Make Games. Meet Makers.
Every February, game designers, artists, and developers — students, professionals, and total newcomers — show up at Mizzou with a laptop and an idea. Seventy-two hours later, they have a game.
The Mizzou Game Jam is an annual event we host every third weekend in February. Participants form teams across skill levels and disciplines, receive a theme, and build something playable from scratch. Mentors with real industry experience are in the room. Meals are on us. The rest is up to you.
The next Mizzou Game Jam is February 19–21, 2027
Can’t wait to see everybody!
What to expect.
- 72 hours to build a game from scratch
- Teams welcome — bring a team or find one here
- Mentors with real industry experience in the room all weekend
- Meals provided
Prizes
Grand Prize — Best Overall Game: $5,000
K–12
First: $1,000
Second: $500
Third: $250
College
First: $1,000
Second: $500
Third: $250
Professional
First: $1,000
Second: $500
Third: $250
Where makers show up.
Bring your laptop. Bring your team, or find one here.
You don’t have to be a computer science major. You don’t have to have deployed a game before. K–12 makers, college teams, and working professionals all compete in their own categories, judged on the same standard: make something worth playing.
Registration closes two weeks before the event.
All team members must register individually.
Sponsors
The Mizzou Game Jam runs on community support. Sponsors make the prizes, the meals, the mentors, and the merch possible.
This year’s event is proudly sponsored by MOREnet.
- College of Education – University of Missouri-Columbia
- College of Engineering – University of Missouri-Columbia
- Mission HydroSci
- Unity
- MOREnet (The Missouri Research and Education Network)
- Sine Nomine Associates, LLC
- Sean Goggins – PROFESSOR • Electrical Engineering\Computer Sci
Support the Jam
The Mizzou Game Jam puts your organization in front of exactly the kind of talent you want to know — designers, developers, and artists at the beginning of their careers, in a room where they’re doing their best work. Sponsorships fund the prizes, the meals, the mentors, and the merch that make the event possible.
Become a sponsor: contact Roxie Shaw at shawrj@missouri.edu or Joseph Fischer at fischerjp@missouri.edu.
We’re Playing the Long Game.
Missouri looks lush from the outside. Underneath, it’s a game development desert. We’re changing that.
Missouri looks lush from the outside. Underneath, it’s a game development desert. We’re changing that. The Game Jam is one weekend a year where anyone — students, professionals, total beginners — can show up, build something, and find out what they’re capable of. After ten years, we’ve watched a lot of people find their footing here. Every game built in this room is another reason for the next person to show up. We’re not done yet.