Statle

Inspiration 💡

It started with a roommate dynamic. One of us is a geography and history enthusiast who can rattle off state capitals and admission dates without blinking. The other couldn't tell you if Kentucky was landlocked.

We figured we probably weren't alone in that gap. So we built Statle: a game that meets geography fans and geography disasters alike, and makes learning about US states actually fun.

What It Does 🚀

Statle is a daily US state guessing game inspired by Wordle. Every day, all players share the same mystery state. Type in a guess, and the game reveals color-coded feedback across 8 real statistical attributes:

• Green = exact match
• Amber = close
• Red = wrong, with directional arrows pointing you higher or lower

Crack the daily puzzle to unlock Endless Mode for unlimited rounds with no repeats. Win, and you're treated to a confetti celebration and a recap map of every state you guessed. No backend, no login, no account. Just the game.

How We Built It 🛠️

Challenges We Ran Into 😅

• Scoping the vision: We had the Wordle-meets-geography concept early, but figuring out the exact scope took real time. How many attributes? What thresholds count as "close"? How should Endless Mode work? Alignment before coding saved us a lot of rework.

• Merge conflicts: Working on overlapping parts of the codebase simultaneously led to a few conflicts. Good reminder to communicate early about who owns what.

• The aesthetic almost didn't happen: We started in dark mode, the safe developer-default choice. It looked fine. It looked like every other hackathon app. Somewhere around hour six we realized the retro Americana direction was the right call, but that meant a full paradigm shift. Ripped out the dark palette, rebuilt around parchment tones and warm earth colors, re-checked every feedback state for legibility. Green and amber that popped against dark backgrounds looked completely different against warm beige. The functional color system and the aesthetic had to be re-negotiated from scratch. Painful. Worth it.

Accomplishments We're Proud Of 🏆

• Game feel that actually holds up. The staggered cell-flip reveal creates real Wordle-style tension.
• Fully client-side with zero backend infrastructure.
• A cohesive retro Americana aesthetic that ties the whole experience together.
• Shipped a complete, playable game in one hackathon.

What We Learned 📚

• Game feel is a feature, not a finishing touch. Animation timing and feedback clarity make or break the experience.
• Scope alignment early is worth more than any individual technical decision.
• We also genuinely learned a lot about US states along the way, which was kind of the whole point.

What's Next for Statle 🔮

• Hard mode: hide the directional arrows for an extra challenge.
• Streak tracking and a global leaderboard.
• Expanding beyond US states to countries and world capitals. Statle as a geography platform, not just a state game.

Built With

• next.js
• react
• tailwind
• typescript
• vercel