​Level up your skills, build connections, and compete in the ultimate bot showdown.

​Ready to level up your coding and AI skills and build your own game player? Atomic Games 2026 is an annual game programming competition in Grand Rapids, where 32 students from universities across the Midwest team up, write code, and challenge opponents for a chance to win $600!

​Work in pairs to build the best program to play a game that we’ll announce the morning of the event. Use your strategic thinking and skill to build the best bot you can. Along the way, you’ll get support and coding and prompting help from professional software developers at Atomic, gain real-world pair programming experience, and make connections with CS students from around West Michigan.

​We’ve got you covered with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so all you need to bring is your A-game and a laptop! Boost your resume, sharpen your skills, and have a blast!

​Sign Up Today!

• ​9AM — Welcome breakfast, and game reveal

• ​Mid-day — Lunch, check-in with Atomic devs

• ​4PM — Tournament begins, dinner and head-to-head bot battles

• ​5PM — Awarding of the grand prize, and closing remarks
  

​Join us for a day packed with coding, competition, and collaboration.

• ​Secret Game Challenge:
  The day kicks off with the big reveal of the game that we’ll be playing. The twist? You’ll have to program a bot to play the game for you! The exact game remains a mystery until the event, so be prepared for anything.

• ​Team Up & Code:
  Compete in teams of two to build the best game-playing bot. Bring your own partner or we’ll match you up with a teammate. No worries if you hit a roadblock—our developers will be on-site to help you get unstuck.

• ​Use All The Tools:
  This year, for the first time, prompting and agentic development are explicitly encouraged. Get help from ChatGPT, Claude, and Cursor to build the best game player you can dream up! New to AI-assisted development? Our coaches can show you how to get the most out of the tools while keeping the player strategy uniquely yours.

• ​Game Board Server & SDKs:
  Throughout the day, each team will have access to the game board server and necessary SDKs to develop, run, and test their bots. These tools will help you simulate your bot’s moves and strategies before the tournament battles begin.

• ​Head-to-Head Showdown:
  Once the NPCs are programmed, it’s game on! You’ll go head-to-head against other teams in a bracket-style tournament starting, with the winning team taking home a grand prize of $600!

​Here’s the exciting part—when you leave the competition, you get to keep the game server and your player!
Take it back to your dorm, your campus, or even run mini-tournaments with friends over the internet. Whether you want to continue refining your bot or just have fun challenging your peers, the game server will let you bring the Atomic Games experience home.

• ​Boost Your Resume: Show off your custom-built GameBot as a standout project outside of class. Perfect for internships and job applications!

• ​Meet Fellow Techies: Network with 32 other coders from across the Midwest. Share ideas, make connections, and collaborate with future innovators.

• ​Hands-On Experience: Tackle a real-world coding challenge. Sharpen your skills, think fast, and show your strategy in action.

• ​Get to Know Atomic Object: Curious about working in tech? Learn what it’s like at Atomic Object and discover internship and career paths through the Accelerator program.

• ​Build Your Network: Beyond the competition, connect with fellow STEM students and chat about the latest in tech and programming.

• ​See How the Pros Work:
  Chat with industry pros and current Accelerators and learn how we build great apps, services, and sites.

​Atomic Object is located at 1034 Wealthy St SE, Grand Rapids, MI, directly across from Scorpion Hearts Club Coffee.

​Parking Details: Participants can park in the Diamond Lot, located behind the Meanwhile. The lot is on the east side of Diamond Avenue, just north of Wealthy Street.