---
published: true
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title: "LAHacks&#58; The most bizarre hackathon experience in my life"
quote: My 10th hackathon.
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  url: "/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1685.jpg"
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posted: Published 
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---

It was 2am, my team and I were wandering around the streets, looking for wifi.

We visited Starbucks before that opened 24/7 around the university area. Unfortunately it was crowded with homeless people and part of the area inside the coffee house was closed.

So we kept walking and explored the nearby hotels. Thanks to the very kind front desk staff, we crushed at Vintage Westwood Horizons’ hotel lobby at 3 in the morning because the WiFi connection got cut off at Pauley Pavilion. The internet was back at that time after LAHacks organizer announced it on Twitter, but we were too lazy to walk back so we pulled out our laptop and worked there.

I worked a little, and tried to get some sleep. The journey from Seattle - Los Angeles - UCLA was tiring. Dylan woke me up at 6am and we walked back to Pauley.

## We met on Twitter
Arik, Dylan, Cary and I formed our team through Twitter. I tweeted to LAHacks organizer and they retweeted my tweet. Arik is a student flying from Tel Aviv and LAHacks was his last event he attended in the United States; Cary and Dylan are both computer science major at Cal Poly Pomona. <br>

{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/twitter.png" width="100%" description="" %}    

## The Design behind SnapChess
Mystery guest speaker, Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snapchat made [a deep but great speech](https://twitter.com/adithyaiscool/status/454854832205996032) about privacy on the stage([Keynote available at Scribd](http://www.scribd.com/doc/217768898/2014-LA-Hacks-Keynote)). Our idea was to make a parody out of it — so we built Snapchess within 36 hours, a democracy-mode chess game matchmaking web application. You have 10 seconds to decide your next move with your alliance. To make it more interesting and relevant to the audience, I had the idea of putting UCLA and USC in this game, since there is a rivalry between the two. And even better, you can hack the game — play on behalf of your enemy, make all the wrong moves, and completely ruins your enemy’s game.

I was inspired by a [Dribbble shot](https://dribbble.com/shots/710449-ursa-delaunay) using [Delaunay Raster script](http://www.creatogether.com/ai-delaunay-brush/), but unfortunately Scriptographer is not available on CS6 due to [Adobe’s automatic wrapping of native API issue](http://scriptographer.org/news/the-future-of-scriptographer-is-paper-js/). I tweeted Tomás, the owner of the Dribbble shot. He responded promptly and suggested me to use [Dmesh](http://dmesh.thedofl.com/) instead. I explored to use the tool for the first time, and the result was surprisingly beautiful.

{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Kodiak-Bear-small.jpg" width="100%" description="Original image of the bear I googled on the web. I do not own the copyright of this image." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-27 at 12.54.56 AM.png" width="100%" description="Process for converting in Dmesh." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 12.57.25 PM.png" width="100%" description="Working on Illustrator to take out the points and refine the design." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/bear-01.png" width="100%" description="Cleaned up version of the bear mascot for UCLA." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/bear-final.png" width="100%" description="Final version of the UCLA bear with color scheme tweaks." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Usc_football_logo.gif" width="50%" description="I asked a guy from USC and he told me the trojans are more famous about the traveller. Apparently no one cares about the traveller mascot but I decided to use it anyway." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 4.23.00 PM.png" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/trojan-final-01.png" width="100%" description="Color scheme is tweaked and here’s the final version for USC mascot." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/logo-01.png" width="100%" description="Final version of logo for Snapchess" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 11.53.31 PM.png" width="100%" description="Screenshot of the front page before I worked on the CSS styling. The links work." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 3.00.35 AM.png" width="100%" description="I used Bootplus framework and apply the design for the frontpage." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-12 at 5.23.39 PM.png" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-13 at 1.40.13 AM.png" width="100%" description="PHP master Arik was debugging on the game page. This was the screenshot before styling." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/Screen Shot 2014-04-27 at 1.04.29 AM.png" width="100%" description="Game page integrated with homepage design and CSS styling." %}
<iframe width="100%" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/guKuQJ4Qx_0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
{% include image.html url="" width="0" description="Demo of Snapchess. I’m sorry if you don’t like Electronic Music :/ http://youtu.be/guKuQJ4Qx_0" %}

## The End
We had an expo after the hackathon was over and we were lining up on the table demoing our hacks. It was like a little SXSW at the event and I really like the idea. One of the feedback we received, which I think is helpful — is to create a login system which enables users to play based on weight and priority if you make the right moves most of the times.

