Super Auto Pets: The Board Game — Online
A web app for playing the Super Auto Pets board game remotely. 1v1 for now; the engine is built to grow to more players.
Stack
- Backend: Go (stdlib-first). Pure game engine in
internal/game, WebSocket sync viacoder/websocket, persistence as JSON blobs in SQLite (modernc.org/sqlite, no cgo). - Frontend: React + Vite + TypeScript in
web/. DOM/CSS card rendering and battle animations. - Tasks: mise (
mise.toml).
Quick start
mise run install-web # once: npm install
mise run serve # build frontend + server, run on :8080
Open http://localhost:8080, host a game, and join from another browser (or incognito window) with the 5-letter code.
Development
mise run dev # Go server on :8080 + Vite hot reload on :5173
mise run test # Go tests (game engine)
mise run check # go vet + frontend type-check
During development open the Vite URL (http://localhost:5173); it proxies
/api (including the WebSocket) to the Go server.
Configuration
Set via environment or a .env file (see .env.example):
| Variable | Default | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
DATA_DIR |
data |
Directory holding the SQLite DB |
PORT |
8080 |
HTTP port |
STATIC_DIR |
web/dist |
Built frontend to serve |
Rules implemented
Six rounds, each with its own shop tier deck. Per round:
- Shop — each player has 3 gold and players alternate actions, 1 gold each: buy one of 4 face-up cards; sell any number of hand cards (each becomes an 🍎 apple, +1 power food, and Sell effects fire); or trade in 3 same-suit pets (the Triple action) to pick 1 of the top 2 cards of the next tier's deck — Triple effects fire on the traded cards and the received pet's Buy effect fires. Passing forfeits remaining gold.
- Cleanup — anyone holding more than 5 pets must sell down to 5.
- Arrange — Battle Prep effects fire first (e.g. Giraffe hands out apples), then players secretly order their decks. Food cards apply to the next pet after them; trailing foods are wasted. A pet only benefits from its last-applied perk (e.g. Honey, Garlic).
- Battle — automatic stack machine. Cards reveal off the top of each deck until a pet is in play. Play effects fire on reveal (rocks roll a d6 with faces 0/0/1/1/2/2 and hit the opposing pet before the clash; Skunk strips foods; Wolverine steals apples; Chili mills the enemy deck). The two pets simultaneously deal their full power to each other as damage markers; a pet with markers ≥ power faints (attack never drops while wounded). Faint effects push summons onto either deck, recycle apples (Dodo), set aside delayed/recurring/conditional rock volleys (Badger, Blowfish, Snake, Crocodile), raise auras (Turkey, Mammoth), or arm a team shield (Turtle). Survivors that took damage fire Hurt effects (Peacock, Camel, Gorilla). Shields (Turtle/Gorilla/Melon) block whole hits, Garlic shaves 1 per attack, and Scorpion KOs anything its clash attack manages to hurt. Hippo heals when enemies faint; Rhino rocks each enemy pet as it's played. A clash that changes nothing ends the battle as a stalemate draw. Last player able to field a pet wins: 1 trophy for rounds 1–5, 2 for round 6. Draws award nothing.
Apples and bees are temporary: they leave your deck after the battle. Most trophies after round 6 wins.
All six tiers use the real card data:
| Tier | Pets | Food |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ant, Cricket, Duck, Otter, Mosquito, Fish | — |
| 2 | Worm, Flamingo, Peacock, Swan, Rat, Spider | Honey |
| 3 | Dog, Dolphin, Giraffe, Camel, Sheep, Dodo, Badger | Garlic |
| 4 | Squirrel, Turtle, Rooster, Bison, Blowfish, Skunk, Hippo | Pineapple |
| 5 | Monkey, Rhino, Crocodile, Scorpion, Seal, Shark, Turkey | Chili |
| 6 | Gorilla, Fly, Leopard, Mammoth, Cat, Snake, Wolverine | Melon |
Layout
cmd/server/ entrypoint
internal/game/ rules engine (pure, fully tested)
internal/server/ HTTP + WebSocket rooms
internal/store/ SQLite persistence
internal/env/ .env loading
web/ React frontend