Youth coding marathon coming to Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — Budding coders, artists and musicians from sixth through 12 grade are invited this weekend to take part in Counterspell, a 24-hour hackathon in which participants will create games. 

“It’s going to be the first event of this kind in our region,” said Amiya Saha, a Moses Lake High School senior who’s one of the organizers. “A lot of these have been in Seattle and larger cities, but we want to share technology with rural communities.” 

Counterspell is sponsored by Hack Club, a nationwide nonprofit organization that encourages youth to learn high-tech skills. It’s intended to be beginner-friendly; no experience is required at all, Saha said. It will be held at the Youth Dynamics building in downtown Moses Lake, although YD is not directly affiliated with the event, he added. 

“It'll start on noon Nov. 23,” Saha said. “We'll have our opening ceremony, and after that, we'll have kids get into teams (of about three or four) and start working on their games together. They'll have someone working on the art, someone working on the coding, someone working on the music, dividing up their work.” 

During that time, there will be mentors on hand, including some Big Bend Community College students computer science students, and workshops for creators who get stuck or just want to refine something, Saha said. 

“They'll work on their games until about midnight, and then in the morning, we'll share all our games, and they can win prizes based off of that.” 

All meals, prizes and swag are provided by Hack Club, according to the organization’s website. Participants just need to bring their laptop, a charger and an open mind, as well as a sleeping bag and whatever else they need for an overnight stay. 

Counterspell is happening the same weekend in more than 100 cities all over the world, according to the website, but Moses Lake’s is the only one in the Northwest. Locally, it’s hosted by the Moses Lake High School Hack Club chapter, which Saha started, he said. It’s not an official school club because they haven’t found a school advisor yet, he added, but they still meet regularly.  

“The reason I started this is I started coding when I was around 10 years old, and I realized not a lot of people are that fortunate, especially in our area,” Saha said. 

Interested youths can sign up at the website, counterspell.hackclub.com/moseslake. Signups are still being accepted through Wednesday, but Saha said there may be a little wiggle room for those who sign up a little later. The intent is to spark an interest in technology among rural and small-town youth, he said. 

“There's a large gap between the technology sectors of the two sides of our state,” he said. “(There’s) the west side and here, and they have so much high-tech everything, but it's like we're not getting the benefits of that. So I want to make it more equitable.”