The Biggest Event of the Year
$40 per student
Pictured: Hackingtons500 2025 — 100 students, one afternoon.
Sunday, Oct 25th
2:30pm – 5:30pm
Pleasant Hill Senior Center 233 Gregory Ln, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Pizza & dessert
Served during the event
Ceremony at 5:15pm
Trophies for each division
Students build a video game in Scratch or JavaScript around a surprise theme revealed at the start of the event. Trophies go to the winners of each division.
Block-based game building for our youngest competitors.
Same tools, tougher field — for experienced Scratch builders.
Open division. Write real code and go head-to-head with everyone.
$40 per student — includes pizza, dessert, and entry into all divisions. Open to currently enrolled Hackingtons students only. You'll be taken to Stripe to pay securely.
Every project is scored out of 50 points across five categories.
Originality of idea, creative use of the theme, and overall fun factor.
Does the code match your actual skill level (we’ll compare to your showcase).
Visual design, clarity, playability, and overall user experience.
Is it engaging and worth replaying?
How well the project embraces the theme in gameplay/design.
Hackingtons500 is open to currently enrolled Hackingtons students. Your child must be enrolled in a class at the time of registration.
Yes. Drop off at 2:30pm and come back for the awards ceremony at 5:15pm. Pickup is at 5:30pm.
They can bring their own — Mac, PC, or Chromebook all work. If they need to borrow one, choose that option on the registration form and we'll have one ready.
Yes — pizza and dessert are served during the competition. Tell us about any food allergies on the registration form.
No—please wait for the surprise theme. You can prep your tools and warm up with practice problems.
Instructors can help with ideas and debugging, but they are not allowed to write code for you.
No AI tools, no external game libraries, no remixes, no prior games — it must be 100% new code.
Submissions close at 4:45pm, but please submit a draft earlier so we can verify links.
You can help your friend, but your submission must be individual.
Build a video game in Scratch or JavaScript using the surprise theme. You're welcome to be creative and outside-the-box.
No, we don't reveal scores nor do we share the other projects. We must judge 100 projects in 30 minutes and we do our absolute best to be fair.
We judge 100 projects in 30 minutes. Regardless of winning or not, we hope you have a wonderful time at the event.
Trophies for the winners of each division, awarded at the 5:15pm ceremony.
Three divisions: Scratch ages 8–11, Scratch ages 12+, and JavaScript (all ages). Trophies go to the winners of each division.
Yes, but you can only win 1 division.
Beginners have won in the past. Also, we have raffle prizes and we promise you'll have a great time even as a beginner!
Cancel 7 or more days before the event for a full refund. Email [email protected] and we'll take care of it.