01Law / 01
Build the thing you'd never put on a resume.
No career signalling. No growth chart. The project that makes your friends laugh, your therapist tilt their head, and your future-self wince.
◆ Verified Weird§ 00 — Edition One · Two Days · One Video
ONLYHACKS’26.
for the onlyweird.
Hosted by OnlyWorks × Orbis
An OnlyWorks hackathon for builders who would rather ship the joke than slide-deck the empire. 48 hours, async, on your own machine. The window closes June 20th at 17:00 ET; you submit your repo and a ≤3-min pitch video. Judges score them after — winners and awards land in July. Fully online — present from wherever the weird happens.
Thu 18 — Sat 20 Jun ’26·48 hours async·Pitch-video judging · fully online·FAANG judges·winners in July
···
Registered weird builders
Counted live from the registration ledger. The plural noun “weirds” is grammatically suspect and we are doing it anyway.
§ 01—Three Laws
Three
weird laws.
02Law / 02
Prove it ran (at least once).
Demos > slides. Screenshots > screenshots-of-Figma. One Loom of the artefact actually doing the thing. You may staple the loop together with prayer.
03Law / 03
Demo it to a stranger.
In a ≤3-min pitch video, to real humans who did not sign an NDA. If it survives explanation by a sleep-deprived founder, it ships into the verified-weird hall of fame.
§ 02—Manifesto
What is
this thing?
Most hackathons want you to pitch a startup. ONLYHACKS for the ONLYWEIRD does not. ONLYHACKS for the ONLYWEIRD wants the project you've been embarrassed to mention, the thing your Slack message starts with “don't tell anyone but”, the file in your repo called brainworm_v3_DO_NOT_OPEN.py.
We want builds that are: technically real, narratively cursed, aesthetically committed, economically indefensible, and ten seconds long to explain at a bar. We want the version where the README is a poem and the install instructions involve a phrase like “press until it whirrs”.
ONLYHACKS for the ONLYWEIRD is hosted by OnlyWorks — the platform for verified proof of real work. So naturally, we wanted to find out what happens when you point a verification engine at the worst possible kind of work, which is: delightful, useless, undeniably yours.
Build something we'd believe a human (you, specifically) made. Show us the receipts. Demo it to a stranger. That's the whole event.
§ 03—The 48
48 hours.
One weird.
01Thu · 18 Jun17:00 ET
Kickoff stream
Theme reveal, sponsor toast, judges introduced. 48-hour clock starts.
02Thu → SatAsync
Build window
48 hours. Ship something. Anything. Preferably weird.
03Sat · 20 Jun17:00 ET
Submissions close
The door is locked from the outside. Time’s up.
04After closeAsync
Judging
Judges score the pitch videos + repos. No live demo night.
05July ’26—
Winners + awards
Winners announced and trophies/awards sent in July.
§ 04—Categories
Four flavours
of weird.
Track / 1
Useless Engineering
Projects that, when complete, leave the world precisely as broken as they found it.
- ›A printer that respects pronouns
- ›A fitness tracker for tamagotchis
- ›Thermal-paper RSS reader
Track / 2
Cursed Technology
The build that disturbs you. The demo where the judge says "I hate that this works."
- ›Chess engine that resigns from shame
- ›Auth via webcam vibe-check
- ›Cron-job confessional
Track / 3
Beautiful Trash
Taking the ugliest input the internet can provide and making it heart-stoppingly elegant.
- ›Terminal that responds in haiku
- ›Oscilloscope visualising regret
- ›CSS-only barometer
Track / 4
Demo Theatre
Projects where the demo IS the project. Performance art with a deploy step.
- ›A one-shot easter egg in production
- ›A vending machine that gives advice
- ›Live-coded weather
§ 05—Prize Tree
$500
+ the rest in access.
$500 cash, 1:1 time with the judges, a permanent feature, and a trophy you'll keep on your desk. That's the grand prize — announced end of July. Below, the full tree — including this year's judge-named awards.
Grand prize
Verified Weird
$500.
Announced end of July. Plus everything below — and the most embarrassing trophy we could afford to make.
- ◆Mentorship from the judging panel — engineers from FAANG companies · details confirmed at kickoff
- ◆Feature on OnlyWorks.com homepage
- ◆Permanent "Verified Weird ’26" badge on your OnlyWorks profile
- ◆Trophy: a literal rubber duck on a plinth
- ◆OnlyWorks-branded merch drop (delivered worldwide)
Track prize
Most Useless
The Goods.
- + Mentorship intro from a panel judge
- + Permanent Hall of Weird placement
- + Trophy: A single working LED
Track prize
Most Cursed
The Goods.
- + Mentorship intro from a panel judge
- + Permanent Hall of Weird placement
- + Trophy: A rotary phone that doesn't ring
Track prize
Most Beautiful
The Goods.
- + Mentorship intro from a panel judge
- + Permanent Hall of Weird placement
- + Trophy: A single perfect rock
Secondary
People's Choice
Crowd-voted · the audience’s favourite weird build
- + Full newsletter spotlight (interview)
- + Swag pack
- + Trophy: a half-eaten sticker
Secondary
Honourable Mention
For the builds that earned a knowing nod from the panel
- + A sticker. Just the one.
- + Bragging rights, notarised informally.
Also coming
Judge-named awards · certificate + mentorship
This year's guest judges are engineers from FAANG companies. Each sponsors a named award — “The [Judge] Award for [their pick of weirdness].” No cash attached: winners receive a signed certificate and the mentorship slot that comes with it. Names + categories announced at kickoff.
* Grand prize winner announced end of July; cash paid in USD via Stripe within 30 days of the announcement. Trophies hand-mailed worldwide. Mentorship sessions scheduled by the OnlyWorks team in the two weeks after winners are announced.
§ 06—Rules · TLDR
Eight
short
rules.
The long version is at /rules. The short version fits in a tweet, if tweets still exist by then.
Full rules + FAQ →- 01Solo builders welcome. Teams of up to four (4) humans.
- 02Build window opens 18 Jun 17:00 ET. Nothing made before that counts. 48 hours, hard.
- 03AI assistance: fine. AI submitted on its own behalf: not fine.
- 04No harassment. No harm. No shock-value-as-substance.
- 05Open source everything you ship (license your choice).
- 06One (1) Loom-style demo, three minutes max, mandatory.
- 07Judging is on your pitch video — no live demo. Winners + awards land in July.
- 08Judges' decisions are final. Unless funny — then extra-final.
§ 07—Sponsors
Become one — weird@only-works.comPresented by
OnlyWorks
Co-hosted by
Orbis
Platinum
[ your logo ]
Gold
[ your logo ]
Silver
[ your logo ]
Silver
[ your logo ]
In-kind
[ your logo ]
◆ Last callReady to be
Ready to be
verified weird?
Registration is one form, one minute, zero cost. You can drop out the moment things get uncomfortable. You will not. We'll see you on the 18th.
Time to kickoff —— : —— : —— : ——