About The UI Game

51 levels of deliberately hostile interface design, and 17 write-ups explaining the real research behind them. Free, no account, no tracking.

Who made it

I'm Colby Clark. I write software, and I publish apps and books under Solutionflare. The UI Game is mine — the levels, the writing, the code.

It started as a joke about a button that runs away from your cursor and turned into something with a point to make. Every level is built on a real pattern: something a genuine product has shipped, or a documented effect in the literature on attention and perception. The pattern write-ups cite their sources so you can check me rather than take my word for it.

How it is paid for

There is no ad network on this site. What you see instead are house ads: cards for my own apps and books, shown at a handful of moments in the game. They are the only reason it can be free.

  • Nothing runs before you play. Ads appear after you finish a level, or when you choose to see one in exchange for a hint or a skip. There is no ad standing between you and a level.
  • An ad you did not ask for is dismissible immediately. Only the ones you opted into to earn something run their full length, and the button you pressed says so.
  • Nothing is behind a paywall. Every hint, skip, theme and level is reachable by playing. There is no purchase anywhere in this game.

What this site collects

Nothing. There is no analytics script, no tracking pixel, no advertising SDK, and no account system. I cannot see your scores, and there is no server that could store them.

  • Your progress lives in your browser. Levels completed, stars, tokens, themes and profiles are held in localStorage on your own device. Clearing site data erases them, and nothing anywhere else has a copy.
  • One third party, for one reason. The page loads a typeface from Google Fonts. That is the only request this site makes to anyone else.
  • Share links carry only what they show. A /share/ link encodes a level number, a time, a hint count and a star rating. Nothing identifies you, because nothing about you is known.

The apps

Six iOS apps. These are what the house ads point at, and what keeps the game free.

  • Rouse

    An iOS alarm that fires through Silent Mode and Do Not Disturb, with optional missions and timed routines.

    App Store Website

  • Scroll Clash

    An offline arcade shooter for iOS: 100 levels, 20 bosses, one-handed play, no genre bait-and-switch.

    App Store Website

  • Chat Local

    End-to-end encrypted iOS messaging over Bluetooth, with no account and no internet connection required.

    App Store Website

  • CalcBoard

    An iOS calculator that runs several independent calculators on one screen and passes values between them.

    App Store Website

  • Dogear

    An iOS speed-reading trainer that quizzes comprehension after each passage, on-device, rather than only measuring words per minute.

    App Store Website

  • Pentire

    An iOS jigsaw app that cuts your own photos into puzzles on-device, with nothing uploaded.

    App Store Website

The books

  • PictureBooks With Purpose

    Three illustrated picture books for ages 3-8, each built around one idea: perseverance, curiosity, gratitude.

    Amazon

  • Lessons Best Learned Early

    A plain-language personal finance primer for people starting out - budgeting, investing, and buying a first home.

    Amazon

Get in touch

Found a bug, or a level that behaves badly in a way I did not intend? Tell me. Got an idea for a level? Send it over.