ONLYHACKS’26for the onlyweird.
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↩ IndexRules v2 · Effective 2026-06-12
only hacks for the onlyweird.

Rules.md

Short rules; long FAQ. Read both before registering if you want; read neither if you don't. The only one that genuinely matters is §conduct.

§01

Who can enter

Eligibility
  1. E.01Must be 18+ on 19 Jun 2026.
  2. E.02Must be located in a jurisdiction where this kind of nonsense is legal. (It is, in most.)
  3. E.03Employees of OnlyWorks or Orbis, our judges, and our sponsors may enter but are ineligible for cash prizes.
  4. E.04One (1) registration per human. No aliasing. Teams of up to four (4) humans permitted.
§02

When work counts

Build window
  1. W.01Build window opens at 19 Jun 2026 · 09:00 ET. Anything committed before that timestamp does not count. 24 hours total — clock does not stop for sleep.
  2. W.02Submissions open at 19 Jun · 17:00 ET. You may keep building after this; you may also publish early to lock in.
  3. W.03Submissions soft-close at 20 Jun · 08:30 ET. You can keep editing your README after this. Nothing else.
  4. W.04Submissions hard-close at 20 Jun · 09:00 ET. The submit button stops working. The door, as they say, is locked from the outside.
  5. W.05Previously-built side projects are not eligible. Previously-failed side projects you are reviving from the grave — eligible if the resurrection produces ≥ 80% new work.
  6. W.06Pre-existing libraries, frameworks, open-source dependencies — all fine. That's not your project; it's gravity.
§03

About your robot co-author

AI usage
  1. A.01AI assistance is allowed and encouraged. Use Claude, Codex, Copilot, an evil oracle made of dice, whatever helps.
  2. A.02AI as collaborator = good. AI as sole author = ineligible. You must be able to explain your project, live on the finals stream, without it.
  3. A.03Projects whose entire premise is "what if an LLM did the thing" are eligible only in the Cursed and Theatre tracks.
  4. A.04Disclose AI usage in your README. One short paragraph. Judges enjoy honesty more than they enjoy purity.
  5. A.05We will not run AI detectors on your code. We trust you. We will, however, ask you to explain it.
§04

What you must ship

Submissions
  1. S.01One (1) Loom-style demo, ≤ 3 minutes. Show the artefact running. One-take preferred but not required.
  2. S.02One (1) public repository or hosted artefact. Open source license of your choice (or none, if your project is "demo theatre").
  3. S.03One (1) README with: what is this, how to run it, what made it weird. ~ 200–600 words.
  4. S.04Category tag: pick one. You can change it once before submissions close. Cross-category not allowed — pick the track that best describes you, even if it hurts.
  5. S.05OnlyWorks verification hook installed and signed before submission. One-line install — see the docs in your dashboard.
  6. S.06Optional: one (1) screenshot for the hall of weird grid. Recommended 1600×900. ASCII art accepted.
§05

How we decide

Judging
  1. J.01The judging panel — OnlyWorks in-house plus guest judges — stays anonymous until kickoff, 19 Jun. (Builds suspense. Also discourages bribery.)
  2. J.02Judging happens in two rounds: (1) async over the Loom + repo; (2) live demo on the finals stream for the eight (8) finalists. Finalists who want to present MUST demo live — no pre-recorded backup.
  3. J.03Rubric (out of 100): committed weirdness (35), craft (25), demoability (20), narrative (10), surprise (10). The rubric is a guide. The rubric does not vote.
  4. J.04Judges may dock points for: shock-value-as-substance, copying a previous ONLYHACKS for the ONLYWEIRD project, projects that punch down, or projects whose only weird is "I used an LLM".
  5. J.05People's Choice is decided by public vote on submissions during the day of finals. One vote per Discord-verified attendee. Ballot stuffing is detected, mocked, and discarded.
  6. J.06Judges' decisions are final. And, occasionally, dramatic. They will not be re-litigated in public.
§06

