Every year, Zynga’s Hackathon reminds me why this company continues to lead the way in mobile gaming innovation. It’s a moment when creativity runs wild and teams across our various studios come together to experiment and collaborate on inventive ways to improve our existing portfolio of titles, while also exploring new games and gameplay mechanics.

This year’s Hackathon was one of our best yet, fueled by the talent, ingenuity and passion of our teams. From developers and designers to data scientists and producers, it was a showcase of the shared energy and imagination that will shape the next generation of Zynga experiences.

We had 17 projects competing in the Zynga-wide Finalist Showcase, representing just a small slice of the ingenuity happening across the entire company. The quality and originality of each submission were outstanding and the judges had an incredibly difficult time narrowing down the winners, not because of a lack of standout ideas, but because nearly every hack demonstrated real-world potential and player impact.

After thorough review (and spirited discussion), we awarded four teams for their innovative designs, with impressive developments in areas from automating game data analysis to new game modes in classic forever franchise titles to entirely new game concepts that might just make it into our players’ pockets in the near future.

Across all of the projects in this year’s Hackathon, one thing was abundantly clear, creativity at Zynga thrives in every corner of our company. Whether teams are experimenting with AI, building tools to empower our developers or crafting new player experiences, the ideas generated in our annual Hackathon often find their way into production and, ultimately, into the hands of our players. We fully expect many of this year’s hacks to be implemented across our studios in the coming year, helping us build better games and smarter systems faster than ever.

To everyone who participated, from the brilliant hackers to the dedicated judges, coordinators, and studio points of contact, thank you for making this event such an inspiring success. If this year’s Hackathon proved anything, it’s that when you give talented people space to explore and experiment, amazing things happen.

• Scott Koenigsberg, Chief Product Officer, Zynga