Every January, nonprofit Global Game Jam® hosts the world's largest game-creation event.

For 48 hours, participants meet in person, online or in a hybrid mix of the two. And the emphasis is on collaboration and building the game-development community, globally.

Participants from all over the world contribute their skills. Nontechnical team members are welcome. And in fact, the games don't have to be digital!

Unlike many other hackathons, Global Game Jam® is not a competition. All but two of the hosting staffers are volunteers, and GGJ runs a concurrent event, GGJ Next, to teach the next generation of game developers to make digital games.

Global Game Jam® Executive Director Tim Cullings is a veteran game developer and a longtime GGJ staff member. We talked about the story of GGJ, Tim's experiences in the 2023 Global Game Jam® (in which teams from all over the world made more than 7,600 games!) and what's coming up for GGJ 2024: the dates have already been announced!