Finch Outside the Box announced as winner of Abertay University’s DARE Academy 2026

Abertay University’s DARE Academy 2026 games design competition has concluded, with Finch Outside the Box crowned this year’s winner for their game, Loose Juice. 

Loose Juice is a co-operative treasure-hunting adventure that challenges two players to work together to steer their caravan through a desert filled with obstacles, traps and valuable discoveries. Players must communicate carefully as they collect treasure, trade it for gear and upgrades, and avoid damaging their goods through careless driving.  

The team took home the DARE trophy, the £5,000 grand prize and the Audience Choice Award, while also benefitting from mentorship and support from experienced games industry professionals throughout the competition. 

Ellis Ingram said:  

We can't overstate just how thrilled we are to have won DARE Academy 2026! It's been an absolute privilege to work on Loose Juice since January, and even more so to have done it with friends. DARE has been the goal driving our team all year - to now walk away with the grand prize and the Audience Choice is something truly special. A huge thank you to the Abertay staff, our industry mentors, the judging panel, and our sponsors, and to the other DARE teams for a fantastic competition. I'm immensely proud of everyone on this team, and we're so incredibly excited to keep building on Loose Juice from here.

The awards marked the culmination of the annual summer-long programme, which brings together undergraduate teams from across Abertay's games degree programmes to develop original concepts into polished, playable prototypes. 

Exotic Rat Studios was named runner-up for Murder At The Clocktower, a retro-futurist mystery game where players aid Detective Clive Homard in solving a murder at a hotel trapped in a time loop, using a time-augmenting pocket watch to uncover crucial clues and alter events. 

The awards ceremony was held at Dundee Contemporary Arts on Saturday 5 September and followed the annual Drop In and Play exhibition, where members of the public had the opportunity to view and try the finalist games.

In addition to the winning teams, this year's other finalists were HydraByte with Elementorum, Whispered Eclipse with Demon Slumber Party, How What Why Games with Dirty Work, and Crabbits with GalactInk. 

DARE Academy 2026 was supported by longstanding sponsors Henderson Loggie and Lindsays, whose continued backing helps students gain valuable industry insight, professional guidance and experience of developing commercially focused projects. 

Dr Dayna Galloway, Head of the Department of Games and Arts at Abertay University,  said:  

The standard of entries in this year's DARE Academy has been outstanding, showcasing the creativity, talent and ambition of our students. Seeing these teams transform their ideas into polished, playable experiences over the course of the competition is always inspiring, and Loose Juice was a worthy winner. I'd like to congratulate all of our finalists and thank the mentors, sponsors and industry professionals whose guidance and support help make DARE Academy such a valuable experience. The skills, confidence and connections our students gain through the programme will serve them well as they begin their careers in the games industry.