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Community × Game • Sep 2026 · 3 min read

How I built the runner game

How Chrome's offline dinosaur became me, jumping over the tools I work with.

Play it

Click or tap to play

On 15 Sep 2026, in one day, I turned Chrome's offline dinosaur into Mini Adesh, jumping the 23 tools I work with. Harder tools get bigger logos, some float at head height, and it's one canvas, no game library. It sits on my home page, leading into Built with AI.

OVERVIEW

Something to play, and a way into Built with AI.

Under my toolkit I wanted something to play, with a way into Built with AI right after it. The first version was the dinosaur game Chrome shows when you're offline, running the full width of the page.

It worked, but it was Chrome's game, not mine. I wanted the runner to look like me, and the obstacles to be the logos of the tools I know, in place of the cacti.

The core challenge:

Turn a borrowed game into one that is me, jumping the tools I work with, without slowing the page down.

PROBLEM

“Press Space” sent people past the game.

The first version said “Press Space or tap to play”. On a web page, Space scrolls down until the game has focus, so pressing it took you straight past the game.

Now it says click or tap to play. That first click gives the game focus; after it, Space and the up arrow jump.

DESIGN GOALS

Four things it had to be.

  • Me, not a dinosaur
    The runner is Mini Adesh, the mascot from my chat, so the game says who made it.
  • My real tools
    The obstacles are the logos from my toolkit, in its order.
  • Hard, but fair
    Harder as it goes, never a jump you can't make.
  • Light on the page
    Nothing runs until you play, and nothing loads until it's needed.

SOLUTION

Mini Adesh, jumping my toolkit.

Click or tap the strip to start. Space, the up arrow or a tap jumps. Clear a logo and its name flashes above my head.

  • The runner
    His head comes from the mascot's drawings: smiling before the run, facing right while he runs, dizzy when it ends. The body is drawn in code: a maroon kurta, dark trousers, a two-step stride and a shadow that shrinks as he jumps.
  • The obstacles
    The 23 logos from my toolkit, on a loop. The harder a tool is to learn, the bigger its logo, and after the first three about a third float at head height.
  • The score
    How many tools you've cleared. The best one stays in your browser.

Hard tools

48px · 5 logos

CursorReactTypeScriptStorybookGit

Medium tools

40px · 11 logos

FigmaFramerIllustratorPhotoshopLovableReplitPostHogMicrosoft ClarityGoogle AnalyticsLinearJira

Easy tools

32px · 7 logos

ClaudeChatGPTNotionSlackAsanaLoomMiro
The 23 tools, at the size the game draws each.

DECISIONS AND TRADE-OFFS

What I chose, and what it cost.

  • Face right while running
    A face looking at you on a body running right reads as running at an angle, so he runs with the mascot's right-facing head on a side-on body.Trade-off: Two bodies to draw instead of one: a front one for standing, a side one for running.
  • Bigger logos for harder tools
    48px for React or TypeScript, 40px for most tools, 32px for Notion or Slack.Trade-off: How hard each tool is, is a judgement call, not a measurement.
  • Some logos in the air
    After the first three, about a third float at head height: run under them, and a badly timed jump hits them.Trade-off: One rule keeps it fair: an air logo never comes so soon after a ground one that clearing the first throws you into the second.
  • Click to start, then keys
    It never starts on its own. A click or tap starts it and gives it focus, so Space can't scroll the page by mistake.Trade-off: One extra click before keyboard players can use Space.
  • Only run when it's seen
    The game only runs while you're playing and it's on screen, and stops in a hidden tab. The head and logos load when the section gets close, or on your first click.

OUTCOMES

One canvas, 23 tools, no library.

23

Tools to jump

3

Logo sizes

2

Heights to clear

0

Game libraries

COMMUNITY

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