canivibecodeit presents

The Build Games 2026: the winners

The first Build Games ran through September 2026. Of the 46 entries, 13 made the judges' shortlist, and openheard, InMotion and Excerpt won $800 each.

prize fund$2,400three prizes

finalists13from 46 entries

judges30 to 10 per category

who won

one winner per category · $800 each

1Best Replacement
openheard
Open source Canny: feedback board, roadmap, changelog, with MCP for agents.
ibo@ibothinks
$800prize
open the demo
runners-up
2Most Creative
InMotion
Phone‑sensor workout arcade; your body controls 3D browser games.
Noureddine Ratbaoui@Nours_design
$800prize
open the demo
runners-up
3Most Polished
Excerpt
Mac meeting app with live captions and screen captures; Granola alternative.
Aidan Tan@cdtreys
$800prize
open the demo
runners-up

all 13 finalists, by total

out of 90 · highest first, ties listed in category order · every demo is public

InMotion62 out of 90
Noureddine Ratbaoui@Nours_design
Phone‑sensor workout arcade; your body controls 3D browser games.
winner · Most Creative
openheard55 out of 90
ibo@ibothinks
Open source Canny: feedback board, roadmap, changelog, with MCP for agents.
winner · Best Replacement
Excerpt55 out of 90
Aidan Tan@cdtreys
Mac meeting app with live captions and screen captures; Granola alternative.
winner · Most Polished
Bloombroke52 out of 90
Max Reid@bangkokbuild
Keyboard‑driven market terminal with live indices, FX and commodities; replaces a Bloomberg‑style terminal.
Framesmith50 out of 90
Youssef Mohamed@y_automates
Private browser screenshot beautifier; replaces Xnapper, Shots.so, CleanShot.
Nodoku49 out of 90
Andrii Solokh@AndriiSolokh
Free 3D dot‑connection puzzle in the browser; replaces paid puzzle apps.
Footnote47 out of 90
Brandon Theriot@btheriot
Granola replacement where every AI note line plays its source moment.
CaptionLab46 out of 90
Priyesh Pandey@Priyesh80415523
Browser caption editor with animated presets; replaces Submagic and Captions.
Airmail (Paper Planes)45 out of 90
Vanya Belomestov@_sslinNn
Game that flies your real X replies as paper planes to recipients.
Tasu42 out of 90
Jeremy lasne@jeremylasne
Personal knowledge filer with cited answers; replaces Readwise or Mem.
OK RICH40 out of 90
tobias@goldenagesurfer
Joke one‑page store selling thumbs‑up photos; spec‑driven zero‑dependency build.
UserTrack39 out of 90
Aleksandar Jovanovic@AleksDoesCode
TrustMRR‑style public user‑growth leaderboard with read‑only source connectors.
Plinth31 out of 90
Novak Blagojevic@thohared
Browser 3D device mockups from screenshots; replaces Rotato or Mockuuups.

the money

The prize fund is 100% of the sponsorship money, less any third-party payment processing fees (such as Stripe), and none of the sponsorship money goes to us.

The board raised $2,750. After Stripe's card and currency fees and the swing from dollars to pounds and back, a little over $2,500 arrived; that is three prizes of $800, with the rest covering the cost of sending them abroad.

how it was judged

Tony Dinh, Dudu and Andrej scored every finalist from 0 to 10 in each category, independently, against the criteria published before the games began. Totals are shown above. One prize per builder. Runners-up are named with no money attached. The judges' decision is final.

thank you

The prize money came from the sponsors on the board. To them, and to everyone who built something in September: thank you.

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