I’ve been experimenting with tiny browser games that let you win or lose real sats in under a minute.
The latest experiment is a reaction-time challenge built around a single “lightning pixel”:
- A lightning pixel flies across the screen
- You have to click the lightning pixel as fast and as accurately as possible
- The game measures your reaction time and precision, then rewards it
Why I built it:
- I want Lightning games that feel like fidget toys, not full sessions
- It’s a way to test UX patterns for instant pay/receive in games
- I’m curious how people behave when each click has economic weight
If you’re up for stress‑testing your nervous system (and my code), here’s what I’m looking for from stackers:
- Does the latency feel fair for you (desktop vs mobile)?
- Do the sats at stake feel too low, too high, or “just right size”?
- Any ideas for power‑ups, streaks, or “seasonal leagues” that would make you come back?
Link: clixel.io/play
If you manage to catch the lightning pixel, post a screenshot and your score in the comments so we can set some informal world records.
Congrats on shipping this! I am envious because I have never shipped a multiplayer game, but it's something I'm working towards.
This is my second time trying the game. I tried for the first time the other day when I saw the post on SN. Unfortunately, I don't think it's for me. I'll drop some feedback in case it's helpful.
It's just not fun.
Games need win conditions and lose conditions. It's not obvious what those are in this game. I don't want to read documentation, I want to intuitively understand by exploration.
I tried exploring. I clicked a bunch, and eventually I got a hit on the shooting star. It bounced away, leaving me unsatisfied. I was hoping for an explosion or flash or some visual indicator that I did a good thing. The sats counter went up, so I guess that's a good thing and that's the point of the game. Ok, so how do I win? How do I lose? Seems like no way to do either? Maybe multiplayers are needed? Maybe payment is required? Eh, it sounds like gambling; not for me.
The dots I make on screen by clicking are so tiny, and it's frustrating to click so many times in the shooting star's path only for it to miss by a pixel or two.
I'm reminded of missile command. But unlike missile command, there are no pleasing explosions and no dopamine hit.
There's about 2 seconds of latency between when I click and when I see the game react by drawing a dot on screen. In a game that's supposed to be about quick reaction, this delay feels
badterrible.There's too much downtime where nothing is happening. The shooting star is off the screen and I'm just staring at my screen waiting for it to come back. This phase is disengaging me, my mind goes elsewhere during this downtime.
That's all I can think of, hope you don't mind the honest feedback.
Thanks for these notes. Really appreciate it. The app can handle 100s-1000s of players at the same time, so the intention is that in the future the pots will be much higher from all the users clicking at once. Rounds will be fast as the area the lightning pixel has to bounce around shrinks with all the dead pixels making it easier to catch. Still early days, thanks!
Can you provide an option that does not require me to give you an email address?
what he said
Yeah, fuck that.
Wonder if a lobster can win consistently
Really like this concept—super tight and addictive. The “lightning pixel” feels more like a fidget toy than a full game, which works great, and adding real sats gives every click actual tension.
The feedback loop is clean and fast, and I like how immediate everything feels.
How do you see the balance between pure reflex skill vs randomness over time? Should top players be consistently better, or is a bit of unpredictability part of the design?
could be cool to add light progression without breaking the simplicity—like small streak multipliers, occasional slow-mo power-ups, or tiny weekly leagues to keep people coming back.
Thanks for these comments. The game is intended to house hundreds or even thousands of players trying to catch the pixel at the same time. This means way higher pots and shorter rounds. Hope this keeps more people coming back to try and hit the big one. I love the extensions you came up with, definately room for things like that if this gains traction.
ok, but what's with the sign-up/account/email stuff?
Not giving you an email for trying that out
That lightning pixel is too fast, and the click response is slow. played 45 minutes and still couldn’t catch 😂 Really hard to play from a phone.