Game Jams: Explained
Seen us talking about Game Jams? Want to know what's so great about them? Just keep reading to find out more!
Here at The Code Zone we love to give our members a chance to shine during the holidays and half terms, and we achieve this by having Game Jams during these times! But, I hear you ask, what actually is a Game Jam? Well dear reader, let me take you on a journey of discovery!
Build a game based on a theme
The first thing that happens with a Game Jam is the theme! (You might have already seen that our most recent theme just got announced: “Losing is Good”) Once we deliver the theme to our members we then give them a few weeks to make a game or animation that best fits it!
This can be through a blank project OR through one of our specially crafted base games, allowing everyone of any coding level to take part!
Supported by our Mentors
As with anything we do, our mentors are always around during the week to provide help and assistance with any ideas you may have, so don’t hesitate to drop us a message if you can’t quite get that mechanic quite right, or a pesky bug has plagued your game! We’re always happy to help.
Play games created by other members
Once the Jam is over, and all the games have been checked over to ensure they have a nice fun thumbnail, you can head on over to your Game Jam tab on your dashboard to play all the games everyone has made and shared, and even give bonus XP to your favourites!
“But how do I take part?” That is an EXCELLENT question, to take part all you need to do is be signed up to any of our memberships, where not only can you do some excellent work in our game jams, you’ll have the support of our STEM certified mentors!
We're running two Game Jams in August which means it's the perfect time to join The Code Zone and join in on the fun. Sign up now for a free taster session to see what cool games you can create!
Who wrote this
We run coding clubs for children aged 6 to 16, so the guides here are written by the mentors who teach them rather than by a marketing team. Live online clubs are open to children anywhere in the UK, and our in-person clubs run across Essex, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk.
A live club is one hour a week, in a group of no more than six, with the same DBS-checked, STEM-certified mentor.
Children build their own games rather than working through a set course, starting in Scratch or MakeCode and moving to Python and TypeScript when they are ready. More than a third of our members are autistic or have ADHD, based on what parents tell us when they join.
Mentors write a note on every child after every session, which is how we know when somebody is ready to move up a level or would rather stay where they are. Levels move down as readily as up. Nothing is forced, and staying put is a perfectly good outcome.
In 2026 we were ranked second in the UK in Club Hub UK’s Top 100 Children’s Activity Providers, scored by five independent judges on safeguarding, inclusivity and community impact, and in 2025 we received the Autism Inclusion Award from the National Autistic Society. Over 1,000 children are enrolled.
More like this
The blog is in two halves. Guides are the evergreen explainers written by the mentors who teach the clubs, covering the questions parents actually ask: what comes after Scratch, how to support a coding-mad child when you cannot code yourself, and what works for autistic and ADHD children.
Club news is the other half, and it is where posts like this one live: game jams, Minecraft builds and weekly roundups, written up by whoever ran the session. Neither is marketing. If you want to know what an hour actually looks like before you book anything, club news is the more honest read of the two.
The first session is a free taster and we do not ask for card details. Book a free taster session, see what it costs, or read about support for neurodivergent children.
