The rules of the game

Form a company

A competing team has one to four people. A solo participant is a complete team. You may register with friends or ask for help finding teammates. Each participant belongs to one competing company.

Your company is a role-play identity for the event. Give it a name and introduce what you are making. You do not need to register a real business, assign executive titles or prepare a business plan.

Join as a registered audience member

You may sign up without entering a project. Registered audience members can explore the exhibition, take part in the activities and cast three investment votes. Ordinary visitors may browse public material but do not receive votes simply by visiting.

You do not need a settled idea when you register. If you later decide to exhibit, follow the published arrangements and deadlines.

What you can make

Videos, websites, applications, physical prototypes, games, interactive experiences and more are welcome; formats are not limited to this list. Make something practical, playful or deliberately absurd, with a clear way for visitors to use it, watch it or take part.

For example, a finished commercial for a fictional pigeon-interception system can be a content entry. The commercial must be watchable; you are not required to build the system it advertises.

Use AI in your process

You may use AI for ideas, research, writing, design, programming, audio, video or testing. The finished project does not have to contain an AI feature. Explain AI assistance and your team's own contributions honestly.

Use your preferred tools, including Claude, Codex or Gemini.

Start with a plan or an optional demo

Bring an existing project to improve during the hackathon, or start something new. A brief plan is enough to share your direction. Demo videos are optional, and you may register before deciding on a plan.

Prepare for the exhibition

Provide your company name, a brief introduction, and the work itself or an accessible route to it. Explain what visitors should do: a link, a video, a downloadable file or a clearly arranged remote experience may be suitable.

Check access permissions and instructions. For an existing project, separate earlier work from what you added during the event. Identify third-party material and current limitations. Planned features must not be presented as completed ones.

Each participant explores three companies

During the exhibition, each registered participant experiences at least three different companies' projects. Team members choose companies other than their own; registered audience members may choose any three.

Follow the experience provided: use a tool, play a game, watch a content entry or take part in a service. Base your comments and votes on the work you actually encountered.

Each company introduces one assigned project

Each competing company receives one randomly assigned project from another team. Your company experiences it and introduces it in one sentence. This is one shared company task, not a separate assignment for every member.

The creator may reply. Describe the work fairly; humour is welcome, invented claims and personal attacks are not. An assigned project may also count toward a member's three visits.

Promote and collaborate

You may make advertisements, invite people to try your work, create joint content or help another company with testing, design or production. These activities are optional. Explain each company's contribution when presenting collaborative work.

Pretend acquisitions require consent

A fictional acquisition or other announcement involving another company requires that company's agreement. It does not merge team membership, votes or award entries. Each company remains separately accountable for its own work.

There is no real money, equity transfer or investment return in the game. A joke announcement must not misrepresent another company's consent or the actual capabilities of a project.

How to allocate your votes

Each registered person receives three votes. Each vote supports one company, and you may support up to three different eligible companies. You cannot give two or three votes to the same company.

You cannot vote for your own company. Team members vote as individuals; the team does not receive an extra pool of votes.

Change votes before the deadline

You may change your choices before voting closes. Only your latest saved ballot counts, and changing a ballot never creates extra votes. Check that your choices are saved before the published deadline.

The market is public in real time

Everyone, including visitors who are not logged in, can watch each company's vote total move during voting. Only the numbers are public: who voted for whom is visible to the organisers alone. The organisers may hide live totals for a surprise ceremony; final totals are frozen when voting closes. Unused votes are not distributed.

One person means one voting identity

Do not create additional accounts, use another person's voting identity or buy and sell votes for money or goods. Advertising and inviting people to try your project are allowed.

Three judges' awards

Judges consider creativity, completion and the experience a project offers when selecting the three judges' awards. Different formats are welcome: technical complexity or the amount of code does not automatically make a project better.

Audience favourite

Investment votes decide the audience favourite independently of the judges' awards. The company with the most valid votes wins this category; companies tied for the highest total share the position. Award names and prizes are announced separately.

Keep the competition fair

Credit work that is not yours. Do not claim another person's creation or misrepresent what your project can do. Obtain permission before using someone else's private information or publishing material involving them.

Keep jokes focused on ideas and fictional companies. Do not harass participants, pressure people to vote, or use unsafe activities as part of a project or promotion.

When something goes wrong

Report broken access links, voting problems or other concerns to the organisers promptly. Explain what happened rather than working around the rules. Changes to the schedule or voting arrangements are communicated through official channels.