Jordan hosts Game Jam 2026 challenge

Jordan Gaming Lab, an initiative of the King Abdullah II Fund for Development (KAFD), hosted the local edition of the "Games (Zanga) Jam 2026" challenge.

80 young men and women enagaged to develop games over an intensive period across four of the lab's branches in Amman, Zarqa, Aqaba, and Irbid.

The 3-day event coincided with the Arabic version of "Games Jam," a non-profit Arab game development initiative. The challenge gives participants 72 hours to design and develop a complete game, based on a unified theme that is announced at the start of the competition.

This year's 14th edition focused on the theme of "Dreams." Participants worked in teams to transform their ideas into games that combined programming, design, illustration, sound, and storytelling.

The completed projects were then uploaded to the "itch.io" platform to get assessed and compete with game developers from across the Arab world.

In a statement Tuesday, KAFD Director General, Dr. Samer Mifleh, stated these events are part of the Jordan Gaming Lab's efforts to support the gaming sector in Jordan and build the youth capacities in game design, programming, and production, in addition to connecting Jordanian developers with entities and companies operating in the industry.

He said the fund is pushing its plan to develop the Lab and expand its scope to include emerging technologies and the games industry.

He noted that this effort aligns with the outcomes of the Economic Modernization Vision within the creative industries axis, which would empower young people and develop their creative and technical capabilities in "promising" sectors.

During the competition, a total of 80 participants took part in the four Jordanian branches, including 64 males and 16 females, who successfully completed and delivered 24 finished e-games during the challenge period. The total attendance records during the event reached 169.

The participating games are subject to evaluation via the official page on the platform. participants assess each other's games and results will be announced after the evaluation period ends.

As for its scope, the competition, which is held at the Arab world level, is not limited to Jordanian participants.

The fund begun implementing a plan to develop the Jordan Games Lab to become a "specialized" facility for emerging technologies and the games industry, expanding its scope of work to include artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, virtual and augmented reality, robotics and digital production technologies.

This process also features designing and developing games, within an approach aimed at preparing Jordanian youth for meeting requirements of the labor market and the future jobs.