Hack Club Fallen: Complete Guide This guide combines the Fallen start pages: Start Here, On Journaling, Submission Guidelines, Project Funding, Travel Stipends, and FAQ. 1. Start Here Welcome to Fallen Over the next six weeks, you build your dream hardware project, and Fallen pays for the parts. In December, you and 30+ teens travel to China to showcase your projects at Maker Faire Shenzhen (December 11-14). You also explore Shenzhen, the hardware capital of the world, and visit its large electronics market. Fallen is your chance for a life-changing adventure, lifelong friends, and making cool things. How it works • Brainstorm your project. • Pick your team (Lulu or Sami). • Journal your progress and earn XP. • Submit your design and receive a card to buy parts. • Build it, evolve your character, and come to Shenzhen. • Bring your project to Maker Faire Shenzhen. To qualify (deadline: December 11, 11:59 PM ET) • 1,000 XP. This takes about 80-125 hours, depending on your consistency and chosen character. • One approved project that is built and working. Step 1: Brainstorm You have about 6 weeks, enough for one substantial project. Choose something you have wanted to build for a while, such as a 3D printer or a wearable synth head. Your project must work, so pick something you can build and have working in 1.5 months. Build something straightforward first, then add features. Scope creep is real. Projects people can experience are often the most memorable. Prompts if you need ideas: • Create something you can wear. • Make something people can physically interact with. • Build a display that doesn't use a screen. You may build more than one project, but you need one main project to qualify. All projects count for XP. Every project must be physical so you can demo it. Unsure if your idea fits? Share it in the #fallen Slack channel for feedback. To continue a project from another Hack Club program, use the transfer form. Step 2: Pick your team • Team Lulu: Journal 5 or more days each week and earn +30 XP per week. The week starts with your first journal. Example: journal 3 hours a day for 5 days a week and qualify by December 7. • Team Sami: Journal every day and your XP multiplier rises by +0.15x per week, up to a maximum of 1.75x. You get 3 freezes, used each time you miss a day. After all 3 are used, your multiplier resets to 1x. Example: journal 1 hour every weekday and 4 hours per day on weekends to qualify in about 90 hours. • You can change teams later. LUMI of the Week Every Saturday at 11:00 AM, the team with the highest combined XP from its top 50 contributors is crowned LUMI. Each contributor on the winning team earns +10 XP. Step 3: Journal your progress Journaling shows your process. It ensures Fallen funds real projects. Each time you work on your project, join the 24/7 huddle in #fallen (optional but highly recommended), then post a journal in #fallen-journals or on the Fallen website. Lulu and Sami will remind you on Slack if you forget. For the full journaling guide, see Section 2. Step 4: Submit your design and get funded Keep journaling until you finish these two stages: • Finished digital design: Read the Submission Guidelines (Section 3), then submit your design through Design Submission (coming soon). Once approved, you receive a grant card to buy parts. Request your amount in your project's bom.csv (see Section 4). • Finished building the project in real life: Review the Submission Guidelines, then submit your Build Submission (coming soon). Step 5: Evolve your character and come to Shenzhen As you earn XP, your Sami or Lulu evolves. The baseline is 8 XP per hour journaled, which means 4 XP per half hour. To come to Shenzhen, you need 1,000 XP (max evolution) and a finished, working, approved project. Once both are confirmed, you are invited to Fallen in Shenzhen. Time deflations are rare. They happen only if your time estimate seems far too high for the progress made, and you will be contacted if it happens. Fallen covers your experience, food, and lodging during the event. Flights are not covered, but every XP past 1,000 earns travel stipends (see Section 5). Signed: Sophia, Katie and Anson. Gaurav. Bonus: Post a journal with the word stupendous to get a one-time bonus of +20 XP. 2. On Journaling A journal is a running log of your project's progress. In Fallen, you post one journal per work session in the #fallen-journals Slack channel or on the Fallen website. Journals are a keepsake of your journey and a way for others to learn from how you built your project. They do not have to be formal or polished, but they should show what you did, what you tried, and what you accomplished. Reviewers read them to see how you build your project, what you tried, and the late-night chaos. A good journal includes • A date and title. • What happened. Write this as you work. • Pictures. The more the merrier. • The time spent this session. • It says what changed, why it changed, and describes the struggle. Example of a bad journal "Made a few fixes, finished my board and finally ordered it! Time spent this session: 6 hours" This raises many questions: Why did you do this? What fixes, and what was wrong before? How did you fix it? What does the board do? Where and how did you order it? Example of a good journal Oct 1st: Finishing up and purchasing. The writer lists final checks on an e-paper and BLE PCB badge, then explains each change: added stitching vias, moved the e-ink connector, widened a cutout for the display's flex PCB, and added pull-up resistors on I2C. Based on a friend's review, they moved traces away from the inductor, changed zone shapes under the MCU, and recalculated a trace width. They describe the struggle with JLCPCB, including updating the project and re-uploading gerbers about 7 times because the BOM tool did not update some parts. They finished at 5 AM. Time spent this session: 6 hours. The journal includes plenty of screenshots. What a journal should NOT contain: zero images, AI-generated text, or only what worked. We want to hear about your process too. We are not grading writing skill. Write something readable that you would be proud to look back on. 3. Submission Guidelines Your project must be shipped before you can submit it. A shipped project is one you have shared with the world. Shipping