Planelooly wins Rep. Russ Fulcher’s 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Idaho’s First District
Rep. Russ Fulcher has named Myles Hardy of Homeschool as the winner of the 2025 Congressional App Challenge in Idaho’s First District. Their app Planelooly is an online game about designing routes for a passenger airline.
When asked what inspired the creation of Planelooly, Myles Hardy said, “I was inspired to create the game after playing a different game that involved designing airline routes and believing the game could be designed differently to have more airports, different level design, and a different currency structure. While creating the game, I would occasionally come up with new features to add to the game, including the star system and various level controls. For instance, original drafts of the game featured the ability to purchase gates at an airport not connected to anything, though the current version lacks this feature.”
The 2025 Congressional App Challenge marked another record-setting year for the program. A total of 394 Members of the U.S. House of Representatives hosted App Challenges in their congressional districts, the highest level of participation in the program’s history. More than 13,800 students from across the country participated, submitting over 4,600 original apps focused on real-world challenges ranging from health and accessibility to education, sustainability, and civic engagement.
The Congressional App Challenge is an official initiative of the U.S. House of Representatives that encourages middle school and high school students to learn to code, explore computer science, and build practical technology solutions for their communities. Each participating Member of Congress selects a winning app from their district, and winning teams are invited to showcase their projects to Members of Congress, staff, and industry leaders at the annual #HouseOfCode celebration on Capitol Hill.
The Challenge is proudly bipartisan and reflects a shared commitment to expanding access to STEM education and preparing the next generation of American innovators for the future workforce. The program is a public-private partnership made possible through funding from the Broadcom Foundation, AWS, Infosys Foundation USA, theCoderSchool, Apple, and others.
The 2026 Congressional App Challenge will launch in May, and eligible students can pre-register for the competition now.