HackathonGo!

🧠 Inspiration

At hackathons, it’s easy to get caught up in code and forget there’s a whole room full of amazing people to connect with. We wanted to make it easier (and funnier) to actually talk to strangers. Inspired by Pokémon Go, BeReal, and chaotic dares from group chats, we built HackathonGo! — a social quest app that turns hackathon mingling into a game.

📱 What it does

HackathonGo! gives participants real-life challenges (aka “quests”) like:

• “Take a picture with someone in a black shirt”
  
• “Find someone drinking bubble tea and snap a selfie”
  

Players complete quests, submit photo proof, and climb the leaderboard. There’s also a public feed of everyone’s submissions and sponsor-branded quest streams for bonus XP.

🛠️ How we built it

We built a web app using:

• HTML, CSS, JavaScript for a clean, retro-inspired UI
  
• Firebase to store photo submissions, usernames, and XP
  
• A horizontal leaderboard at the top, with the live quest feed below
  
• Sponsor Streams, which act like themed sidequests
  

We also began integrating Gemini’s API to analyze photo submissions and verify that players actually completed their quests. We got it working for basic image recognition and are currently improving its accuracy and consistency.

🚧 Challenges we ran into

• Designing quests that are fun, not cringe
  
• Making the UI feel game-like while keeping it simple
  
• Getting Gemini to reliably detect visual elements (like shirt colors)
  
• Cutting extra features (like team mode) to stay within scope

🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of

• The clean layout and playful, retro aesthetic
  
• Real-time leaderboard and quest feed
  
• Integrating generative AI to interpret photos
  
• Getting people to actually talk, laugh, and participate in person

📚 What we learned

• Prompt engineering for visual AI (Gemini)
  
• Balancing design and functionality in a social app
  
• How to create an MVP that’s fun and functional
  
• That hackathon energy + humor = powerful combo

🚀 What's next for HackathonGo!

• Finish integrating Gemini for real-time quest verification
  
• Add team quests and party mode
  
• Let organizers/sponsors create custom quests
  
• Open-source the project so anyone can use it to make their event more social and fun

Built With

• css
• gemini
• javascript