Eleven-year-old Dominic Darby wins coding competition. The talented young man won after creating his very own video game for the first time!
The Jamaican native took the gaming world by storm when he won the XPRIZE Connect Code Games competition.
The competition was sponsored by California-based, nonprofit XPRIZE. The competition was a partnership between the company and the video game developer E-Line Media, supported by Endless Network. The partnership and competition has a focused mission to improve lives via technology.
According to Darby’s mother, in an article by AfroTech, Shellian Darby said that her son first learned about the platform at just six-years-old after attending a summer program held at the University of the West Indies. She added that he is also partly self-taught through his enjoyment of reading books and watching YouTube tutorials about coding.
The young and talented coder is one of 17 winners out of 3,000 people who joined the global competition of kids between the ages of 10-18. Named “Best in Class,” Darby won $1,000 prize in the Junior Division.
Just how did he do it? Well, by using MIT’s Scratch coding software, he was able to create the wining game which he entitled, “How to Fall.” “How to Fall” allows players to move through multiple levels while escaping various obstacles.
Of course Darby is a fan of Minecraft and Roblox. When he is not coding or studying, the talented pre-teen loves to play chess and tennis. When asked by Jamaicans.com what he plans on doing with his prize money, the young man answered, “A lot of things!”
Currently, Darby attends the Wolmer’s Preparatory School. In the future, Darby wants to study and work in computer science. Congratulations, Dominic! You beat 70 international rivals. We cannot wait to see what the future holds for you. We have a feeling that we will all be playing games created by you sooner than not!
