like picking a favorite child, except all the children were screaming for Polychromes.

• 🛣️ Street Tours / Upgrade Guides / Bangboo Upgrades / Other beginner guides — for new Proxies who need a hand, not a lecture.

• 🧠 Agent Guide — skill analysis, upgrade material intros, W-Engine and Drive Disc choices, and the path to building the strongest Agent.

• 📜 Commission Guide — any experience you want to share about commissions. No commission too hard, apparently.

• 🌀 Hollow Guide — Rally Commissions, Hollow Zero, Shiyu Defense, and other dangerous Hollows. Bring a map, a therapist, and maybe a shield.

• 🎉 Event Guide — limited-time events, arcade mini-games, and other festive nonsense.

If you were unsure, you could dump your masterpiece into #Other Guide# and pray to the RNG gods.

📝 The Rules I Memorized While Crying Into a Keyboard

Submissions had to follow a strict title format: #Category Name# + Summary of guide content. For example: #Agent Guide# Anby Optimal W-Engine and Squad Configuration. Miss that, and your guide was considered invalid faster than you can say “Ethereal on my face.”

For post submissions, you needed at least 500 words and 5 images. GIFs counted. The formatting had to be orderly, the logic clear, and the content free of major mistakes. Copying other guides was a one-way ticket to the shadow realm.

For video submissions, the video had to be self-made, longer than 5 minutes, at least 720P, and include commentary, subtitles, or visual notes. You also had to state, 'This video is a Strategy Guide Contest submission' in the description.

Then came the notes, which read like a legal document written by a Bangboo with a law degree:

• Provide your in-game UID correctly if you win virtual prizes, or forfeit them.

• Provide your delivery address correctly and on time for physical prizes. No changes after submission. No resends for bad addresses.

• Original fan content only. Plagiarism meant deletion and a permanent ban from future community events.

• By entering, you agreed to let the organizer publish or use your submission online and offline. You kept authorship.

• Multiple submissions were allowed, but each UID could win only one prize per version. If you won multiple, only the highest prize counted.

• Prizes might not be issued if submissions were too few or too low-quality.

• Address info would be used only for delivery.

• Physical rewards could be substituted if inventory or logistics failed. Delays were possible.

• Winners were responsible for taxes and customs in their region.

• Employees and related personnel could not participate.

• Plagiarism or copyright violations could be reported to customer service.

🔮 What This Means in 2026

As I write this in 2026, the version 1.0 contest is a museum piece. The game has grown, new Agents have arrived, and the meta has shifted more times than I’ve changed my main. But the core lesson is still sharp: a good guide is a bridge. It takes your messy experience and turns it into something another Proxy can walk across.

My advice? Treat old contest rules like a sparring dummy. They’re not the boss fight anymore, but they’ll teach you the moves. Write with clarity, submit with confidence, and remember: the best guide is the one that helps someone else clear a Hollow without wanting to throw their controller into the sun. Now go make some Polychromes—or at least make some sense. 🎮✨