[halfjoking]

All the Hackathons I see are sponsored by some corporation trying to exploit devs for some free work/ideas related to their business/api.

The only exception are Game Jams. If hackathons were like Game Jams where you could use any tech you wanted but had to compete on a vague theme I’d be interested. The thing is that’s never the case. Private spaces cost money, prizes cost money, any sponsors are going to want a return on their investment. So that’s why Hackathons suck. IMO it has nothing to do with the food or long hours.

[MH15]

I participated in HackI/O, Ohio State's hackathon. It was an incredible experience. Even with corporate sponsors, the competition was open and reasonable.