SCARE
Lights out in --d --h --m --s

SCARE

Ran with love by Barnav

Make a horror game, get Steam games, costumes, and candy for free.

How it works
Ends
October 31, 2026
You get
Steam games, Costume grants, Candy, Hardware grants
What works
Horror games, Custom costumes, Halloween-themed projects

THE DEAL

How Scare works4 steps · 1 deadline

  1. Make

    Build a horror game. Any engine, any size: Godot, Unity, PICO-8, a browser tab. If it’s trying to scare someone, it counts.

  2. Ship

    Put it where other people can play it: itch.io, a web build, a download. Ideas don’t ship. Playable games do.

  3. Earn

    Every hour you put into a game you ship earns 10 Pumpkins, Scare’s currency.

  4. Spend

    Trade your Pumpkins in the Pumpkin Shop for Steam games, candy, costume grants and hardware grants.

PUMPKINS

Pumpkins are what you earn at Scare, and you earn them by shipping horror games.

LedgerPumpkins
Currency
Pumpkins
How you earn them
Ship a horror game
Earn rate
10 per hour
What they buy
Games, grants, candy
The Pumpkin Shop
Open
Last day to ship
October 31, 2026
The shop is open. Sign in to spend your Pumpkins.

WHAT COUNTS

Your game has to pass all of these. More rules are coming.

Checklist4 rules · 1 pending
  • It’s a horror game. Creepy, tense, gross, unsettling: your call.
  • Someone else can play it, from a link that works.
  • You ship it before the lights go out on October 31, 2026.
  • Your Hack Club account is verified for YSWS. You’ll see this after you sign in.
  • The full requirements, like team size and how games get reviewed, are still being written. Posted soon

FAQ

Still stuck? Ask in the Hack Club Slack.

Questions6 answered
I've never made a game. Can I still do this?

Yes, and it’s a good first game. Keep it small: one room, one monster, one scare. Godot is free and friendly. PICO-8 and Bitsy are tiny. A single HTML file with a canvas works too.

Does it have to be 3D, or long?

No. A two-minute game that makes someone jump beats a two-hour one nobody finishes. Text adventures, pixel art and flat 2D all count.

What are Pumpkins?

Scare’s currency. You earn 10 for every hour you put into a horror game you ship, and spend them in the Pumpkin Shop on Steam games, candy, costume grants and hardware grants.

When does it end?

Halloween, October 31, 2026. The countdown at the top of the page is live.

What's Hack Club? What's a YSWS?

Hack Club is a nonprofit community of teenagers who make things with code. YSWS means You Ship, We Ship: you ship a project, and Hack Club ships you something back. For Scare, that’s Steam games, candy, costume grants and hardware grants.

Do I need an account?

You sign in with your Hack Club account. If you don’t have one yet, you can make one on the way in.

LIGHTS OUT

--:--:--:--

When the clock hits zero, the candle goes out. Ship before it does.