yeah that was my experience with a few hackathons too, it wasn't at all what I expected. And a powerpoint presentation with static HTML pages got a prize in that one as well.

I usually go to get in the zone with some new technologies around like minded people, and not really about the theme of the hackathon itself. A lot of hackathons have tons of tertiary prizes and networking opportunities.

Unlike other places with a tech scene, Silicon Valley has an industry that caters to unskilled and wannabe programmers that aren't currently into programming at all. Hackathons, Meetups and the coding schools are at the center of that. So you shouldn't expect actual deep technology discussions at those particular things, you will be underwhelmed.