Pumpkin Playground

Overview

Pumpkin Playground is an online hackathon organized by ACM Long Beach, designed for college students to engage in creative and enjoyable project development. The event aims to provide a platform for participants to explore new ideas, build unique projects, or simply create something for fun, moving away from the typical pressures of academic assignments. It encourages originality, whether the outcome is a 'useless' project or a potentially groundbreaking product. The hackathon emphasizes a relaxed and exploratory environment during the spooky season. Participants are encouraged to build something they genuinely enjoy, regardless of its size or complexity. The goal is to foster creativity and provide a space where students can express their ideas without strict constraints, aligning with the spirit of lighthearted fun. The competition offers various prizes, including cash awards for top entries and social media promotion for multiple winners. Projects will be judged on criteria such as creativity, funniness, and, to a lesser extent, usefulness. All submissions must be made by the specified deadline. Eligibility is restricted to college students who are of legal age in their country of residence, excluding companies and professional organizations. Participants from all countries and territories are welcome, with standard exceptions. The hackathon provides an opportunity for students to showcase their skills and imaginative thinking.

What to build

A project of interest that can be fun and silly, or unique and potentially impactful. It can be the most useless project or a significant product.

Prizes

Key dates

• DeadlineOctober 23, 2026 @ 11:45 PM EDT

Submission requirements

• Submit by Friday October 23 11:59 PM PST

Judging criteria

• Creativity: Not a boring spinoff, or if it is, it has unique twists.
• Funny-ness: Is this the funniest thing anyone's ever seen?
• Usefulness: Is the project practical or useful? (This is probably not the main aim for funny/unserious projects.)