As part of this year’s AI Week Festival, we opened the doors of our Vibe9 Hackathon to the public for the first time. Designed for non-tech professionals, delivery managers, marketers, HR specialists, and anyone curious about AI, this hackathon explored concept of vibe coding, where you build software by simply describing what you want in plain “human language” using just your own words.
Participants had three hours to create a functional game, the theme of which was announced right at the start of the event.
We welcomed four creative teams with even more creative names:, “AI-Scream”, “Giletove žene”, “Hogwarts & Vibes”, and “Jutrić kafica”. One of the teams brought together both internal and external participants, showcasing how collaboration beyond company walls can lead to great results, and even a winning project.
Let the Games Begin: No Coding Skills? No Problem!
The challenge was straightforward: build a game using AI tools, relying on natural language prompts instead of traditional coding. The result? A vibrant, fun, and collaborative experience for everyone, especially for those without a technical background.
“The idea came from being asked several times by levi niners, including those at the C-level “So what does this mean now, that I can be a developer, too?” Well, let’s see what that looks like! We’re here to have fun, to try building prototypes for the ideas we have, and to stay in step with current trends.” This was the event opening speech by Marko Milošević, Software Architect and Engineering Lead in Levi9, who is leading Competence Development team in Belgrade. Together with Jelena Milić, Delivery manager, he was the one who created this idea to onboard non-techies to vibe coding.
“The theme was designed to spark creativity first and foremost, and it’s broad enough to give you the chance to create something interesting with just a few lines of code. Programming can become complex, but we chose Replit for you, a tool we believe will be accessible and useful. We also provided support from mentors, experienced levi niners software developers and testers, who are here to guide you like in an escape room.”
With the challenge announced and the clock ticking, the Vibe9 hackathon was officially underway.
AI-Scream – Hackathon Winners With a Soft Spot for Soft Skills
This mixed team of internal and external participants created Skillora, a game aimed at developing emotional intelligence through interactive, gamified challenges. Built on principles from psychology and designed with a marketing edge, Skillora helps players strengthen soft skills like self-awareness and empathy.
“Our idea was to create a game called Skillora, designed to help users develop soft skills, with a focus on emotional intelligence, through a gamified learning experience. We decided to use game mechanics to make personal growth more accessible and fun.” Sanja Peršić, L&D Partner in Levi9 shared.
Sanja was joined by Goran Tintor and Marija Nenezić, external participants in the Vibe9 Hackathon. Although they met for the first time that day, everything seemed to click perfectly. The team split responsibilities based on their expertise: content from psychology, concept and UX from marketing, and a shared effort in AI-powered design. Throughout the hackathon, they collaborated closely, shared ideas constantly, and made decisions together to keep the vision aligned.
“Our biggest challenge was managing the scope of our ambitious plan within the limited time. We wanted to do it all — develop the game prototype, design a logo and brand identity, come up with the game name, and build a polished presentation. On top of that, all three of us are perfectionists, so we were constantly fine-tuning and pushing for quality in every detail. We overcame this by prioritizing, staying focused on what would best showcase the concept, and trusting each other’s strengths. In the end, teamwork (and a few deadline sprints!) helped us deliver a complete and cohesive project. ” says Sanja.
Their biggest reward? That emotional moment when their team name was revealed as the winner. Marija was especially happy because she promised to her children she will win – and she kept the promise 😊
Goran shared: “It was such a positive experience. It’s eye-opening to realize what anyone can now do, no matter the field. A true democratization of knowledge and skills… I really enjoyed it, time just flew by.”
When asked about impressions Marija was happy to share: “First of all, thank you for the opportunity to take part in a competition like this as someone without a coding background. This was a great real-time check of our beginner-level knowledge, and I’m really happy that we went through it together. We collaborated like we’d been working together for over 10 years. I won’t hide how proud I am of what we achieved.”
Jutrić kafica – A Nostalgic Dive into Childhood Games
Inspired by a game from their childhood, Julija Gojković and her colleagues from the Employer Branding team recreated a basic version of “The Sims” using AI prompting. Despite several hiccups with Replit, they powered through with enthusiasm and teamwork.