How to be a person

Conduct
  1. C.01No harassment of any kind. No slurs, no targeted abuse, no "ironic" cruelty. This includes chat, DMs, demos, and the finals stream.
  2. C.02No shock-value-as-substance: gratuitous gore, fake violence, sexual content, self-harm content. Weird is one thing; ugly is another.
  3. C.03Projects that target individuals, harass real people, scrape private data, or deepfake identifiable humans are ineligible.
  4. C.04Discord is moderated. Moderators are friendly. They will also boot you, swiftly and without ceremony, for any of the above.
  5. C.05Finals stream link shared with finalists and registered builders alongside the 13:00 ET announcement on 20 Jun.
  6. C.06Captioning on the finals stream is available on request — email weird@only-works.com.
§07

Who owns what

Ownership
  1. O.01You own your project. Always. Fully. Forever.
  2. O.02By submitting, you grant OnlyWorks a non-exclusive license to display your project (title, blurb, Loom, screenshots) on the ONLYHACKS for the ONLYWEIRD Hall of Weird, our newsletter, and our social channels.
  3. O.03You can request removal of your project from the Hall of Weird at any time. We will honour that within 7 days.
  4. O.04OnlyWorks verification metadata about your project is owned by you, not by OnlyWorks. You may take it with you.
  5. O.05Sponsor prizes are awarded directly to the winner with no IP exchange. Sponsors do not get to own a piece of your project.
§08

Edge cases

Misc
  1. M.01This hackathon is run with reasonable best effort by a small team of humans. Anything we got wrong, email weird@only-works.com and we'll make it right.
  2. M.02Rules may be amended before the build window opens. Material amendments will be announced in Discord, on the schedule page, and via email.
  3. M.03After the build window opens, only minor clarifications will be made — no new restrictions, no removal of existing tracks.
  4. M.04There is no entry fee. There is also no refund mechanism. This is not a meaningful sentence but the lawyer enjoyed it.
  5. M.05If you are reading this just to find a loophole, you have found the one loophole that disqualifies you. Kidding. Mostly.
§ FAQ—Frequently questioned weirdness

You asked, mostly in
good faith.

01How much does it cost to enter?
Zero dollars to enter. We cover Discord, video hosting, and the finals stream. The whole thing happens online — no travel, no lodging, no excuses.
02Can I enter from outside the US?
Yes — the whole event is online, build window and finals both. Build from wherever you live; demo from the same chair.
03Do I need an OnlyWorks account?
Yes — required. The account is free, but you must (1) sign up at OnlyWorks.com, (2) download the desktop app, and (3) put your OW ID into the registration form. The registration form will reject submissions without a valid OW ID. OnlyWorks is the platform we use to verify your build belongs to you.
04What counts as "weird"?
We deliberately won't define it. The three commandments + the four tracks should give you a feel. When in doubt: would you proudly put this on LinkedIn? If yes, this is not the hackathon for it.
05Can I build hardware?
Absolutely. Hardware projects must include a clear-enough demo video that judges can verify functionality remotely. If the rig is the size of a couch, please film it.
06Can my project be a single tweet / a website / a movie?
As long as it required real building, yes. A static .mp4 with no code behind it is not eligible. A 4kb websocket art toy is.
07What if I drop out halfway?
No penalty. You keep your Discord invite and our affection. Please email so we can plan headcount.
08Will there be a waitlist?
No. The event is fully online and free — there is no room to fill. Register and you are in.
09Do you have a code of conduct?
Section §C above is our code of conduct in summarised form. The long-form version lives on the main OnlyWorks site and applies equally here.
10Can I sponsor this thing?
Yes please. Email weird@only-works.com with subject “sponsor”. Tiers, perks, and weirdness levels available on request.
Still confused

Email weird@only-works.com. We answer within 24h, often faster, occasionally in haiku.

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