Festiverse 2026: The World’s Biggest Festival Hackathon ($300K+ in Prizes)

Festiverse 2026 🪔✨
The World’s Biggest Festival Hackathon -> More Details to follow as we come closer to the event.
Code for culture. Build for the world. 🌍🪔
This Diwali, we are bringing you something special.
From the festival of lights and joy, Festiverse is becoming a global gathering of builders, dreamers, creators, engineers, designers, founders, artists, and storytellers who want to imagine how the world will celebrate in the future.
Festiverse is a global hackathon where culture meets technology, tradition meets imagination, and celebration becomes something we can build together.
This year’s theme is:
Festivals in the Age of AI 🪔🤖✨
How will people celebrate in the future?
How will AI, apps, agents, voice, AR, payments, creator tools, social platforms, community technology, and immersive experiences transform the way we celebrate festivals, holidays, rituals, and cultural moments?
From Diwali to Christmas, Holi, Eid, Lunar New Year, Dashain, Thanksgiving, local street festivals, family gatherings, and new digital traditions, Festiverse invites participants to build products that make celebration more meaningful, accessible, creative, connected, and joyful.
Whether you build an AI festival planner, a cultural storytelling app, a virtual celebration experience, a community coordination tool, a gifting marketplace, a creator platform, a festival commerce product, a safety tool, or something completely unexpected, Festiverse is your place to bring it to life. 🎆
A Celebration, Not Just a Hackathon 🎇
Festiverse is designed to feel fun, welcoming, colorful, and full of energy.
Expect a weekend of building, meeting amazing people, sharing culture, wearing festive outfits, enjoying food and drinks, taking photos, making memories, and celebrating what the future of festivals could look like.
This is not just a place to code. It is a place to create, connect, celebrate, and have fun. 🪔✨
Main Stage 🏙️✨
San Francisco
Festiverse will be hosted with San Francisco as the main stage, bringing together builders from one of the world’s most creative technology ecosystems.
Global hackathon hubs include:
NY • Tokyo • Seoul • London • Mumbai
More global participation details will be announced soon.
Date and Time 🗓️🪔
Starts: Saturday, November 7
Ends: Sunday, November 8
Time: 8:00 AM on November 7 to 5:00 PM on November 8
Venue 📍
Venue details will be announced soon.
The Challenge 🎆
The main problem statement is:
Festivals in the Age of AI
Participants are challenged to build something that reimagines how people celebrate, organize, share, preserve, and experience festivals in the future.
Your project can focus on culture, community, creativity, logistics, storytelling, payments, commerce, accessibility, safety, travel, food, gifting, family coordination, event discovery, virtual celebration, or anything else connected to festivals and celebration.
The best projects will not just use technology. They will make celebration feel more human. 🪔
What You Can Build 🎨💻
✨ AI festival planning assistant for families and communities
🪔 Cultural storytelling app that preserves traditions across generations
🎁 Festival gifting and shopping assistant
🍛 Food, vendor, and local business discovery platform
🎆 Virtual festival experience for remote families
🏮 Community coordination tool for temples, cultural groups, clubs, and neighborhoods
🌍 Multilingual festival guide for global communities
📸 Festival memory capsule powered by photos, voice, and AI
🎭 Creator platform for festival content, music, dance, art, and storytelling
🧓 Voice first festival assistant for elders and families
🚦 Festival safety, crowd coordination, and accessibility tools
💸 Payments, donations, ticketing, and commerce tools for celebrations
🕯️ Ritual reminder, calendar, and family tradition organizer
🎮 Game or immersive experience inspired by festivals around the world
Tracks 🏮
🪔 Culture and Community
Build tools that help people preserve traditions, connect with family, organize communities, or celebrate cultural identity.
🤖 AI and Celebration
Use AI to create new ways of planning, personalizing, storytelling, translating, recommending, or experiencing festivals.
🎨 Creator and Media
Build experiences for photos, videos, music, digital art, stories, live streams, avatars, performances, or festival content creation.
🎁 Commerce and Gifting
Build tools for festival shopping, gifting, local vendors, food ordering, creator marketplaces, ticketing, payments, or donations.