The goal was to create a Sims-style game with the idea of selecting activities for an employee in order to achieve optimal work-life balance. Throughout the game, the player faces various challenges that reflect real-life situations.
Employer branding expertise was at the heart of the Jutrić Kafica team, as Jovana Ibrajter and Jelena Vasilev Novčić teamed up with Julija Gojković.
“Although we got stuck with Replit a few times, it was a lot of fun working with my team to improve the prompts and figure out what helps Replit understand what we want. On top of that, we had a great time and the three hours we spent making the game just flew by! It’s amazing to see what AI has to offer even to us non-technical folks. I can’t wait to see what’s next!”
Their project was not just about building a game but about building confidence, proof that AI is opening creative doors for everyone. Interestingly, all the challenges related to actually using the game, which the team struggled to overcome, also highlighted that, despite its complexity, the creative part of the work was actually the easiest for them.
Giletove žene – Bug-Eating Snakes and Agile Twists
The all-delivery manager team decided to remake the classic Snake game, but with a work-themed spin. In their version, the snake ate tickets, bugs, and incidents, each giving different point values.
“We had to add our own twist and had the snake eat tickets, bugs and incidents, all giving the player different results and points. After the brainstorming, we divided the ideas among to team to work on individually. We all were focused on writing separate prompts for Replit, and while waiting for it to work and deploy we came together, prioritized and planned for the next steps.” shares Ivana Nenin, Delivery manager.
The team had a dynamic composition, consisting of Ivana Nenin, Jelena Bojić, Marija Petrović, and Ivana Ivanović — sometimes all working together, and at other times taking turns. They divided roles efficiently, iterated rapidly, and even recovered from a last-minute scoring logic crisis.
“It was extremely fun playing with the tool, and we became pretty happy with the result in the end, only tweaking the aesthetics. But, half an hour before the deadline, we realized that we had made a critical flaw in the logic of the game scoring. That was the moment we all went into fifth gear on how to redo the logic and not mess up another part of the game. We managed to do it in time! “
For many of them, this was a first-time experience, but certainly not the last.
“It’s amazing that with a few words and in less than an hour we already had a product we could play with.”
Hogwarts & Vibes – AliExpress Meets GeoGuessr
This creative team of levi niners from Novi Sad brought humor and originality by reimagining GeoGuessr. For those who are not familiar with the game, GeoGuessr is an online geography game where players are dropped into a random location in Google Street View and must guess where they are in the world by placing a pin on a map. The closer the marker is to the actual location, the more points the player earns.
“We created our own version of the popular game GeoGuessr. It was GeoGuessr but from AliExpress!” This was punchline team Hogwarts & Vibes used, and that made everyone smile. Team members are Delivery Managers Stefan Bolesnikov and Vladimir Švonja, Delivery Lead Dragana Ačanski and Product Owner Miroslava Brkić.
They ran into challenges with API access and data sourcing but quickly pivoted.
“Our initial goal was to replicate GeoGuessr’s functionality of showing random Google Street View locations, but we hit a major roadblock. The Google Street View API isn’t free and requires an API key we didn’t have. We tried alternative services, but they didn’t produce promising results. So, we pivoted to using static images of famous places around the world, and players had to place a marker on the map to guess the location. The more accurate the guess, the higher the score. We also faced some performance issues and challenges with using AI to gather images, but considering the time constraints, we handled them pretty well.” shares Stefan Bolesnikov.
Despite pressure and setbacks, they earned second place and left inspired by the power of AI-driven creativity.
“We just described to the AI what we want, in plain English… absolutely impressed that all of this was possible with zero coding.”
A Glimpse Into the Future of Work
The Vibe9 hackathon wasn’t just about building games, it was about building confidence, collaboration, and new ways of thinking. Every team came away with something valuable: a finished product, a fresh skillset, or simply a deep appreciation for how accessible AI is becoming.
The concept of vibe coding is transforming how we create, and events like this hackathon are helping redefine who gets to build digital products.
We’re proud to have hosted such a creative and energetic event, and even prouder of everyone who stepped out of their comfort zones to build something entirely new.
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