Goose Bets

VIDEO LINK: https://cap.so/s/1jewm0pwdw3rxw7

Inspiration

Goose Bets grew out of a playful mix of degenerate crypto culture, absurd "serious" security theater, and the simple joy of watching geese. The idea is to bet devnet SOL on what happens next in goose-themed video rounds — treating a silly premise with enough structure (wallet integration, betting pools, leaderboard, timed rounds) that it feels like a real mini-product, while the Honk Verification layer parodies biometric and voice-based 2FA with goose lore ("Waterfowl Handshake Protocol," tiers like Dominant Gander vs. Gosling).

What it does

Users connect a Solana wallet and complete a Honk Verification flow — their wallet is auto-registered, a Seed Honk plays through the browser speakers generated via ElevenLabs, then the user reproduces the honk into their microphone. The captured audio is compared against the reference signal using client-side DSP (frequency, amplitude, and aggression coefficient matching). Based on the match score, users are assigned a tier: Dominant Gander (full access), Standard Goose (full access), or Gosling (read-only). After verification, users can bet on round outcomes during the betting phase. The app shows goose video clips, a countdown timer, live pot totals, a bet feed, a leaderboard ("Hall of Honk"), and a reveal sequence with V-formation animation and confetti when the round resolves.

How we built it

The app is a Next.js 16 (App Router) frontend with React 19, Tailwind CSS 4, and TypeScript. Solana integration uses wallet-adapter and @solana/web3.js — bets are real on-chain SOL transfers on devnet to a deterministic pool wallet. Game state and round data come from API routes and a polling hook (useGameState polls /api/state every 2 seconds). Round content (goose scenario videos) is pre-generated using ElevenLabs text-to-video (Wan 2.5 model) and served as static MP4s. Honk Verification uses the Web Audio API for seed honk synthesis and playback, microphone capture via getUserMedia, and client-side DSP checks (YIN pitch detection, formant estimation, MFCC extraction) in honk-otp-verify. When ElevenLabs API keys are set, the seed honk is real TTS audio (PCM s16le @ 44100 Hz) with the same verification pipeline. The UI uses a warm cream/brown palette with custom fonts (GoofyPuff for display, PlotterxsTRIAL for body), noise textures, marquee tickers, and an Anchor framework setup for the Solana smart contract.

Challenges we ran into

Verification UX: getting a stable but not impossible honk match threshold required tuning — the pass threshold was lowered to 40% for demo accessibility while keeping the tier system meaningful. Audio pipeline complexity: Web Audio autoplay policies, sample rate mismatches between ElevenLabs output (44100 Hz) and browser AudioContext, and resampling edge cases all needed careful handling. Site audio conflicts: the arena video would un-mute itself during honk verification due to React effects racing with the mute hook — solved with a polling interval that enforces mute on all media elements during the verification flow. Betting state disconnect: on-chain SOL transfers were succeeding (balance decreased) but the UI wasn't reflecting bets because the local React state wasn't being updated after the transaction — required wiring up the recordUserBet callback from the betting hook into the panel component.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A full multi-step Honk Verification modal (preparing seed -> playing seed -> listening -> analyzing -> V-formation confetti on success) with real audio DSP and anti-impersonation detection (duck mimicry, mouth-honk, mallard interference). ElevenLabs dual integration — both for pre-generating goose scenario videos and for producing the seed honk TTS audio, while gracefully falling back to Web Audio synthesis when keys aren't configured. A wallet-gated betting flow with real on-chain devnet SOL transfers, live pot tracking, odds display, and a reveal sequence. The cream/brown UI overhaul with custom fonts, branded goose imagery, and polished animations that make it feel like a real product despite being a hackathon build.

What we learned

Biometric UX is easy to over-promise: the verification has to work reliably in noisy demo environments, so thresholds need to be forgiving while still being theatrical. Browser audio is a minefield: autoplay policies, sample rate conversion, and competing media elements all interact in non-obvious ways. On-chain doesn't mean on-screen: sending a successful Solana transaction is only half the work — the frontend state management has to reflect the bet or users think it failed. Hackathon polish compounds: small touches like the V-formation animation, honk error codes (HNK-002: Duck Mimicry), and the "Hall of Honk" leaderboard name make the demo land way harder than the underlying tech alone.

What's next for Goose Bets

Server-side bet persistence — currently bets are real on-chain transfers but the app uses in-memory deterministic mock data for pot totals and leaderboards; wiring up the Anchor program's betting pool PDAs would make everything trustless. Stricter verification thresholds and tiers for a production security posture. Mobile testing for mic capture and wallet flows (Phantom mobile deep links). More round content — the ElevenLabs video generation pipeline supports it, just needs more scenario prompts. Real payout flow — the claim winnings button exists in the UI but needs to be connected to the on-chain claim instruction. Deployment to Vercel with environment variables and static video assets served from CDN.