The Coding Cabana
The Coding Cabana is a community of developers who each want to contribute to something bigger. We're building a platform for designing brand-new games — and revamping the classics people have always loved to play.
It started with the chess nerds among us. So the first jam asks one question: can you make a chess game worth launching?
The First Jam
One question, two rounds. Round 1 hunted for the idea. Round 2 turns the best of them into finished games.
Programmers, designers, and chess nerds invented new variants — fairy pieces, fog of war, hex boards, chess with dice — and shipped playable prototypes. Every ranked entry auto-qualifies for Round 2.
The polish round. Qualifying teams take their prototype to a finished game — deeper mechanics, custom art, real presentation. Full details land closer to the date.
One every three days
Optional side-quests dropped mid-jam. Skipping them was allowed — nailing them boosted your shot at winning.
Invent a piece: its look, its moves, its special rules. Variants without western-style pieces had to work the idea in another way — cards, characters, power-ups, the environment itself.
Every variant needed an unmistakable, satisfying win — plus a little celebration when it ends. Think of the card cascade in those old Windows solitaire games.
A notation system that fits your mechanics — complete enough that a player could replay a whole match from it. Bonus points for using it cleverly in the UI.
SAY HI
Questions, ideas, or feedback? The fastest way to reach us is on Discord — come say hi. It's where playtests, reviews, and announcements happen first.
Chess Variant Jam
The votes are counted and the community rankings are live. See how your favorites placed.