A game hub built on one premise: every game you play daily with ads deserves an ad-free alternative you actually own. Wanessa Labs Games is the answer to NYT Games, ad-bloated mobile apps, and every free-to-play game that charges you in attention.
The Problem
Daily games (Sudoku, Connections, Mini Crossword, Wordle) are good. The ads wrapped around them are not. The New York Times charges a subscription. The free alternatives are ad-ridden. The mobile versions track you.
We wanted to play Sudoku at breakfast without an unskippable video. So we built the version we wanted.
What It Is
A curated hub of ad-free games at games.wanessalabs.com. Every game is either built from scratch or forked from an open-source project with full asset replacement and rebrand. No ads. No tracking. Offline-capable PWAs.
The catalog spans:
- Logic: Sudoku, 2048, Pattern, Light Up, Magnets, Mosaic, Loopy
- Word: Word30 (Wordle rebrand), Mini Crossword, Connections
- Board: Chess, Drop4, Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe
- Arcade: Pong, Doodle30
- Narrative: Stories30 (branching fiction)
- Skill: Type30 (30-day typing course)
- Mobile: Honey, I Loaded the Dishwasher (original Android game)
How It Works
Every game implements the same GameProps contract, which enforces consistent features across the catalog:
- Daily seed: Deterministic daily puzzles generated from a date-based seed, so every player gets the same puzzle each day.
- Streaks: Local streak tracking with no account required.
- Share grid: Emoji share output, same as the NYT format.
- Offline: Service worker on every game, works without a connection.
Games with a placeholder status are in the registry but not yet playable. The hub renders them with a “Coming soon” state so the catalog scope is visible.
Revenue Model
The hub is free. Cosmetic upgrades are available via Stripe Payment Links: one-time purchases that unlock themes or bonus content, no subscription. No ads. No IAP dark patterns. The unlock token is computed via HMAC and verified client-side. No backend required for the purchase flow.
| Upgrade | Game | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Theme | 2048, Type30 | $0.99 |
| Ocean Theme | Solitaire | $0.99 |
| Classic Pieces Pack | Chess | $1.99 |
| Bonus Chapters | Stories30 | $2.99 |
Stack
| Tool | Role |
|---|---|
| Vite + React | SPA frontend, no server, no database |
| TypeScript | Full type coverage across the registry and GameProps contract |
| Tailwind | Utility-first styling, no runtime cost |
| Cloudflare Pages | Hosting |
| localStorage | All game state, streaks, and unlock tokens via storage.ts |
| Godot | Mobile game (Honey, I Loaded the Dishwasher), distributed via App Store |