pipsgamer

Hello Indie Hackers! 👋

I’m Kieo, founder of pipsgamer.com

I am a beginner in Next.js development. Recently, I wanted to find a small project to practice and improve my front-end development skills. At the same time, I am also a player of the New York Times Pips Game. Sometimes, I visit Reddit and see some players feel sad because they missed the daily puzzle for different reasons.

This gave me an idea — why not create my own NYT-style Pips puzzle game that people can play anytime? So I decided to start this project using Next.js.

I chose Next.js because it supports both client-side and server-side rendering. This means I can make the game interactive and fast on the front end, and also make it SEO-friendly with static pages on the server side.

Since this is an online casual game, I think user experience is very important. Even though my current version is an MVP, I always test it carefully on both desktop and mobile browsers. I try to make sure players can play the game smoothly without too many obstacles.

Compared with the original NYT Pips game, I also added a “highlight dots” feature to help players think and calculate better.

This game also requires a strong logic in number placement, so I spent quite a lot of time writing and testing the core game algorithm. If the logic is wrong, the puzzle result will not match the rules, and the user will not be able to play correctly. That is something I paid special attention to.

At the moment, my website has two main features:

1. Unlimited play mode with three levels of difficulty — easy, medium, and hard.

2. Replay of historical puzzles from the New York Times Pips game.

I really enjoy building this project, and I hope other puzzle lovers can also try it. I am happy to hear your opinions or suggestions to make the game better.

👉 Check it out here: https://pipsgamer.com

👉 Or contact me here: kinlzjabc@gmail.com

Thank you for reading.