This event at New York University isn’t like other hackathons. Normally, these tech gatherings are temples of utility — where sleep-deprived students race to code the next big app, automate a tedious task, or optimize something that already works just fine.
But, at the Stupid Hackathon hosted by NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, the goal is gloriously, deliberately pointless. It’s a celebration of pure creativity — and where else would you find a gravity-enhanced browser extension that fights your scrolling, or a vape that houses a Tamagotchi which dies if you don’t keep inhaling?
What if we made it evil?
The annual Stupid Hackathon, hosted by NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and Interactive Media Arts (IMA), is less about solving real-world problems and more about rethinking what technology is for.
“It is a great convention where you can exchange ideas,” event organizer and Tisch senior Anshula Saha said. “[Interactive Media Arts has] a class called Useless Machines, and it forces us to think critically. What if we don’t have to solve a problem? You do it for the sake of doing it. It’s like technological poetry.”
By far, our favorite invention from it is the Tamagotchi vape.
It looks like a vape. It acts like a vape. But inside, there’s a needy little Tamagotchi — a digital pet that will die if you don’t keep puffing.
Tamagotchis are digital pets first released in the 1990s, housed in a small egg-shaped device. Users had to feed them, play with them, and care for the pixelated creature to keep it alive — or risk watching it “die” from neglect. The vape pet mimics the emotional mechanics of the original 1990s Tamagotchi only this time, it’s fed with nicotine.
In the twist created by attendees Rebecca Xun and Lucia Camacho, you need to inhale from your vape to keep it alive. Obviously, it’s horrible. It’s not a good invention; but that’s exactly the point.
“Originally, the idea was to do this for good, because I would like to quit vaping,” Xun, who was invited by an ITP student, told the Washington Square News. “But it’s more fun and more stupid if we use this power and harness it for evil and make myself more addicted.”
Modern addiction
Vaping — often marketed as the “healthier” alternative to smoking — has surged in popularity among teens and young adults. Once advertised as a quitting aid, vapes have become brightly colored, sweet-smelling accessories for a new generation of nicotine users.
Public health experts have repeatedly warned of this shift. In recent years, studies from the CDC and WHO have tracked growing evidence that flavored vaping, sleek hardware design, and social media marketing have created a feedback loop that glamorizes addiction. Rates of traditional cigarette smoking continue to decline, but vapes are rising.
The Vape-a-gotchi doesn’t glamorize anything. It just exaggerates and respins the transaction. You puff. The Tamagotchi lives. You stop. It dies. It gamifies addiction. It’s a caricature, yes. But it’s also a grim metaphor wearing a funny hat. It works so well because fuses two things that have shaped youth culture in different decades: nostalgic toys and addictive tech.
But the Vape-a-gotchi was just one oddball among many.
Other notable creations
Across the room, surrounded by wires, microcontrollers, and complex algorithms, students unveiled creations that were equally strange — and strangely revealing.
One team engineered a legally binding pinky promise box. Insert your finger, lock pinkies with a friend, and out comes a printed receipt of your solemn vow. Another group, frustrated by the bland furniture in their studio, built a sassy table that takes down anything you place on it but also mocks you for it.
Another team developed an act of digital penance. They created a browser add-on that made every flick of the mouse an uphill battle, literally pulling content downward with invisible weight. The creators said it was a way to explore patience — or maybe just torment the chronically online.
In the end, absurdity wasn’t the bug — it was the feature.
At the Stupid Hackathon, nonsense becomes a lens, absurdity a mirror. Looking through them, we exercise creativity and see ourselves from a new perspective. Maybe that’s the best goal after all.
Just please, don’t patent this invention.
