Subreddit Drift

Daily Reddit trivia game - identify subreddits from authentic comments

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Inspiration

We were inspired by the success of daily games like Wordle and Connections, and wanted to create something uniquely suited to Reddit's diverse community culture. Reddit has thousands of communities, each with their own distinct voice, humor, and conversational style. We thought: what if players could test their knowledge of these communities by identifying subreddits just from reading comments? It's a game that rewards long-time Redditors while being accessible to newcomers, and naturally drives discussion in the comments about Reddit culture.

What it does

Subreddit Drift is a daily trivia game where players identify subreddits based on authentic-looking comment threads. Each day, players get 5 questions with increasing difficulty (easy, medium, hard). For each question, they see 3 comments and have 60 seconds to guess which subreddit they came from.

Key Features:

  • One play per day with daily reset
  • Live leaderboard with top 10 rankings
  • Streak tracking for consecutive days
  • Time-based scoring (100 pts + speed bonus)
  • Mobile-optimized interface
  • Shareable score cards

How we built it

Built on Reddit's Devvit platform using TypeScript with a React-style component architecture. We implemented Redis for data persistence, handling:

  • Leaderboard: Redis sorted sets for top 10 rankings
  • Daily tracking: Date-based keys to enforce one play per day
  • Streak mechanics: Consecutive day detection and tracking
  • Player stats: Hash maps storing score, correct answers, and streaks

The UI uses Devvit's declarative components (vstack, hstack, button, text) optimized for mobile-first design. Key technical features include:

  • Real-time countdown timer with visual progress bar
  • State management for multi-screen navigation (start → playing → results → leaderboard)
  • Daily reset logic based on date keys
  • Scoring algorithm: 100 base points + (60 - seconds) × 2 time bonus
  • Compact layouts to fit within Devvit's "tall" post height

Challenges we ran into

1. Height Constraints
The biggest challenge was fitting all game elements within Devvit's "tall" post height. We had a timer, question info, 3 comments, 4 answer buttons, and feedback all competing for vertical space. Solution: aggressive space optimization using gap="none", compact text sizes, strategic padding, and removing unnecessary visual elements.

2. Daily Play Mechanics
Implementing daily limits and streak tracking without built-in date/time APIs required creating our own date key system (YYYY-MM-DD) and logic to detect consecutive days.

3. Async Data Loading
Initially tried using useAsync for Redis operations, but it wasn't available in Devvit context. Refactored to manual async functions with state management (loadLeaderboard(), checkIfPlayedToday()).

4. Mobile Optimization
Ensuring the game worked perfectly on mobile required careful attention to button sizes, text readability, and touch-friendly interactions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Complete game loop - Zero bugs, production-ready
Persistent leaderboard - Redis-backed with real-time updates
Daily mechanics - Play-once limit and streak tracking work flawlessly
Mobile-first UX - Smooth, intuitive, emoji-enhanced interface
Reddit-specific - Tests actual Reddit culture knowledge
Engagement hooks - Daily limit, streaks, and competition drive retention

We created something uniquely Reddit that could launch today and drive real community engagement.

What we learned

Technical:

  • Devvit's component system and layout constraints
  • Redis data patterns (sorted sets, hash maps, key expiration)
  • Mobile-first UI design within strict space constraints
  • State management without traditional React hooks

Product:

  • Daily mechanics + streaks = powerful engagement loops
  • Scarcity (one play per day) increases value and anticipation
  • Leaderboards drive competition and return visits
  • Building for Reddit means building for community discussion ## What's next for Subreddit Drift Short-term:
  • Fetch real Reddit comments via API (dynamic content)
  • Category-specific daily challenges (Gaming Monday, Science Tuesday)
  • Achievement badges for milestones (5-day streak, perfect score)
  • Weekly/monthly leaderboard resets

Long-term:

  • Head-to-head multiplayer mode
  • User-generated question packs from communities
  • Premium features via Reddit Payments API
  • Community-specific versions (subreddit mods can customize) ```

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