Surprisingly, our most productive week of the year.
Eleven editions, eleven themes — each one a statement before the week even started.
Red and Blue crews battled through Speed Chess, Super Smash Bros, Midnight Golf, and bowling — and, in a first, an AI Survey folded right into team scoring. When the code rain cleared, Red edged Blue 38.5 to 31.
For War Week’s 10-year anniversary, JG split into three tribes — Red, Blue, and Yellow — grinding through daily puzzles and immunity challenges all week. Chess, Beyblade, a Potluck Luau, and “Merrell’s Wall of Beans” filled the days until Friday’s closing ceremony crowned a single Ultimate Survivor.
AC/DC set the tone for a three-way Battle of the Bands — Rock & Country vs. Pop & EDM vs. Hip Hop & R&B. Midnight Golf, a fireside chat, cornhole, and a War Week Concert kept the standings tight all week.
Four houses were sorted and set loose to chase a running House Cup, honor system in full effect. A War Week Concert, kickball, bocce, and Nation of War Trivia all fed the points race down to the closing ceremony.
Karate Kid took over: two dojos, Cobra Kai vs. Miyagi-Do, went to war from the opening Battle of the Banner onward. An escape room, a scavenger hunt, a beer & cook-off, and an overnight challenge kept the rivalry burning all week.
Built around the battle cry “Serve. Grind. Grow. Inspire.,” the Spartan edition packed the week with daily tournaments and challenges. The Code Wars banner asked the only question that mattered: “Are you ready to take on Rome?”
The pirate year’s most infamous tradition was Black Tuesday — an entire day where no one in the office was allowed to speak. Design & Code Wars, JG’s Got Talent, and a genuinely crazy game of beer pong rounded out the week.
The Star Wars edition ran on individual leaderboards — Ian Ballard took MVP and Komal Narwekar logged the most hours. Between Jedi Training and Yoda Cups, the company-wide Bake Off crowned a Darth Vader mask cake Most Creative.
An individual showcase week: Michael Shirk took Code Wars, James Kurtak the chess crown, and Joshua Cantor-Stone was named Lord of Catan. The standout build was Jon Keller’s open-source “artificial pancreas,” which later earned him a Tour de Cure talk.
A Hot Ones–style hot sauce challenge ended in a tie between Ant Conway and Sam Debnath, and the Pho Queen challenge claimed its victims. But the week belonged to Jason, Alex and Gareth’s winning “War Chest” — a custom cabinet hiding a gaming system loaded with thousands of games.
The inaugural edition. Rooted in the idea of FedEx Days — go all out for 24 hours — JG naturally stretched it to a full week of food, contests, fun and work. Everyone built a project solo and presented Saturday morning, and the first Jahnel Group lobby sign went up mid-week.