Hero — the only image on the page. 21:9, full bleed, dark.FIRST CHOICE "dust particles sunbeam grand antique room shutters closed" the house he filled. Single hard shaft of light, heavy shadow, warm amber, no people. The place, before anyone arrives. BACKUP "game controller passing between two hands close up" hands and wrists only — frame ends before any face. ALSO WORKS "antique brass instrument dark moody still life macro" AVOID children's faces, hospital signage, glossy stock lighting, anything that reads cheerful or corporate.

April 4–9, 2027 · [Location] · Five slots

He left itto them.

Five college teams. Seventy-two hours. One game each, built out of a hundred-year-old estate — for the children it was left to, and handed back to them three days later.

UniversitiesPut a team in StudentsApply to build SponsorsAdopt a team
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Why this event exists

01

A hundred years ago, Alfred I. duPont filled this place with everything he loved.

02

Then he left it to children in the middle of medical treatment.

03 · Now

Now you get to build something for them, out of it.

That's the whole event. The Estate opens its archive — objects, music, history — and five teams get seventy-two hours to turn it into a game for the kids who are here right now. The kids write the brief. The kids judge the result. There are three ways to be part of it.

A kid watches their own idea come to life.

And a few feet away, the student who built it watches that happen. Everything else is logistics — and the games don't get archived afterward, they stay in rotation, played at the bedside, for years.

Universities

He left the place. You send the people who build in it.

Put a team in the room.

A scored external competition with a published rubric, an applied learning placement, and a portfolio artifact built for a real client — all inside one week. Your students work from a century-old archive and hand the result to the children it was left to.

  • Documented assessment evidence per team
  • Syllabus-ready outcomes if you want credit
  • Sunday arrival, Monday–Friday on site — one academic week
  • No cost. Meals and equipment covered.
Request the one-pager

Commitments close [date]

Students

You get the keys to the house — and three days.

Build something that gets played.

Teams of 2–5. Any engine, any skill level. You'll be handed objects, music, and history out of the Estate's archive, and a brief written by the kids themselves. On day four you'll be standing there when they see what you made of it.

  • Scholarships, awarded by the patient judges
  • A private archive nobody else can use
  • No laptop? We'll lend you one. No catch.
  • Apply as a team or solo — we'll place you
Apply now

Applications close [date]

Sponsors

He funded the first hundred years. This is the next one.

Adopt a team.

Back five students by name. Meet them, be recognized alongside their work, and appear in the credits of a game that stays in service at the bedside long after the week is over.

  • Named on team materials and the livestream
  • Meet-the-team session and photo
  • Funds scholarships and bedside gaming
  • In-kind welcome — hardware, licenses, mentors
Get the prospectus

Sponsorships close [date]