We did not end up winning and I have expected that, since we did not use any of the sponsor’s API. Is SnapChess solving a big problem? No. But there’s currently no matchmaking for chess board game on the web right now([Twitch Plays Pokemon](http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon) for Chess). Is it fun? I would say yes.

Crushing at the hotel lobby at 3 in the morning and sleeping under the staircase at Pauley Pavilion — I had the most bizarre yet fun experience by attending the largest hackathon in my life(hacking with 1400 people!). I am really thankful for the organizers to make the event all possible, especially the prompt respond on Twitter.

Achievement unlocked.


{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1626.jpg" width="100%" description="Meeting Dylan and Arik for the first time after I flew in from Seattle on Friday afternoon." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1628.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1635.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
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{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1643.jpg" width="100%" description="From left to right: Arik, Cary, Dylan and Dylan’s cousin." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1644.jpg" width="100%" description="Waiting in the queue before entering Pauley." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1652.jpg" width="100%" description="LAHacks is the Disneyland of hackathons. Yes you need a wristband to go in." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1653.jpg" width="100%" description="Crushing and coding at the hotel lobby at 3 in the morning." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1654.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1662.jpg" width="100%" description="In-And-Out Burger near UCLA." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1663.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1664.jpg" width="100%" description="Having dinner with Arik at BBQ Chicken." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1665.jpg" width="100%" description="We skipped the Chipotle provided by LAHacks. That was worth it." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1667.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1672.jpg" width="100%" description="Alexis Ohanian and I founded Raddit, a redesigned version of Reddit 2.0 during LAHacks. It was pretty rad." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1673.jpg" width="100%" description="Just happy to get my book signed. When Alexis came to UW, I was at HackAtBrown hackathon. When he came to Brown University, I was back to UW. So finally we met." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1676.jpg" width="100%" description="Swallow pizza, drink red bull, and print all fibonacci number using python. “Disqualified, memory leaks.”" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1679.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1681.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1683.jpg" width="100%" description="Adib and I formed a team during the first hackathon in my life — Mega CodeDay Seattle and we won 1st place. Now is my 10th hackathon. Time flies." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1685.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1686.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1688.jpg" width="100%" description="Arik, the PHP master and me." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1690.jpg" width="100%" description="Demoing at the expo." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1691.jpg" width="100%" description="Tred team demoed the Oculus Rift Treadmill system to let you physically walk in your virtual world. They won 1st place at LAHacks and the team members are Shariq Hashme, Charlie Hulcher, and Jake Rye. Youtube video: http://youtu.be/XcX1uGFR6SE" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1692.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}
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{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1694.jpg" width="100%" description="Table#38: 15 years old highschool freshman made Gorrila Warfare shooting game." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1695.jpg" width="100%" description="Table #31: Game maps your finger with touchdevelop using Makey makey and picks up potatoes." %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1703.jpg" width="100%" description="Table #32: Moozik lets users to type in their favorite artist and explore new music with similar genre. Built w/ gracenote & @rdio api" %}
{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1706.jpg" width="100%" description="Table #28: Crowdbox crowsources songs by letting users to vote on songs to be played in events" %}
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{% include image.html url="/media/2014-05-01-lahacks-the-most-bizarre-hackathon-experience-in-my-life/IMG_1747.jpg" width="100%" description="" %}

<br>

*This post is originally published at [Medium.com](https://medium.com/p/9ff0e33a98e3), but it is a shorter version with no additional pictures.*

*Feel free to send me a tweet on Twitter if you have any feedback for me ☺*

Demo: [http://snapchess.co](http://snapchess.co)

Feel free to fork: [https://github.com/lcdvirgo/snapchess](https://github.com/lcdvirgo/snapchess)

ChallengePost: [http://lahacks.challengepost.com/submissions/22803-snapchess](http://lahacks.challengepost.com/submissions/22803-snapchess)

LA Weekly coverage: [http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/04/12/ucla-hosts-biggest-hackathon-in-history](http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2014/04/12/ucla-hosts-biggest-hackathon-in-history)


