WhatADate

• 

  LOGO

Inspiration

Reddit thrives on curiosity, daily rituals, and learning something new. We wanted to create a lightweight game that fits naturally into that behavior—something you can play in a minute, but still feel smart and competitive. Calendars felt like an unexplored interaction space on Reddit, and combining them with trivia turned every date into a reason to come back.

What it does

WhatADate is a calendar-based trivia game. Players select a date from the current month and answer three multiple-choice questions related to that day. Correct answers earn points based on how quickly the player gets it right, and total time acts as a tie-breaker. At the end of each run, players see how they rank on the daily leaderboard.

How we built it

We built WhatADate using Devvit’s client-server architecture. The client handles the calendar UI, question flow, and user interactions, while the server validates answers, calculates scores, tracks attempts, and manages leaderboard data. Shared types ensure consistency between client and server, and Devvit’s storage APIs are used to persist daily results securely.

Challenges we ran into

One of the main challenges was designing a calendar interaction that felt intuitive while enforcing fair play—preventing future dates from being accessed while still allowing past days. Another challenge was keeping the game fast and simple without sacrificing meaningful scoring, explanation feedback, and competitive depth.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud of creating a game that feels native to Reddit rather than a generic web app embedded inside it. The scoring system rewards both knowledge and speed, explanations turn each question into a learning moment, and the calendar format makes the experience instantly understandable and repeatable.

What we learned

We learned how powerful simple mechanics can be when paired with clear constraints. Devvit’s architecture encourages a clean separation between UI and logic, which helped us think more carefully about trust, validation, and user experience. Designing for Reddit also reinforced the importance of clarity, fairness, and low-friction engagement.

What's next for WhatADate

Next steps include expanding question categories, adding streaks and badges for consistent play, and exploring deeper community interaction through comments and discussions tied to each date. We also plan to refine the leaderboard experience and explore seasonal or themed calendars.

Built With

• devvit
• express.js
• node.js
• react
• storage
• typescript