This Is Fun

A real-time multiplayer party game inspired by Cards Against Humanity and Apples to Apples. One player draws a prompt card, everyone else plays their funniest response, and the selector picks a winner. First to the target score wins.

How It Works

• Players join a room using a 4-letter code
• Each player gets 7 white cards
• Every round, one player is the selector who draws a black (prompt) card
• Everyone else picks a white card from their hand to play
• The selector sees cards flip over one by one, picks their favorite, and awards a point
• First to 5 points wins (configurable)

Features

• Real-time multiplayer via WebSockets (Socket.IO)
• Custom decks — upload your own cards as a JSON file
• Card flip animations with staggered reveal
• Live submission tracking — the selector sees face-down cards arrive in real time
• Built-in default deck — works out of the box, no card file needed
• Mobile friendly

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React + Vite + Tailwind CSS
• Backend: Node.js + Express + Socket.IO
• Deployment: Docker / Railway

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Local Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• npm

Setup

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/this-is-fun.git
cd this-is-fun
npm run install:all

Run

npm run dev

This starts both the server (port 3001) and client (port 5173) concurrently. Open http://localhost:5173 in your browser.

You'll need at least 3 players to start a game. Open multiple browser tabs or have friends join from their devices on the same network.

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Deployment

Option 1: Railway (Recommended)

The easiest way to get this running on the internet. Costs ~$5/month or less for a party game with occasional use.

1. Clone this repo to your account, or download and push to a new repo
2. Sign up at railway.com with your GitHub account
3. Click New Project → Deploy from GitHub Repo → select this repo
4. Railway auto-detects the Dockerfile, builds, and deploys
5. Once deployed, go to Settings → Networking → Generate Domain to get your public URL

That's it. Railway handles HTTPS, port mapping, and auto-redeploys on every push to main.

Custom domain: In Railway's service settings, add your domain and point a CNAME record to the provided Railway hostname.

Option 2: Docker

Build and run locally or on any server with Docker:

docker build -t this-is-fun .
docker run -p 3001:3001 this-is-fun

Open http://localhost:3001. The Node server serves both the API and the built React app.

Option 3: Docker Compose

If you prefer compose:

docker compose up -d --build

The app will be available on port 8080.

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Custom Decks

The host can upload a custom deck in the lobby before starting the game. The file should be a JSON file with this structure:

{
  "blackCards": [
    "Why is _ always so fun?",
    "_ + _ = disaster"
  ],
  "whiteCards": [
    "A rubber duck",
    "Existential dread",
    "Free WiFi"
  ]
}

Requirements:

• At least 5 black cards
• At least 20 white cards
• All card values must be strings
• Use _ as a placeholder in black cards for where the white card answer goes

If no custom deck is uploaded, the game uses a built-in default deck.

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Project Structure

├── Dockerfile              # Production build (Railway / Docker)
├── docker-compose.yml      # Local Docker Compose setup
├── railway.json            # Railway deployment config
├── shared/
│   └── constants.js        # Shared enums and config
├── server/
│   ├── index.js            # Express + Socket.IO server
│   ├── gameManager.js      # Game state and logic
│   └── deck.js             # Card shuffling + default deck
├── client/
│   ├── index.html
│   └── src/
│       ├── App.jsx
│       ├── context/
│       │   └── GameContext.jsx
│       └── components/
│           ├── Home.jsx
│           ├── Lobby.jsx
│           ├── GameBoard.jsx
│           ├── GameOver.jsx
│           ├── FlipCard.jsx
│           └── CardImport.jsx
└── nginx/
    └── default.conf        # Nginx config (Docker Compose only)

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License

Do whatever you want with it. It's fun.