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Alexa Blogs
In September, we announced the Echo Buttons Game Skills Contest, an Alexa Gaming challenge for developers in the United States with Hackster.io. Developers built game skills for Echo Buttons. Once they submitted their skills, they provided documentation about how they came up with the concept and all the execution details for a chance to win their share of $25,000 in Amazon.com Gift Cards and prizes. The grand prize consisted of $5,000, with four finalist and three category prizes ranging from $1,500 to $2,500. In addition, all contest participants who published an Echo Buttons skill were awarded an Echo Buttons two-pack, with the first 25 developers awarded an additional $100 Amazon.com Gift Card.
In three rounds of judging, the grand, finalist, and category prizes were awarded points based on Customer Delight, Use of Voice User Interface (VUI), including Echo Buttons usage, and their project documentation on Hackster, including code, images, screenshots, and video. Game skills were awarded additional points for publishing across the various marketplaces where Echo Buttons are currently sold – the US, UK, and Germany.
We are excited to announce the following winners:
Grand Prize: Best Echo Buttons Game ($5,000) – Speed Tap
Developed by Alexa Champion Matt Kruse, Speed Tap is a game using Echo Buttons to test a player's reaction time and concentration. As the colors on the Echo Buttons change, players are challenged to press the button when it flashes green. With every round, the colors move faster and faster. Players compete against all Alexa players to get the world record! The leaderboard is captured at AlexaSpeedTap.com for players to see where they stand. See Hackster project submission
Finalists: Best Echo Buttons Game ($2,500 per game)
From Drawrz.com, Alien Invaders is an Echo Buttons kids game where the player’s mission is to fly their spaceship to the planet Mars that has a colony of cats. Unfortunately the cats have been overrun by aliens and need to be saved. Using Echo Buttons, players are taken on an adventure to save the cats with their alien zapper and cat saver buttons. Players need to find ten cats to bring home on their spaceship to win the game! See Hackster project submission
From Falicon Programming Inc., Move the bomb is a quick action game that requires at least two Echo Buttons. The Echo Buttons flash random colors, with one ending on red. If a player's Echo Button flashes red, they have to press it to move the “bomb” to another player before it explodes! One by one, each Echo Button will “explode” until there is one remaining player...the winner! See Hackster project submission
From DevTester4Life, Wonderland Queen’s Revenge is an adventure game that takes players in a magical realm to find clues, solve puzzles, and play mini-games using both your voice and Echo Buttons. The original story, set in the beloved world of Lewis Carroll’s novel “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” lets players continue the tale and become the hero who saves the magical creatures of Wonderland from the evil Red Queen. See Hackster project submission
From Mayonnaise Studios, Find the Button is a game that challenges kids to hide and find an Echo Button. Once the game starts, the hider is given 30 seconds to hide the button, and the seeker gets 30 seconds to find the button. The Echo Button can blink while it’s hidden, or players can say “Alexa, disable the button lights” for a more challenging game. See Hackster project submission
Best Echo Buttons Kids Game ($2,000) – Animal Sounds
From LC Publishing, Animal Sounds is a kids game where customers tap Echo Buttons to hear animal sounds and then guess which animal it is! The developer was inspired by his childhood toys where he would push buttons and laugh at animal sounds for hours. He incorporated this same concept as an Echo Buttons game skill for Alexa customers to enjoy. He wanted to make it a learning experience, where you can ask, “Alexa, what does an Alpaca sound like?” Players who try this game on multimodal devices like Echo Show, will find images that complement their gameplay. See Hackster project submission
Best Echo Buttons Action Game ($1,500) – Pushup Trainer
From VocalSurvey, LLC, Pushup Trainer is a game skill that keeps track of a player's workout training plan, and counts the number of push-ups with a single Echo Button. This developer was excited to build this game for Echo Buttons, as he would press his phone screen using his nose to count pushups. He hired a voice actor to support the project, which enabled him to make his skill even more engaging. With this new skill and integration with fitness routines, we are excited to see what other developers will build using Echo Buttons. See Hackster project submission
Best Echo Buttons Trivia Game ($1,500) – Hoot Hoot
From Raspberry Mills, Hoot Hoot is a fun, trivia-style animal sounds game for young kids to learn their animal noises. The developer was inspired by her own daughter who is learning animal sounds for the first time. The game is played in three rounds, where Alexa asks a series of questions about what sounds animals make. Players buzz in using their Echo Buttons, and have a chance to answer. The winner is the player who has the most points after three rounds. See Hackster project submission
Congratulations to all our winners, and the entire community of developers who participated in the Echo Buttons Game Skills Contest.
Build Alexa Skills for Echo Buttons
If you’re interested in building skills for Echo Buttons, view our technical documentation to learn more about the Gadgets Skill API. With the Gadgets Skill API, you can control and receive input from Echo Buttons, such as skills that illuminate the buttons and react to button presses. You can create first-to-respond games, multiple choice games, sequence puzzles, sound effect generators, novelty experiences, and more. We can’t wait to see what you build!
