AI education for K-12 is gaining increasing attention, prompting the exploration of effective pedagogical approaches to engage students in AI learning. This study investigates the effectiveness of competitive game-based learning (GBL) to facilitate students’ engagement in AI learning. 162 secondary school students participated in a GBL workshop. To assess students’ engagement in AI learning, pre- and post-questionnaires were administered. The results indicated that the competitive GBL workshop significantly enhanced students’ engagement. These findings suggest that the competitive GBL approach not only preserves the entertaining nature of games but is also well-suited for secondary school students engaging in learning AI. This provides valuable insights into the potential of competitive GBL workshops as an effective means of AI learning.