Computer Science win the Great Manchester College Hack

27 June 2018

From left to right: Adam Benson, Amish Shah, Junaid Ghafoor, William Farrow, Safin Khan, Nathan Laycock

Ashton Sixth Form College's A-Level Computer Science students took part in the Great Manchester College Hack this week. Several students joined together to compete and they took home the incredible trophy for 'Best in Show', making them the overall winners of the first ever Great Manchester College Hack.

The Hack event was hosted at Loreto College and invited a number of colleges from across the North including Loreto College, Blackpool Sixth Form College, Oldham Sixth Form College, Rochdale Sixth Form College, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Aquinas College, Sale Grammar School, Woodhouse Grove School (in Leeds) and, of course, Ashton Sixth Form College.

The various sponsors of the event set three different challenges. The aim of the students' particular challenge was to recreate a retro arcade game called 'Asteroids'. Atari first developed the game and released it in 1979. The player controls a spaceship and the object of the game is to destroy incoming asteroids and flying saucers. Along with video games such as Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and Pacman, the success of the video game industry or 'the Golden Age of video games' is said to have took place in this era - the late 70s and early 80s.

You can see their incredible recreation and even try it for yourself online here.

CDL Software, the sponsors of the event, held the deciding vote for 'Best in Show'. As a true testament to their skills and passion, Ashton Sixth Form College Computer Science were awarded the prize. In total, there were around 40 students present at the competition. To win 'Best in Show' is an outstanding accolade and the college is extremely proud of their achievements.

Earlier in the academic year, part of this winning team attended the Tameside HACK in which they also took home 'Best in Show'. These students have held on to their title for another competition making quite a name for themselves in the process.