Somnia’s First Mini Games Hackathon: $5K in Bounties, No Rankings, Just Builders
Somnia has officially launched its online hackathon series, and the momentum is building fast. The first hackathon focuses on mini games: small, creative, and engaging experiences that run on the Somnia testnet.
The Somnia Mini Games Hackathon runs on Dorahacks until August 4, 2025, and it’s already drawing in creative developers ready to explore what’s possible with onchain games.
With a $5,000 USDC prize pool and no 1st, 2nd, or 3rd places, this hackathon is not really a competition. It’s designed to reward every team that delivers a playable, deployed experience.
More Than Just Prizes
These hackathons are often about much more than just the prizes. It’s also the friends we’ve made along the way. Seriously! Hackathons are great opportunities for networking and showcasing your skills to the web3 community, and this is true for online hackathons as well.
Everyone learns something and has some fun along the way. Whether it’s your first time building on-chain or you’re a seasoned dev, these events are a rare chance to build side by side with others pushing the same boundaries.
Builders who stand out may get noticed, or find allies that will help them in their web3 journey. If you really think about it, all the prizes are just an added bonus.
What We’re Looking For
We’re looking for games that push boundaries and take advantage of Somnia’s capabilities. Most importantly, we’re looking for you to build something that you could only dream of before, or at least a prototype of that dream. Judges will evaluate submissions based on the following:
Creativity & Originality
Is it fun, unique, or doing something unexpected?Technical Excellence
Is it deployed on Somnia? Does it take advantage of fully onchain mechanics?User Experience
Is it clean, intuitive, and enjoyable to play?On-Chain Impact
How much of the game logic is truly on-chain?Community Fit
Would Somnia’s audience want to play it and build on it?
Submission Details
Here’s how it works. The hackathon has two bounty tracks, each with its own goals and rewards. Whether you're submitting a simple prototype or going fully on-chain, there’s a clear path and real incentives for getting your game live.
Phase 1: Build Bounty
Deliver a playable game demo. It doesn’t need to be fully on-chain, but it must be functional and fun.Phase 2: Deploy Bounty
Take your game live on the Somnia testnet. This phase evaluates whether the game runs with minimal off-chain dependencies and whether contracts are properly deployed and linked.
All qualifying submissions are rewarded, and every completed game will be included in a Somnia Quest campaign to drive real users and on-chain activity.
To qualify for rewards, teams must submit:
A playable game link
Contracts deployed on the Somnia testnet
A ≤2-minute demo video
A clear README on how to play
A public GitHub repository
We’ve also launched a Telegram support group to answer questions and help teams troubleshoot in real time.
Stay Tuned For More!
The Somnia Mini Games Hackathon is just the beginning. With every submission, we’re testing new game loops, showcasing what’s possible on high-speed infrastructure, and laying the groundwork for future Quest campaigns.
This is how we activate our ecosystem by giving builders real incentives, clear milestones, and live infrastructure to build with.
This hackathon series is about showing what’s possible with Somnia’s high-speed, low-cost architecture. After the hackathon wraps, we’ll publish every qualified submission so the community can try them out.