Making room for play on the web

If software is becoming personal, then I hope we all make tiny games for each other again. The web is in a weird spot as it becomes less open and fills with slop and bots. But the web is more than we can imagine. This medium was invented for documents but has grown enough to support applications and communities.

I’ve been reflecting on my earliest memories here. Most of them are about the games I played as a kid. 3D Pinball: Space Cadet and JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain, but also Minesweeper and Solitare.

While redesigning claude.com we knew that it had to have a game. Maria Gonzalez, Kim O’Rourke and I wanted to bring the fun of the early web and hopefully inspire others to do the same. We came up with the idea of the Footer Arcade. Each one an easter egg and delight for those that find them:

Card match

Coding dad jokes

In a row

Snake

I hope you enjoy them!

-Mello

P.S.