Lee Lin (16yo), Logan Bentley (16yo)
Lee and Logan devised this 'cursed' keyboard to help boost unproductivity in ICT classrooms across the country... Twist the knob to scroll across the alphabet and then click the button (which may occasionally electrocute you) to type a letter. Record of 5 words-per-minute!
Oscar Rhodes (16yo), Ryan Li (17yo)
The audience at our May 2026 hackathon voted the top prize to Oscar Rhodes and Ryan Li from Westlake Boys High School for this inventive spin on one of the world's most popular games! Over the course of 24 hours, Oscar and Ryan created the pixelated assets and their own chess AI for players to compete with.
Zachary Hogg (14yo), Devan Williamson (14yo), Ruby Smith (16yo)
This one's a desktop pet and a desk pet combined: turn your cursor into a cheese-loving mouse ('mouse' pun intended) and keep the hunger bar full by clicking the cheese that appears on your screen. The desk cheese box will alert you as well - get to four lights and your mouse will explode!
Oscar Rhodes (16yo), Ryan Li (17yo)
Oscar and Ryan built this game, an adaptation of the 2016 hit indie game 'Superhot', where, beneath the surface of the ocean, you play as a shark evading divers and their spear guns! Time moves in slow motion until you move, allowing you to strategise your movement to pass the level and unlock upgrades. Built in Unity.
Lee Lin (16yo), Logan Bentley (16yo), Harshal Joshi (16yo)
Built in Godot.
Lee Lin (16yo), Logan Bentley (16yo)
Lee and Logan devised this 'cursed' keyboard to help boost unproductivity in ICT classrooms across the country... Twist the knob to scroll across the alphabet and then click the button (which may occasionally electrocute you) to type a letter. Record of 5 words-per-minute!
Alex Liang (17yo)
World-class teen engineer Alex Liang - Distinguished Winner in Apple's renowned Swift Student Challenge 2026 - took inspiration from his surroundings to create a KiwiHacks-style take on cooking simulation games like 'Overcooked!'. It's very cute! Built in Unreal Engine.
Arslaan Pathan (13yo)
The most technically impressive project from our May hackathon: check out the demo video of the awesome Arslaan, only 13 years old, talking through his custom UI framework. It can show browsers within apps on Linux. Built for Linux using C and SDL3.