The Arcade Facilitator 2026 program added a new Bonus Milestone. Instead of only collecting badges, learners built and deployed a working AI agent on Google Cloud, and earned 10 extra Arcade points for it. The Facilitator program itself ended on 14 September 2026, but the project is a great template for learning the same skills.
Who could take part
According to Google's announcement, you needed to:
- be enrolled in the Arcade Facilitator 2026 cohort
- hold both the GEAR badge and the Arcade GEAR badge on your Google Developer Profile
- have unlocked Milestone 1 in the Facilitator program
The four steps
1. Finish four GEAR skill badges
- Create Your First Gemini Enterprise Application
- Engineer AI Agents with ADK
- Deploy Multi-Agent Architectures
- Orchestrate Multi-agent Workflows
Google noted that these also counted toward the normal Arcade milestones, so the work paid off twice.
2. Start your Google Cloud free trial
Learners signed up for the 90-day trial with $300 in credits, using the email address enrolled in the program. Anyone who already had an active billing account on that email could skip this step.
3. Build the agent
Follow the project instructions to build your first agent with Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform. The last step is to give access to the verifier email address so your project can be checked.
4. Submit your details
Fill in the verification form with your Project ID and your 18-character Billing Account ID from the Google Cloud console.
Tips from the community
Several learners in Google's forum reported problems setting up billing during the trial sign-up, so start early and read Google's free trial FAQs if something fails.
Why this project is worth copying
Building a real agent teaches more than watching a demo. If you want the ideas behind it first, read What is an AI agent?. To see how those 10 points fit into your prize tier, use the Arcade Points Calculator.
Source: Arcade Facilitator 2026 Bonus Milestone on the Google Developer forums.