🌍 Access and Inclusion
Create products that make festivals easier to participate in for elders, immigrants, people with disabilities, remote families, multilingual communities, and first time attendees.
🎆 Open Innovation
Build anything bold, useful, beautiful, emotional, or unexpected that fits the theme of festivals and celebration.
🏆 Sponsor Tracks
Sponsor tracks will be announced soon.
Prizes 🏆✨
Prizes will be announced soon.
Winners may be recognized across multiple categories, including:
🏆 Grand Prize
🤖 Best AI Project
🪔 Best Cultural Impact
🎨 Best Design
💻 Best Technical Execution
🌍 Best Community Project
🎁 Best Commerce or Gifting Project
🎆 Most Creative Festival Experience
🤝 Sponsor Track Winners
Sponsors and Partners 🤝🏮
Sponsors and partners will be displayed soon.
Festiverse is open to partnerships with AI companies, developer platforms, cultural organizations, universities, community groups, creator platforms, food and beverage brands, fintech companies, local businesses, and global festival communities.
For partnerships and sponsorships, please contact the Festiverse organizing team.
Contact email:
Traditional Attire Encouraged 🪔👘🥻
To make Festiverse more fun, colorful, and meaningful, attendees are encouraged to wear traditional attire, cultural outfits, or festive clothing that represents a celebration, community, heritage, or tradition they care about.
This is not required, but highly encouraged.
Come ready to build, celebrate, and share culture. ✨
Food, Drinks, and Experience 🍛🥤🎉
We will provide food, drinks, snacks, and essential hackathon support throughout the event.
Expect a high energy and welcoming environment with building time, community moments, team formation, mentor support, demos, judging, celebration, and plenty of fun throughout the weekend.
Festiverse is meant to feel joyful, creative, and festive. Come ready to meet new people, build something meaningful, take photos, enjoy the atmosphere, and be part of a global celebration of culture and technology. 🎆
More attendee experience details will be shared closer to the event.
Power, WiFi, and Setup 🔌📶
Power will be available at the venue.
Multiple power strips will be available throughout the event, but participants are encouraged to bring their own chargers and any personal adapters they may need.
WiFi details will be shared at check in.
Overnight Stay 🌙
Overnight stay details are still being decided.
More information will be announced soon.
Community Link 📱
Discord, Slack, or community link coming soon.
Submission Platform 📂
The submission platform will be announced soon.
All project submission details, deadlines, demo rules, and judging instructions will be shared before the final submission window.
Eligibility 👥
Teams can have 1 to 4 people.
Solo builders are welcome.
Teams can be formed before the event or at the venue.
All participants must apply and be approved before attending.
Only approved attendees will be allowed to enter.
Participants must bring a valid government issued ID.
Only government ID will be accepted for check in.
Visa and Travel Support 🌍🛂
If you need visa support or an invitation letter to attend Festiverse, we are open to helping where possible.
Please DM one of the hosts with your request, your location, and the type of documentation you need. The organizing team will review requests and provide event related support when possible.
Visa support does not guarantee visa approval, travel funding, or entry into the country.
What to Bring 🎒
🪪 Valid government issued ID
💻 Laptop
🔌 Charger
🔋 Portable battery pack if you have one
📱 Phone
🎧 Headphones
🌐 Any personal adapters you may need
🧥 Comfortable clothing
🪔 Traditional or festive attire if you want to participate in the cultural theme
💊 Any personal medication you may need
💡 Your best ideas and energy
Photos and Videos 📸🎥✨
Photos and videos will be taken during the event for event memories, social media, recap content, sponsor updates, and future Festiverse promotions.
By attending Festiverse, you understand that photos and videos may be captured during the event and may be used by the organizers for event related content and promotional purposes.
If you have any concerns about being photographed or recorded, please speak with one of the hosts at check in.
Judging Criteria 🏆
Projects will be judged based on the following:
✨ Creativity and Originality
How fresh, exciting, and unexpected is the idea?
🪔 Cultural Relevance
Does the project thoughtfully connect to festivals, traditions, celebration, or community?
🌍 Usefulness and Impact
Would people actually use this? Could it make celebrations better, easier, safer, more inclusive, more creative, or more meaningful?
