The 2013 Global Game Jam and its Games for Change sites

The Global Game Jam is a yearly event run by the nonprofit Global Game Jam, Inc. Teams gather at local sites around the world and have 48 hours to build a game around a central theme. The 2013 edition, GGJ13, ran on January 25 to 27, 2013, and by mid-January a record 275 sites had registered.

The new element that year was a partnership with Games for Change (G4C), which was marking its tenth anniversary. Site organizers could register their location as a G4C site and invite participants to build games that go beyond entertainment: games meant to raise awareness of a real-world issue, promote learning, change behavior or win players over to a cause. Games from those sites were to be featured on the G4C website and, with luck, at the G4C festival.

Jesse Schell, the game designer, author and Carnegie Mellon professor, opened the effort with a video keynote on January 25.

Several of the dedicated sites were university or school programs: the MIT Game Lab, the School of Visual Arts in New York, the Art Institute of Portland, George Mason University in Virginia, Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego in Warsaw and the University of São Paulo. Bento Miso in Toronto was on the list too. Susan Gold, president of Global Game Jam, Inc., described the jam as a place to test ideas and as an incubator for new products and startups. The G4C co-presidents, Michelle Byrd and Asi Burak, pointed to the possibility of aiming 48 hours of creative work at a better world.

A trade report published on January 9, 2026 describes the jam as a nonprofit led by executive director Maria Burns Ortiz. Its 2026 edition ran from January 26 to February 1, 2026, with a preparation week on January 19 to 23 and a livestreamed theme reveal on January 24 and 25. The report gives about 40,000 participants a year at roughly 800 local sites in more than 100 countries, and expected the jam to pass 500,000 lifetime participants.

Games for Change describes itself as a United States 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has supported game creators, students and educators from 2004 onward. Its programs include the annual Games for Change Festival, the G4C Learn workshops, fellowships and game jams for young people, and a 2026 to 2027 Student Challenge for ages 8 to 25.

Games that came out of G4C itself, and the awards the organization gives, are covered in the Games for Change awards section. Games built at individual jam sites are listed in the games directory only where a maker and an address are known.