At Dala Khona, the gaming arcade at this year’s Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival in Johannesburg, African games met new players. Visitors tried unfamiliar titles, worked out controls together, shared their favourites and helped choose a Community Choice winner through Jiwe IO.

For Jiwe, the value of a showcase is in these encounters: giving creators an audience, giving players something new to discover, and keeping those connections alive after the festival ends.

Nineteen submissions, five multiplayer finalists

Jiwe IO partnered with the Fak’ugesi and Tshimologong team to support the Dala Khona showcase. The multiplayer call received 19 submissions, with five projects selected for Community Choice voting:

Absolute Fighting Tournament
I Can Transform (Solo / Multiplayer)
Tiny Horizons
DragonPong
COLOUR CHASE

The selection brought together different approaches to shared play, from fighting and competitive arcade experiences to cooperative adventures.

The community’s choice

Voting closed with 178 votes cast from participants across seven African and three European countries. COLOUR CHASE by SafeDollar Studios took home Multiplayer Prototype of the Year with 93 votes—52.2% of the total—earning a US$200 development grant from Jiwe IO alongside the physical award.

Finalist — Votes

COLOUR CHASE — 93
DragonPong — 66
Absolute Fighting Tournament — 11
I Can Transform — 4
Tiny Horizons — 4

Total — 178

Connor Van Heerden attended the awards at the Wits Digital Dome to receive the award on SafeDollar Studios’ behalf.

Congratulations also to Kennedy and Zawadi Games: Ma3 Simulator received Prototype of the Year. Earlier in the year, the project used Jiwe IO for fundraising and playtesting. The award marks another milestone in that development journey, and illustrates why opportunities to fund, test and showcase work matter to creators. It is a story we want to document further with the team.

A first community vote—and a new way to support African games

Jiwe IO’s first community vote brought 178 votes across five multiplayer finalists, with COLOUR CHASE winning 93 votes. Alongside supporting the Prototype of the Year award for the 2nd year in a row, Jiwe IO expanded its role through the Multiplayer Prototype of the Year community award, giving audiences a direct part in recognising African game creators.

The vote demonstrated an expanded feature for Jiwe IO: organisers could bring submissions, finalist discovery and community voting into one experience, linking the physical arcade with participation online. For a first edition, the completed vote, public results and developer recognition provide a promising foundation for future showcases.

What players and developers told us
On the festival floor, recorded player reactions highlighted how the showcase provided an essential platform for discovering original African titles, with games like Absolute Fighting Tournament, COLOUR CHASE, and Tiny Horizons gaining passionate new audiences. The jam discussion also praised COLOUR CHASE’s polished execution.

Developers expressed deep gratitude for this visibility, noting that the event gave their games incredible exposure across multiple channels, averaging over 5,000 views and impressions per finalist title.

Meanwhile, players shared their excitement at being able to playtest emerging African games firsthand and offer direct feedback, actively contributing to the creators' development journeys.

What we will take into the next showcase

The results give us a useful basis for improving future events:

Continue linking physical play with online discovery. Festival visitors can discover a game in person, while its Jiwe IO page remains available for sharing and follow-up.
Make submission and setup requirements clearer. Use a final checklist for build access, controls, player count, hardware and installation instructions before the event.

Keep supporting the creators. Follow-up playtests, feedback summaries and developer updates can extend the value of the showcase beyond the awards.

An East African pathway into the festival

The visit also opened a conversation about extending the festival’s reach into East Africa. A few individuals expressed interest in developing an East African edition or programme connected to Fak’ugesi in South Africa, creating a pathway for regional creators to develop, showcase and exchange their work.

Thank you

Thank you to every developer who submitted, the five multiplayer finalists, and everyone who played, voted and shared their experience. Thank you also to the Tshimologong and Fak’ugesi teams for the partnership and the work behind the scenes.

We gratefully acknowledge the French Embassy in Kenya for supporting Max Musau’s travel to Johannesburg, and Maurice Chapot for facilitating that support. It enabled Max to work alongside the festival team, support the showcase and help connect games with players in person.

The festival has ended, but discovery can continue. Explore the projects and support their creators on Jiwe IO

Dala Khona 2026 - Games Page