BGAMING’S HACKATHON: SHAPING THE COMPANY’S FUTURE BY GOING BEYOND

At the end of September, BGaming’s fourth annual Hackathon took place, bringing BGamers together to brainstorm game-changing ideas that disrupt, surprise, and redefine what’s possible in iGaming.

Every Hackathon is a sort of marathon for creative minds and problem solvers. Teams gather to brainstorm, design, and build innovative online casino games and tools that are not just cool to play with but add real value to BGaming’s business. Fueled by passion, caffeine, and the thrill of competition, participants work tirelessly for 24–48 hours with the support of mentors.
What’s great is that everyone’s invited! Whether you’re from Engineering, Marketing, HR, Sales, BAM, or anywhere in between, your perspective matters, even if you’ve never coded before and have zero game design experience. A set of fresh eyes often sees the most brilliant solutions.

The BGaming Hackathon: Game Changers provided a unique opportunity to push boundaries, acquire new skills, and work alongside fellow BGamers to make a meaningful impact in a short time. It brought together 11 teams, each consisting of 3–6 members. Each team was tasked with delivering a game prototype, feature, or tool by the end of the event.

The competition featured five categories: 

• “Best Game Experience” — for a project that stands out for its overall quality and is, essentially, “the best of the best” 
• “Best Visual Style” — given to the project with the most striking and cohesive visual presentation
• “Most Innovative” — for the most creative, bold, and original idea
• “BGamers’ Choice Award” — the project that gets the most community love
• “WOW Effect Award” — the wow-effect, brightest and most unusual idea

A “Special Judges’ Sound Award” was spontaneously added because one of the teams’ games delivered incredible sound design that had to be honored.

“A good project isn’t always the most innovative or technically perfect one — sometimes it’s a raw idea that instantly resonates and makes everyone think, ‘Wow, that’s cool!’ As a producer, I value both innovation and applicability — it’s essential to determine whether an idea can actually evolve into a tangible product.

BGaming Hackathons always bring incredible energy and inspiration — they spark creativity, teamwork, and fresh ways of thinking,” said Vasili Pauliuchenko, Game Producer at BGaming. Each team was required to present a concept or demo of their game, accompanied by a clear and organized presentation. They needed to discuss the data-driven approach used in game development, highlight the fun mechanics and features, explain what sets their project apart, and emphasize the unique selling points that would lead to success.

Every year during Hackathon, we realize how lucky we are to have our passionate and impossibly creative BGamers. Everyone treated the task at hand with care: the presented projects had distinct target audiences, considered genre peculiarities, and evoked strong emotions. This Hackathon proved that BGamers are business-savvy, great at teamwork and ideation, and clearly understand how to turn inspired ideas into potentially successful concepts.

— Julia Alekseeva, CPO at BGaming.

After the projects were presented, the jury voted for the winners, and BGamers themselves voted for their favorites in a public vote. The winners were then recognized with real-money awards in various categories. The concepts were considered the strongest and most well-rounded if they combined creativity, strategic thinking, and viability of implementation.

“Huge thanks to BGaming for the chance to bring ideas to life, test myself, and feel the incredible energy of teamwork. Our team, Bunny Boosters, turned this project into something much more than just work — it became a true adventure. Behind the lightness were hours of discussions, countless ideas, and rare synergy. Each teammate brought a unique perspective that made us stronger.

I’m proud of what we created together — not just a project, but something real and alive. I believe our victory started long before the awards, the moment we began working as one team and believed in each other,” added Sergei Boiko, Back-End Developer at BGaming, and a participant of the winning team.

Hackathons are a fantastic tool for bringing out individual and team creativity. They are more than just a team-building exercise — they represent an exceptional opportunity for every BGamer’s voice to be heard in the context of the company’s direction, for every company employee to get a chance to go beyond what they do on a daily basis, and potentially see their bright idea go live in the future.