And that's just the people who have submitted early. With more than 14 hours left, that number will likely be well north of 1000 (though probably not many are using Dart like Notch).
Ludum Dare #27 had about 2200 games, from both the Compo and the Jam.
There'll be more like 10,000 doing it at near the end of January (possibly me if my girlfriend manages to drag me in this year).
To make a game from scratch, you must first reinvent the universe.
I'd reinvent a universe without pedantry.
I'd reinvent a universe where what people achieve is considered more important than the programming language used to do it...
haha, yeah, i remember having to learn all the blending functions and about render order for transparency, etc. writing my first open gl game. he's a better coder than me, but I think he would be better off looking up some sample code or a text book sometimes