Boardgame Countdown β Roll Dice, Not Cash π²
Today I want to show you something a little different. If you've read my previous posts about Birthday Buddy or Chaos Tamer, you know I love creating apps that solve my everyday problems. This time, however, the stakes are much more personal.
Today, I have a confession to make: I am a shopaholic. My weakness? Board games. I could buy them every single day. The thrill, the unboxing, the smell of new cardboard... it's addictive. But the time has come to say "stop". I'm planning to break this addiction completely. Keep your fingers crossed for me, because it won't be easy! π€
But since I'm a fan of solving problems with vibe-coding, I decided to create something to keep my spirits up during those hard moments. Building this app took me exactly 10 minutes.
And thus, Boardgame Countdown was born.
10 Minutes to Freedom β±οΈ
Fighting an addiction is no joke, but who says the tools helping us can't be cute, supportive, and full of confetti?
I fired up the Replit Agent, wrote down what I was struggling with and what I needed so my brain would get a positive dopamine hit for not buying, instead of adding to the cart.
If you think programming means months of studying, this app is the best proof that you're wrong. It was literally one short conversation with an AI.
What's Inside? (Feature by Feature) π
Here is what my new, digital wallet-guardian consists of:
1. A Ruthless (But Supportive) Timer π The heart of the app is a simple timer that counts the time since I last bought a board game. Watching those hours and days go up is incredible motivation. I don't want to break my streak!
2. The Success Button & An Explosion of Joy ππ» What happens when you enter a board game store, have a game in your cart, but close the tab at the last second? You have to celebrate! I made a special button: "YAY! I haven't bought a game today!". When you click it, the whole screen is flooded with a rain of colorful confetti AND happy Kodama spirits, the little guardians of the forest <3 My brain gets a reward. I didn't spend money, and I still get a magical party.
3. The Samurai Who Believes In Me β©οΈ This is my favorite part. I added a graphic of a female samurai to the app. When I have a moment of crisis and click on her, magic happens:
Dice start falling from the top of the screen π²π²
In the center, a text appears: "Ganbatte Julees" (which means: You can do it, Julia! in Japanese).
It's a small, silly detail, but when you feel like dropping everything and buying another expansion for a game you play once a year, that little samurai throwing dice is like a best friend patting you on the back.
How to Talk to the Agent β My Prompts π£οΈ
How do you describe such a specific idea to an AI? Very simply. You just have to hit on the emotions and functions:
"Build a web app called Boardgame Countdown. I want it to have a timer that counts down the days, hours, and minutes since my last board game purchase."
"Add a big 'YAY! I haven't bought a game today!' button. When the user clicks it, make colorful confetti and happy Kodama spirits explode all over the screen as a reward."
"Place a graphic of a female samurai on the screen. Make it so that when clicked, a rain of dice falls from the top of the screen, and a motivational text 'Ganbatte Julees' pops up in the middle."
Ten minutes, a few iterations, and it was ready. Instead of opening my wallet, I opened a new project in Replit.
Team Vibe-Coding? Invite Collaborators for Free! π₯π€
Here is a brilliant Replit pro-tip you should know about: you can add up to 4 collaborators to your project completely for free (+4 free)!
You can easily invite your team to the project and code (or rather, vibe-code) side-by-side with them (Invite collaborators for free. Bring your team into this project and build alongside them). Eight hands chatting with an AI are better than two!
Speaking of which... I have a proposal for you! If you're currently struggling with a project, feeling stuck and need some support, or if you just want to build something cool as a duo β add me to your project and let's build it together! π
Feel free to drop me an email at: julia@bearshill.com β I'm waiting for your invites!
Summary π±
We don't always have to build powerful SaaS apps to manage chaos or organize birthdays. Sometimes the best software is the one you build just for yourself, to help you out on a bad day.
Boardgame Countdown reminds me that every consecutive day without the addiction is my little victory. And each of those victories deserves falling dice, happy Kodama spirits, and a samurai's smile.
Keep your fingers crossed for me on this journey. And if you are struggling with something yourself β whether it's shopping, sweets, or procrastination β try creating your own counter. You have no idea how much it helps when you can design your own support system.
Now, excuse me, I'm going to click on the samurai. Time for my dose of support! πβοΈ
π See the app (and drop some dice):boardgame-countdown.replit.app
