For one weekend: makers, developers, designers, and educators come together to form teams and build and launch arcade games in just 54 hours! Think of it as a hackathon for games.
An arcade game can be anything that you'd see in an arcade, whether that's a traditional 1980's arcade with cabinets, carnival games like in Dave and Busters (think 'Whack-a-Mole' or racing games), or something entirely new. You can participate in the game jam even if you're an absolute beginner, or have never been to a game jam or hackathon in the past.
The structure of a jam: everyone gathers on Friday late afternoon and a secret theme is announced. The attendees are challenged to make arcade games based on that same theme, with games to be completed by Sunday afternoon. Sunday afternoon, we have an open arcade and playtest to invite the outside world to try your new games.
Our next Arcade Jam will be in NYC, April 2020.