Grumpy Granny

Can you crack Grumpy Granny’s secret password 👵?

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Inspiration

My own grandma was the spark for this—just don’t tell her I said that! 😉 Seriously though, I saw a reel of an elderly lady chatting with Alexa as if there were a real person hiding behind the speaker. Her innocence got me thinking about how older generations wrestle with modern tech. Even something as simple as a password can throw my grandma for a loop, so I turned that all-too-relatable moment into Grumpy Granny—a playful game built on her delightful grumpiness.

What It Does

Grumpy Granny lives entirely inside Reddit’s webview. Hit Start Game, and you’ll jump straight into the world of a cranky grandma who’s locked out of her own computer. Your mission? Dig through her ID, diary, and a bunch of quirky clues to crack her ever-changing, over-the-top password. Get it wrong and you’ll get a mouthful of her signature grumpiness; get it right and you unlock the “Chillin Queen” ending and a retro leaderboard.

How We Built It

  • Development was done entirely in Bolt.new—from rendering the CRT monitor and placing sprites to styling the desktop, table, and all the vintage visuals.
  • Granny’s images and video assets were created with AI tools.
  • Deployed directly inside Reddit via the Reddit Developer Platform’s Webview.

Challenges We Ran Into

  1. Consistent Granny Sprites
    Crafting multiple poses and expressions that all felt like the same character required countless AI prompt tweaks.
  2. Responsive “CRT Monitor”
    Fitting hints, inputs, and animations into a faux-CRT bezel across phones and desktops was a real Bolt puzzle.
  3. Retro-Wacky Aesthetic
    Striking the right balance between a raw, pixel-art vibe and readability meant iterating on colors, fonts, and scanline opacity.
  4. Bolt + Reddit Integration
    Ensuring smooth performance both in Bolt and within Reddit’s Webview took some deep dives into Reddit’s documentation.
  5. Dynamic, Funny Hints
    Designing password clues that pull in current time, Roman numerals, Melvin’s name, and more—while still being solvable—was tougher than I thought.

Accomplishments We’re Proud Of

  • Delivered an authentic Windows 98 feel with pixel fonts, beveled buttons, and green scanlines.
  • Built a fully responsive monitor UI that never overflows or crops content.
  • Achieved seamless in-Reddit gameplay using only Bolt and Reddit’s Webview.
  • Added a live leaderboard powered by Reddit’s Redis API, making password cracking a competitive sport.

What We Learned

  1. Bolt as a Dev Partner
    Instead of hand-coding layouts and logic, Bolt’s natural-language prompts let me focus on the big picture—like having a second developer on call.
  2. Reddit Developer Platform
    I knew Webview existed, but this hackathon showed me how to build and ship polished mini-games right inside the Reddit app.

What’s Next for Grumpy Granny

  1. Third-Party API Integration
    – Weather or clock APIs could dynamically tweak password hints based on real-world conditions.
  2. More Characters
    – Why stop at Granny? Introduce new locked-out personas for future challenges.
  3. 3D Elements
    – Add animated 3D objects on the monitor for extra immersion. --- Thanks for checking out Grumpy Granny—my Bolt.new entry for the Silly Sh*t Challenge!

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