Game logic
Three weapons in a circle: diapers beat papers, the syringe beats diapers, papers beat the syringe. The comparison is a single lookup table instead of a stack of if-statements, so adding a fourth weapon would be a one-line change.
Deadbeat Parent
An original game of mine — soggy diapers, a giant syringe and child support papers — lifted out of a desktop build and rewritten as a game you can play in the browser.
Begin the Game
What the game is
A three-way standoff against a deadbeat parent. You choose your player, pick one of three weapons, and the opponent picks blind.
The winner is decided by a circle of rules: diapers beat papers, the syringe beats diapers, papers beat the syringe. Wins, losses and ties are tracked across rounds — and tallied into a running scoreboard between both parents.
No AI was used to make this game. Every illustration, sound and line of logic was made by hand.
The three weapons
What it was built with
React 19
The whole game is one component tree. Every screen — rules, player choice, weapon picking, results — is driven by state, with no page reloads.
TypeScript
Weapons, players, round outcomes and the score are all typed, so an impossible result can't slip through at build time.
TanStack Router
File-based routes give this write-up and the game their own shareable links, each with its own page title and preview text.
Tailwind CSS v4
Layout, the neon frame and the responsive sizing are done with utility classes plus a few custom styles for the arcade look.
Web Audio API
Every sound — the fart, the slurp, the paper scrunch, the win jingle — is synthesised in the browser. No audio files to download.
Original artwork
Logo, background and the three weapon illustrations are my own, carried over from the desktop version of the game.
How it was built
Round flow
You pick your player, then a weapon. That locks the buttons, shows a short 'the deadbeat is choosing' beat, then reveals both picks side by side and updates wins, losses and ties.
Battle of the sexes
Results are tallied twice: once for your own run, and once into a shared scoreboard for the mums and the dads, so you can see which side is winning overall.
From desktop to web
The original was a desktop build. I rewrote the screens and rules as reusable components, replaced the window layout with a responsive one, and kept the art and rules exactly as designed.
Ready to play?
Choose your player, pick your weapon, and see if you can beat the deadbeat parent.
Begin the Game