Inspired by the Nordic Game Jam, and created by Susan Gold, Ian Schreiber, Gorm Lai and Foaad Khosmood, originally developed under the International Game Developers Association Education SIG to bring together the elements of creativity, collaboration and experimentation.

At each site, participants gather to develop ideas, form small groups, create new, creative, innovative games, and present them to their peers and the global community, all in a limited time span.

[1] Current and past board directors include the founders Elonka Dunin, Lindsay Grace and Zuraida Buter.

[3][4] In January 2019, GGJ generated teams in 860 sites in 113 countries, who over the course of one weekend created 9,010 games.

In January 2022, GGJ lasted 10 days and nights and was the longest jam in organization's 14-year history.

Participants in the Global Game Jam are of all skill levels and in various fields.

The recommended schedule includes a short planning and team creation period, followed by development time until 3:00 PM on the final day.

The first Global Game Jam was held from January 30 – February 1, 2009, at 53 locations across the globe.

[10][11] The second Jam expanded further in 2010, increasing to 138 sites and resulting in 900 games made by 4300 creators.

[15] The 2015 GGJ took place from 23 to 25 January with 28,837 participants in 518 registered jam sites in 518 locations (78 countries).