💻 Technical Execution
How well does the project work? Is the demo functional, clear, and technically impressive?
🎨 Design and Experience
Is the product easy to understand, beautiful, intuitive, and enjoyable to use?
🤖 AI and Innovation
If AI is used, is it meaningful to the product? Does it create something that was not possible before?
🎤 Presentation
Can the team clearly explain the problem, solution, demo, impact, and future potential?
Schedule and Agenda 🗓️🎆
The full schedule and agenda will be announced soon.
Expect check in, opening remarks, team formation, hacking time, mentor support, food breaks, project submissions, demos, judging, awards, and closing celebration.
Code of Conduct 🕯️
Festiverse is designed to be a welcoming, respectful, and inclusive space.
All attendees are expected to treat others with kindness, respect cultural differences, and help create a safe environment for builders from every background.
Harassment, discrimination, unsafe behavior, or disrespectful conduct will not be tolerated.
The organizers reserve the right to remove anyone from the event for unsafe, disrespectful, or inappropriate behavior.
FAQ 🪔
Q. Do I need a team before the event? 🎉
No. You can join as a solo participant, bring a team, or form a team at the venue.
Q. What is the team size? 👥
Teams can have 1 to 4 people.
Q. Can beginners join? ✨
Yes. Builders, designers, founders, students, artists, storytellers, and community organizers are welcome.
Q. Do I need to know AI? 🤖
No. AI focused projects are encouraged, but you can also build tools, apps, experiences, designs, or products connected to the festival theme.
Q. Can I work on an existing project? 🛠️
Projects should be built primarily during the hackathon. You may use existing libraries, APIs, tools, and starter code, but the submitted project should be created for Festiverse.
Q. Will food and drinks be provided? 🍛🥤
Yes. Food, drinks, snacks, and basic hackathon essentials will be provided.
Q. Do I have to wear traditional attire? 🥻🪔
No, but it is encouraged. Festiverse is about celebration, culture, and community, so festive or traditional clothing will make the experience more fun.
Q. Do I need approval to attend? 🎟️
Yes. All participants must apply and be approved before attending.
Q. What ID do I need? 🪪
You must bring a valid government issued ID. Only government ID will be accepted.
Q. Can teams be formed at the venue? 🏮
Yes. There will be opportunities for solo participants to meet others and form teams at the venue.
Q. Will there be sponsor tracks? 🏆
Yes. Sponsor tracks will be announced soon.
Q. When will prizes be announced? 🎁
Prizes will be announced soon.
Q. When will sponsors and partners be announced? 🤝
Sponsors, partners, and sponsor tracks will be displayed soon.
Q. Can international participants attend? 🌍
Yes, approved international participants are welcome to attend.
Q. Is visa support available? 🛂
If you need visa support or an invitation letter, please DM one of the hosts. We are open to helping with event related documentation where possible.
Q. Will photos and videos be taken during the event? 📸🎥
Yes. Photos and videos will be taken throughout Festiverse for event memories, social media, recap content, sponsor updates, and future promotions.
Q. What should I expect from the event experience? 🪔🎉
Expect a fun, welcoming, high energy environment with food, drinks, building time, team formation, cultural celebration, mentorship, demos, judging, and lots of opportunities to meet amazing people.
Q. Will there be power available? 🔌
Yes. Power will be available, and multiple power strips will be available throughout the venue.
Q. Will overnight stay be allowed? 🌙
Overnight stay details are still being decided. More information will be announced soon.
Q. Where do we submit projects? 📂
The submission platform will be announced soon.
Q. Will there be a Discord or Slack? 📱
Discord, Slack, or community link coming soon.
Q. Are partnerships open? 🎆
Yes. Festiverse is open to partners and sponsors. Please contact the organizing team for partnership and sponsorship opportunities.
Q. What should I build? 💡
Build something that explores the future of festivals, culture, celebration, community, and AI. The best ideas will feel useful, creative, culturally thoughtful, and exciting.
Ready to Build? 🪔🚀
Spots are limited.
Secure yours now and join builders from around the world as we imagine the future of celebration.