Welcome to Macondo!
You'll be flying with other teens to South America for an all-expenses-paid hackathon. You have a few months to learn something new and build something real.
For hardware projects, we'll cover your parts' costs, up to $1000 USD per project depending on its level. For software projects, you earn fruits and gold for every hour of shipped work, which you can spend on prizes in our shop. Either way, we provide starter guides and even send you free merch and stickers.
Take a deep breath. We're here with you! If you're ever stuck, search it up. Seriously. Whatever question you have, someone has probably asked it before. If that doesn't answer it, ask in #macondo or #macondo-help on the Hack Club Slack.
1. Need inspiration?
- Check out our guides for step-by-step starter builds.
Software ideas:
- GitHub Trending to see what people are building right now.
- DevPost for hackathon projects and creative app ideas.
- Product Hunt for app and tool ideas you could put your own spin on.
- Awesome lists for curated collections in every programming topic imaginable.
Hardware ideas:
- Adafruit has incredible guides and advice for electronics projects of all skill levels.
- Hackaday has amazing projects, including some by Hack Clubbers.
- Instructables has a ton of different stuff to be inspired by.
- Printables has 3D models you can take inspiration from. Don't just copy-paste though!
2. What do you want to build?
Each path has its own setup guide that walks you through installing the tools you need to start building.
3. Ship it!
Once you've built something, it's time to ship it. Shipping means submitting your project for review so you can earn fruits and prizes. Check the shipping requirements to make sure your project is ready.
4. Free stuff to help you build
Hack Club has your back with free resources:
- Free AI credits for building your own agents and AI tools. Not for use with pre-built coding agents.
- Free hosting with Nest, a Linux VPS you can deploy anything on.
- Free domains for your project. Open a pull request on the DNS repo to claim a
.dino.icusubdomain. - Free CDN for hosting images, videos, and other assets with a fast global link.
Check the Free AI & Hosting page for details.
5. Need more help?
- Ask in the #macondo channel on Slack. People there have built all kinds of stuff.
- Check out hwdocs.hackclub.dev for hardware-specific documentation written by Hack Clubbers.
The best rule is: search it up. Whatever you're stuck on, someone has probably asked about it before.
Don't just copy a tutorial. Make the project yours. That is what reviewers look for and that is what makes it fun to build.
Explore more
The full walkthrough. Two paths, five steps, everything the program covers.
Where to ask, how to search, how to unblock yourself.
Submitting your work for review and earning fruits.
Step-by-step starter builds.
Criteria, examples, and how to level up.
How fruits and gold work.