Small web apps are perfect for (tabletop gaming) tools
June 12, 2026
In the last few months, I have created two web apps, mostly for my own needs. These are tiny tools, they did not take a lot of time to build and polish, but I get a lot of value out of them. I guess they can benefit anyone who plays tabletop games regularly.
First, I made MoiMoiMoi. I never use the “last player to have seen an elephant starts” rules. I always find them a bit silly. MoiMoiMoi solves that problem. The gist is that each player puts a finger on the screen, and the app chooses one randomly. Note that this is a Chwazi clone. The original was not working on my phone, although it looks like they recently released a new version that might fix it.
Then I needed a score tracker, Scores. I really like Scorekeeper XL. I valued its simplicity and fun UI, but I had a couple of issues with it. First, there was no way to switch between groups of people. I have different gaming groups (not that many!) but having to re-enter everyone’s names is a bit annoying. Also, some games, like Flip 7, need you to add tens of points at once, which Scorekeeper is not great at either.
These tools do not need accounts, and they do not need much data. In the case of Scores, there is a little bit of data: the groups, as well as the current sheet. The tradeoff is clear to me: either build a full account system, with logins, passwords, sync, complexity, and cost, or ask people to recreate a tiny bit of data on another device. For this kind of tool, I much prefer the second option.
Keeping everything local also means they can work completely offline. If you add them as web apps (still weirdly difficult to find on iOS) they can work fully offline.
I have iterated on them to make the experience feel as smooth as possible. They are definitely not native apps, but using them should feel like using an application, not a clunky web thing. Here again, the platforms do not always make it easy, but it can be done. For instance, Scores can keep the screen on while you use it.
The web has other great benefits:
- It is cross-platform: you can use web apps on iOS, Android, or anything that can run a browser.
- There is no gatekeeper: no need to have someone review your app before it is available, easy updates, and no need to create special assets for a store.
- They are cheap to host. These are static web apps: they consist of a small HTML and JavaScript bundle that can be served for almost nothing.
If you have a small itch to scratch, just build it as a web app, polish it until you are happy with the result, and publish it. It costs almost nothing, and it may help people around you. There is no need to build a business (or try to monetize it). Just share!
