Dates

Hacking starts after the opening ceremony on Wednesday, October 14, 2026 and ends at 12:00 PM Eastern on Friday, October 16, 2026.

Eligibility

  • Only registered ThunderHacks II participants who attend in person can submit.
  • Participants must be current students at Algoma University or Sault College.
  • Teams have 3 to 4 members, all on the same campus.
  • Submissions from anyone else will be removed.

Project and Submission Requirements

  • All work must be created during the hackathon.
  • Open source libraries, public APIs and AI tools are allowed and must be disclosed in the project description.
  • One submission per team. A team can enter more than one track with the same project.
  • Teams keep ownership of what they build.

Judging and Prizes

  • Judges score each team on the tracks it entered.
  • Judges' decisions are final.
  • Organizers can disqualify any submission that breaks these rules.

Judging Rubric

Each track has its own rubric and its own judges. A team is scored only on the tracks it entered. A team with one project in several tracks presents once. Tracks are ranked separately.

Presentations: 5 minutes demo and pitch, 3 minutes questions, 2 extra minutes for each additional track entered, hard cap of 15 minutes per team.

ALCOMS Main Track: Version 2.0 (100 points)

  • Theme fit and problem (20): clear user, real problem, and a clear link to the theme
  • Innovation (20): new idea or a new take on an existing one
  • Technical execution (30): working live demo, sound build, built during the event
  • Design and user experience (20): easy to use, clear flow, accessible
  • Pitch and questions (10): clear explanation, direct answers, whole team involved

OLG Track: Intelligent Player Protection and Fraud Detection (100 points, plus up to 10 bonus points)

  • Detection of unusual activity (20): flags anomalous or suspicious player activity from transaction and behaviour data
  • Contextual risk assessment (20): compares activity against the player profile, history or peer group
  • Investigation prioritization (20): interpretable risk scores that rank what to review first
  • Investigator experience (20): evidence-based explanation for each alert in a clear dashboard, report or tool
  • Working demo and technical soundness (20): runs live on realistic sample data with a defensible approach

Base score: 100 points. Bonus: up to 10 additional points for going beyond the core requirements, such as synthetic data, rule validation, recommendations, network analysis or a unified dashboard.

Canadian Bank Note Track: Casino Style Crash Game (100 points)

Entry requirement, pass or fail before scoring: all four MVP items must work. Bet and Cash Out controls, balance, wager and multiplier display, balance tracking, random crash point with outcome.

  • Presentation Layer (20): UI quality, responsiveness, theme consistency, usability, gameplay feedback
  • Backend Layer (20): game logic, account management, RNG implementation, security, reliability
  • Modularity and Configurability (20): code quality, maintainability, extensibility, localization, future enhancement
  • Creativity and Polish (40): innovation, visual appeal, player engagement, overall impact

Algoma Game Jam Track: Four Seasons (100 points)

  • Theme: Four Seasons (25): the seasons drive the gameplay or story, not only the backdrop
  • Gameplay and fun (30): playable loop, clear goal, judges want to keep playing
  • Art and audio (20): consistent style that supports the theme
  • Playable build (15): runs start to finish on site without the team stepping in
  • Originality (10): a new mechanic or idea

Code of Conduct

Treat all participants, mentors, judges, sponsors and staff with respect. Harassment and discrimination of any kind are not tolerated. Report concerns to an ALCOMS organizer or to [email protected]. Organizers can remove anyone who violates this code.