Twelve individuals. One weekend in Vegas. 24-hour venue access. This is a solo competition — no teams, just you and your AI co-pilot. Build any kind of game — chance-based, skill-based, total chaos — as long as the experience of playing with others is ridiculously fun. You don't need to be a technical wizard. The best ideas in the room win, not the best résumé. Everyone walks away with something.
The kind of game where someone says "one more round" five rounds ago. Multiplayer showdowns, cooperative mayhem, spectator-friendly chaos, moments people screenshot and share. Any genre — card games, party games, action games, weird stuff we've never seen. Surprise us.
This isn't a typing contest. It's a creativity contest. Cursor is your required co-pilot — and we want you to lean on AI as hard as humanly (or monkily) possible.
Cursor, ChatGPT, Claude, Midjourney, Suno, ElevenLabs — every AI tool on the planet is fair game. We don't care how you built it. We care if it's fun. If AI helps you build something wilder, use more AI.
We hand you the keys to the best AI IDE on the market. It's not optional — it's your secret weapon.
Image generators, music AI, voice synthesis, code assistants — if it exists and it helps, use it.
Quick disclosure of your AI toolchain. We're not restricting anything — we just want to see how you work.
Get yourself to Vegas and we handle everything on-site. Workspace, meals, equipment, and all the energy drinks you can handle.
The space never closes. Friday 7 PM through Sunday 1 PM. Build at midnight, nap at 3 AM, have a breakthrough at dawn. Your rhythm, your rules.
Your own desk, external monitor, power, and screaming-fast WiFi. Sit down Friday, it's yours till Sunday.
Dinner Friday. All meals Saturday and Sunday. Coffee, snacks, and energy drinks flowing around the clock. We keep you fueled.
Monkey Tilt team members drop in throughout the weekend for feedback, brainstorming, and playtesting. Got stuck? Ping the group chat.
Sunday afternoon: you show your game, we lose our minds. Judges, fellow builders, and a proper Vegas send-off.
No residency rules. No technical bar. Getting to Vegas is on you — flights, gas, whatever it takes. Once you're here, everything else is covered.
Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Build when you're hot, rest when you're not. The space is yours around the clock.
Check in, grab dinner, meet the other 11 competitors about to ruin their sleep schedules alongside you. Quick intros, then go. The clock is ticking.
The venue is open all night. Pull a late one or crash and come back fresh — your call. Saturday meals on us all day.
Totally optional. Let other builders try your half-finished masterpiece. Laugh at the bugs together. Get real feedback before the final push.
Last stretch. Polish it, break it, fix it, ship it. Submissions lock Sunday at noon. The venue is still open. Coffee is still flowing.
Lunch, then you get 5 minutes to demo your game and 2 minutes of Q&A. Make us want to play it. Winner announced that afternoon. It's Vegas — we celebrate accordingly.
Monkey Tilt team members and guest judges score every game. We don't care about clean code or fancy architecture. We care about the experience.
The only question that matters: is it fun? Would you play it again? Would you shove your phone in a stranger's face and say "try this"?
Can you play it with friends? Does it create moments people screenshot, clip, and share? Multiplayer, co-op, spectator chaos — the more social, the better.
Did you just remake Flappy Bird or did you do something we've genuinely never seen? Bold, weird, unexpected ideas get rewarded here.
Five minutes on stage. Make us want to play your game. Enthusiasm, storytelling, and a live demo that doesn't crash (bonus points if it does and you recover).
Pretty simple: build something new, build it here, don't be a jerk. Everything else is fair game.
We're building a space where everyone feels welcome — regardless of gender, identity, orientation, disability, ethnicity, religion, or experience level. The vibe matters as much as the games.
Treat everyone like a teammate, even the competition. Trash talk the code, not the coder.
Harassment of any kind = instant removal. No warnings. Report issues to organizers immediately.
No sabotage, no shortcuts, no shady business. Let the games speak for themselves.
The venue is yours for 42 hours. Clean up after yourself. Respect the gear. Leave it better than you found it.
Violations of the code of conduct may result in removal from the event and forfeiture of any prizes, at the sole discretion of MonkeyTilt.
You don't need a CS degree. You need an idea that makes people lean forward. Fill this out and show us what you've got.
Applications close Saturday, March 15 at 11:59 PM PT.
Follow us for announcements, participant reveals, and behind-the-scenes chaos.