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arcade machine controller

[ j o y s t i c k ]

make a game, get an

arcade machine!

june 22nd, 2026 - july 17th, 2026

made with ❤️ by hack club

open source! | join the slack!

how does this work?

1. join the slack

join the hack club slack! you'll join a community of other teens with common interests in coding, game development, hardware, and other cool stuff.

once you join, you can introduce yourself in the #welcome channel.


the #joystick channel

the #joystick channel is where we'll post updates about this program.

this is where you can ask any questions you have, share your progress, and get feedback on your game. it's also a great place to connect with other people who are making games!!


important! you're going to need to be on the hack club slack to participate in joystick!

2. make a game!

think of an idea and start making! it can be anything from a story game, to a platformer, to a strategy game. it doesn't have to be conventional: make whatever you want!

you can use any game engine or programming language, as long as your game meets the requirements listed below.

important! log your coding time on hackatime and your art/music time on lapse! this will be used to calculate how many tokens you've earned, which you'll use to redeem your arcade machine parts..

what if i don't know how to make a game?

there's tons of resources online to help you get started! here's two of my favorites:


project based learning is great! make your project, and when you don't know how to do something specific, find a tutorial or ask for help!!

3. submit your game!

have you met all the requirements?
have you logged your coding time on hackatime and art/music time on lapse??
do you have enough potential tokens to redeem the arcade machine parts you want??

use this form to submit your game for review!
once you submit, our team will review your game and add the tokens to your account.
if we have any feedback, we'll DM you on slack.

4. get your arcade machine!

redeem your tokens for arcade machine parts at the ordering page! our team will ship the parts to you and help you with any questions you have about assembling your arcade machine.

once you assemble your arcade machine, share a video of it on the #joystick channel on slack. we'd love to see it!

have any questions? ask us on slack!

requirements

  1. you must be 13-18 years old. hack club is a teen community!
  2. your game must be original. avoid copying existing games.
    we want to see your creativity shine! if your game is similar to an existing game, make sure to add your own unique twist..
  3. your game should be fun and engaging!
    aim for five minutes of engaging gameplay.
  4. absolutely NO ai generated art, music, README, or docs.
    additionally, minimize the use of ai in code. we want to see your creativity, even if it's not perfect!
  5. your game must be open source & playable on a computer or mobile device.ice.
    we strongly recommend building your game to the web: it'll be accessible to more people and will speed up the review process..
  6. you must log your time using hackatime and lapse.
    check out hackatime and lapse at those links. we'll use these to calculate how many tokens you've earned. log your time honestly!!