“Master Your Card” E-Allowance Wins MasterCard Hong Kong Hackathon

Take 164 people split up into 29 teams, and add in 34.5 gallons of soda, 25.8 gallons of Red Bull, 173 rounds of Nerf gun ammo throughout 24 hours of intense developer activity. What do you get? The components of MasterCard’s Masters of Code, Hong Kong – the second installment of the global hackathon series – which turned out to be a “glorious event,” according to MasterCard’s Open API Chief Developer Evangelist Seb Taveau.

The room was packed, which came as no surprise, said Taveau in a recent MasterCard blog post. That’s because the event prize was an all-expenses paid trip to compete in the final Masters Of Code round for grand prize of $100K, mentoring and access to the resources to “turn the hack into a real product.”

To get there, teams of hackers worked tirelessly throughout the entire weekend off of an average of 3.5 hours of sleep. Many resorted to taking power naps wherever possible – if not the sofas, then the floor. But overall, said Taveau, “No matter how hard you code, everything comes down to the 2 minutes where you pitch your work to the judges. Preparation, performance and polish can make all the difference.”

Of course, that put a lot of pressure on Hong Kong’s 156 participants who fought to stay awake with loads of caffeine and, seemingly, that idea of winning big.

The team that snagged the win was composed of five locals who had created a system called “Master Your Card.” The system helps parents guide their children in responsible spending, says MasterCard. Children get an e-allowance and parents get to approve or disprove spending proposals in real-time. The innovation “was very much in harmony with Hong Kong’s ‘open for business’ philosophy,” said Taveau.

“In a good hackathon, everyone comes away learning something,” he added. “In a great hackathon, like this Hong Kong event, everyone learns a little bit and everyone teaches a little bit.”

The team will be moving on to the next round of the hackathon series in Singapore, which begins on March 28.