The Great Canadian Appathon (GCA) is coming to Brock this weekend and students from the University are gearing up for the challenge.

Brock will be a competition hub for the second installment of this nation-wide programming contest, which challenges students to create the best mobile game app for any platform in 48 hours.

The winning game will be published in an app store and the team will win $25,000.

The event — which is also billed as a “hackathon” — kicks off at 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30 and runs until 5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2. The theme for the games to be created will be revealed on the day of the competition.

“Being a part of this event really shines a light on computer science at Brock,” said Kelly Moylan, president of Brock’s Computer Science Club, who is recruiting competitors for this weekend’s contest.

A seminar room in Mackenzie Chown J will be transformed into home base for the event. Space will also be provided for those students looking to sneak in a quick nap during the 48-hour coding marathon.

When asked what students coming to campus for the weekend competition can expect, Moylan said, “a meal a day, and plenty of energy drinks.”

At the first GCA held back in February, Brock’s team travelled to Waterloo to compete and placed in the top 25 apps.

“This will be an opportunity for Brock students to show off their stuff,” said Dave Hughes, associate professor, Computer Science. “Our students have been very successful in computing competitions including other game coding challenges and the Association for Computing Machinery’s Computing Contest.”

The event is co-presented by the National Post and XMG Studio Inc., who will also judge the competition.