makes your project real: it is no longer just a folder on your computer. A good ship clearly shows off your project, includes all files neatly organized, and is publicly available. A GitHub repository is the most common choice. Two types of submission • Design Submission: You finished the digital design. Once approved, you receive project funding to build it. • Build Submission: You built the project in real life and it works. Once approved, you have qualified for Fallen. Your README.md This is the first thing people see, so make it clear and awesome. Include: • What your project is and how to use it. • Why you made it. • Screenshots of the full 3D assembly, PCB, schematic or wiring diagram, and optionally a 3D render, poster, banner, or pinout diagram. • For a build submission: a link to your demo video and images of the final product. Your repository should include • STEP files (.step) for each part you modeled. • The source assembly file (.f3d, .FCStd, or a link to Onshape), including electronics. • PCB source files. For KiCad, include at least .kicad_pro, .kicad_sch, .kicad_pcb, .kicad_prl, and gerbers.zip. • Your firmware. For a design submission, untested firmware is fine. • A Bill of Materials (BOM) as a .csv, with a link to each item. Mention items you already own. • Any other parts of your project, such as libraries and references. • For a build submission: make sure all source files are up to date. Not everything applies to every project. If you are unsure whether to include something, include it or ask in #fallen. Originality: Your project must be original, designed and documented by you. It cannot be made by an AI agent or someone else. Do not copy a guide one-to-one. Add your own twist. Awesome Hack Clubber examples • KoiPad by @WA2AB1 • MPE32Board-Midi by @danny • To The Moon Together by @Parker Rupe 4. Project Funding Once your Design Submission is approved, you receive a grant card to buy what your project needs to get built. The card comes by email from HCB, Hack Club's financial platform. It counts as a credit card, so select credit when checking out. You can use it online by entering the card details, or in person by adding it to Apple Pay or Google Pay. How much you get Funding is based on your project's quality, polish, and complexity. It is not based on how long you spent or on your XP. Fallen is a non-profit with limited funds, so request only the amount you need in your bom.csv. Registration fee A registration fee of ₹5000 is required for processing your project and funds. In your BOM Good to include: • The minimum amount of each component needed for your project. • The bare minimum tools you need. A $20 soldering iron is more than enough. • The cheapest manufacturing options. For example, use HASL instead of ENIG for your PCB surface finish, since ENIG uses gold and costs more. Do not include: • Extra parts. • Overly expensive tools. • Modules or kits for parts you are supposed to design. For example, do not buy an ESP32 devboard. Design your own ESP32-based PCB. • Anything unrelated or unnecessary for your project. 5. Travel Stipends Traveling to China can be expensive, so Fallen offers travel stipends. • Regular stipends: For every XP you earn beyond the 1,000 needed to qualify, you receive $1 USD in travel stipends. For example, 100 XP equals $100 USD. XP does not depend only on time spent. Team bonuses and multipliers count too. • Deadline: You have until April 10, 2027 to earn travel stipends, so you can keep earning after the in-person event. • Payment: Stipends are sent as reimbursements after the in-person event, continuing until April 24. • Need funds earlier: If you need the money before buying a flight, email fallen@hackclub.com. Will Fallen pay to ship projects to China? Most likely not. A common workaround is to disassemble your project and reassemble it at Fallen. Tools and a space will be provided the day before the demo at Maker Faire. If that is not possible for your project, email fallen@hackclub.com and we may be able to help. Need-based stipends Fallen has set aside a limited amount of extra funds for fallers who could not attend without financial support. Each is up to a maximum of $1,000 USD. When reviewing applications, Fallen also checks your project. Because funds are very limited, plan your travel without relying on these. To apply you need at least 500 XP, so Fallen knows you are on track. Fallen will read every application. The application form is coming soon. 6. FAQ What is Team Lulu or Team Sami? When you sign up, you choose between Team Lulu and Team Sami. Each gives different XP bonuses or multipliers based on your consistency. Choose your team on the website. Why Shenzhen, China? Projects are demoed at Maker Faire Shenzhen, in the manufacturing capital of the world. You will also visit local hardware spots, including the world's largest electronics market. What do I build? One large hardware project, roughly a month and a half of dedicated work. You will demo it in Shenzhen. How many people can attend? About 30 attendees are expected, with no upper limit. If you qualify, you can attend in person. Can I make multiple projects? Yes, but pick one main project to focus on. You can build smaller side projects to learn hardware, make trinkets, or just for fun. Can I follow a tutorial? Yes, you can learn from tutorials, but your project must be your own. How long do I need to spend? Your character levels up with the hours you put in and qualifies once it reaches its final form. Journaling daily builds a streak that speeds progress. Qualifying takes about 80-125 hours, depending on your streak and character bonus. What if I can't go to Shenzhen? You can still be a faller. Level up your character to earn prizes like 3D printers, CNC mills, or exclusive Fallen merch. Are my flights covered? No. See Travel Stipends (Section 5). How is my project funded? Based on what your project needs. See Project Funding (Section 4). Can I transfer my project? Yes. To continue a project from another Hack Club program, use the transfer form. Can I work in a team? Yes. After creating a project, you can invite teammates. Each person journals their own sessions, and XP goes to whoever wrote the journal. Qualification stays at 1,000 XP per person. Questions? Ask Lulu or Sami on Slack. Gaurav