# October Jam 2026 Winners: The Best Monster Mash Games on RUN

1,533 entries, 986 creators, $30,000 in prizes. Meet the October Jam: Monster Mash winners, from MONSTER CONGA! to GULP, and play every winning game free on RUN.

By RUN Team · November 9, 2026

![October Jam 2026 Winners: The Best Monster Mash Games on RUN](https://res.cloudinary.com/venusseriesai/image/upload/v1794239125/upload_pzdmyi.jpg)

**October Jam: Monster Mash** is a wrap, and what a party it was.

On October 8 we gave creators one prompt: build something with fangs, claws, or way too many eyes. They got 25 days and $30,000 to fight over.

We braced for a few hundred entries. We got **1,533**: 1,465 games, 53 videos and 15 interactive stories from **986 creators**. September Jam had 100. Safe to say the monsters showed up.

Then the players piled in, with **310,000+ plays** and **27,000+ votes**. We got conga lines, arm-wrestling mummies, and a zombie about to lose the family home. Here's who clawed their way to the top.

## October Jam Editor's Picks

Five games, hand-picked by the RUN team. We looked for three things: players kept coming back, it was a blast, and it really ran with Monster Mash.

### MONSTER CONGA! by saizuo ($15,000)

Every Halloween the dead throw a party, and somebody has to start the conga. You lead a dancing line through a moonlit graveyard, waking vampires, zombies, ghosts, skeletons and pumpkin-headed Jacks, who jump in behind you. Dodge the Keeper's lantern, dance your line into the bonfire, and hold on for midnight, when every grave bursts open and the Monster Mash begins with double points. It plays with one finger.

[Play MONSTER CONGA! on RUN](https://run.world/game/PuASKlL4bJAkRtjgl4Rz)

### The Humans Are Coming by shadowquest684 ($3,000)

Here the humans are the invaders. You're Kip, a little monster on the glowing planet Myxa. Chase off the landing parties, break into their ships, free the villagers they've caged, and silence their radios. As the story goes on, Kip is mashed into new bodies, keeping the old parts and adding new ones, from claws to extra eyes to a jaw that can chomp through a shield. Once the story is done, a new human ship lands every night with endless waves and a daily leaderboard. You can even send a friend a link that mashes one of your monster's parts into theirs.

[Play The Humans Are Coming on RUN](https://run.world/game/Z1qG5ObAWWbYnPVIQI6s)

### Mawborn by jollyghost505 ($2,000)

A dark-fantasy action RPG that takes "mash" literally. You wake as a half-formed thing in a cursed crypt, then kill monsters, eat them, and stitch their parts onto yourself. Every head, arm and pair of legs changes how you fight. Take missions from the Bonesetter in the village of Hollowmere, raise a pet stitched from parts, and push on to the Graveyard or into the endless Chaos Dungeon.

[Play Mawborn on RUN](https://run.world/game/6lHK2G0cmUjnbt5zeErG)

### Tap Tap Terror by astralpixel479 ($1,200)

A rhythm game where you arm-wrestle monsters to the beat. Work through the campaign, chase the leaderboards, race ghosts, or challenge a friend to a live 1v1 duel.

[Play Tap Tap Terror on RUN](https://run.world/game/rAkY2EvqKIPyS7I4Ar09)

### Grayford: Undead Open World Hustle by nongvh ($800)

A zombie just got out of prison after a bar fight with a vampire, his mom is gone, and the bank is about to take the family home. Grayford is a darkly funny open-world pixel town full of mummies, vampires, witches and ghosts. Deliver brain pizza, walk hellhounds and take any job you can to raise $10,000 before the house is gone.

[Play Grayford on RUN](https://run.world/game/zE727r1n14kKqhFNMgwf)

## Special Category Winners

Four $500 awards, open to every entry in every format.

**Most Sticky: Night of Spiders by jollyghost505.** You're alone in a dark house with a torch and some jars. Spiders freeze in the beam, and you have to jar them before they jump at your face. This award goes to the game that gives players the best reason to come back tomorrow, and it's jollyghost505's second win of the jam. [Play Night of Spiders](https://run.world/game/oDTwHCE6KzBgrAUlSByy)

**Best Monetization: MONSTER CONGA! by saizuo.** Candy you collect at the party goes to a shop full of new monsters, hats and maps. You can watch an ad to double a run's candy if you want, and the Party Pack unlocks every leader and hat at once. None of it gets in the way of the dancing. [Play MONSTER CONGA!](https://run.world/game/PuASKlL4bJAkRtjgl4Rz)

**Best Social Features: FRAGTOWN: Halloween Event by saizuo.** Four survivors, one Halloween night, and a town full of monsters. Fight down Main Street, crank open the cemetery gate and make it to the chapel safe room in this co-op shooter. Shove ghost skulls off your friends, and spread out when the Brute shows up. That makes three awards for saizuo. [Play FRAGTOWN](https://run.world/game/cQIpzn1rmjQTCU0TVrsl)

**Best Use of Theme: Not on the List: Mash Crasher by muirenn.** You weren't invited to the Monster Mash. Climb the tower, beat the guests, and eat your way into dress code. [Play Not on the List](https://run.world/game/SNnGxPKWIQO7EgfoUeu6)

## Community Vote Winners: Games

These three games got the most votes from RUN players.

1. **GULP by pratikmane ($2,000).** Turn a peaceful city into an all-you-can-eat monster buffet. Gobble villagers to grow, swallow smaller rivals and run from bigger ones in three-minute rounds, online or solo. [Play GULP](https://run.world/game/Sw2Kc9jkJ2eF6jbieKRl)
2. **Tag Team Terror by crimsonsunset ($1,200).** A monster tag-team brawler: dodge red, counter purple, unleash the moon. [Play Tag Team Terror](https://run.world/game/Zo8tRIGBpGhAGb0XCXoI)
3. **HollowHeart by zelycx ($800).** A dark-fantasy survival and base-building game. Gather resources, build walls, traps and turrets, summon and fuse friendly monsters, and protect your Core Tree from wave after wave. [Play HollowHeart](https://run.world/game/wVGq10d3IZxtA18Im7Fv)

## Community Vote Winners: Stories and Videos

1. **The Spirit of the Dying Lake by SuperNinja745 ($1,000)**
2. **When the Darkness Watches by phoenix09 ($600)**
3. **ASTRA: THE LAST MONSTER HUNTER by IonicStork411 ($400)**

Every entry, winners included, is still playable on the [October Jam page](https://run.world/jams/octoberjam).

## Thank you

Thank you to everyone who entered, played, voted, and left a comment on someone else's game. 1,533 entries happened because you showed up. Winners, we'll be in touch about your prizes.

## What's next: Keep Going

The jam is over, but your game doesn't have to be. **[Keep Going](https://events.run.game/events/keep-going/)** starts November 10 and runs through January 4. It's open to any RUN creator, jam entry or not. Apply your game in the Creator Hub. If it's picked, keep building it, and as it grows it can earn up to **$15,000**: $10,000 in cash bonuses plus $5,000 of ads we make and run for you. You also get 1:1 coaching from the RUN team.

Already a jam winner? Keep Going comes on top of your prize. So keep adding levels, monsters and modes to that October Jam entry, and [read how Keep Going works](https://events.run.game/events/keep-going/).