King of the Hill

King of the Hill is a real-time city leaderboard powered by Reddit. Local subreddits rank the best restaurants and things to do — turning community votes into a live "Michelin-style" guide

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Inspiration

I frequently browse Reddit for restaurant recommendations in NYC. I don’t trust influencers, TikTok creators, or Google reviews because they can be paid for or inauthentic. I value real opinions from everyday people.

However, there’s a core problem: Reddit recommendations are scattered across hundreds of threads, many of which are years old. It’s hard to know what’s still relevant today.

King of the Hill solves this by creating a live leaderboard that aggregates Reddit consensus in real time. Users can quickly see where to eat, then dive deeper into subreddit discussions for context. I also beta tested with r/FoodNYC, where I found strong user interest with some users browsing on the subreddit suggest that I bring it to Chicago as well. This is when I realized that this idea can scale across multiple cities.

What It Does

This app turns Reddit’s collective wisdom into a real-time leaderboard for restaurants and things to do. Users can trust the rankings because every upvote and downvote comes directly from authentic Redditors.

It provides a fast way to discover the best spots while preserving transparency and community trust.

How I Built It

The project was built using:

  • Devvit as the platform
  • *React / Vite.js * for the frontend
  • Devvit Redis as the backend for real-time voting and Zustand for state management

Challenges I Ran Into

One major challenge was building for Reddit as someone who had never been a moderator before. I’ve used Reddit for years, but seeing how moderation tools and Devvit work gave me a new perspective.

I also relied heavily on Claude Code during development, which helped but sometimes created friction, even though I was hooked up to the devvit MCP. For example, I couldn’t publish the app for a long time because I was missing a required createPost handler. I ultimately had to dig through Devvit Discord channels to find the solution

Designing desktop/mobile friendly was also a challenge

Accomplishments I am Proud Of

I’m most proud of the UI/UX. The app needed to feel native to Reddit while still standing out as a polished product. Balancing informing without overwhelming and making the tool feel both moderator-friendly and user-empowering was a meaningful design challenge.

What We Learned

I learned that distribution is harder than building.

I gained 4,000 users in the first two weeks, but many forgot about the external website over time. This reinforced my belief that making King of the Hill a native Reddit app is key to long-term engagement and growth.

What’s Next for King of the Hill

Future ideas include:

  • Export data for analytic functions for mod
  • Historical snapshots of leaderboard rankings
  • Real life awards or badges for restaurants that top the rankings

This app turns community recognition into real-world reputation and rewards, empowering Reddit users to see and feel their real-world influence. It brings food and activity discovery back to the community, rather than leaving it solely to influencers and traditional critics.

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