The latest articles on DEV Community by diceonaut (@diceonaut_42b21357dc1926c). https://dev.to/diceonaut_42b21357dc1926c https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4013335%2F74d45bdb-fa26-430f-9da9-d09eb866b0f1.png https://dev.to/diceonaut_42b21357dc1926c en diceonaut Fri, 03 Jul 2026 10:22:59 +0000 https://dev.to/diceonaut_42b21357dc1926c/i-built-a-free-multiplayer-board-game-portal-no-download-just-a-browser-1i0f https://dev.to/diceonaut_42b21357dc1926c/i-built-a-free-multiplayer-board-game-portal-no-download-just-a-browser-1i0f <p>I wanted a place to play the board games I grew up with — Ludo, Carrom, Snakes &amp; Ladders — with friends, without everyone installing yet another app. So I built one: <strong><a href="https://diceonaut.com/?utm_source=devto&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=backlinks" rel="noopener noreferrer">Diceonaut</a></strong>.</p> <p>It's a free, browser-based portal for classic board and skill games. No download, no install, no sign-up to start.</p> <h2> What's in it </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Ludo</strong> — the classic 4-player race, online <img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fil2drhireje1ivgd68xh.png" alt="Diceonaut — free multiplayer board and skill games in your browser" width="800" height="450"> </li> <li> <strong>Carrom</strong> — flick, pot, win, with real board physics <img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F9skegsnf952o3qw64mwi.png" alt="Diceonaut — free multiplayer board and skill games in your browser" width="800" height="450"> </li> <li> <strong>9-Ball Pool</strong> — turn-by-turn pool with a proper physics engine <img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2F8dnlx613vpldlna04f1z.png" alt="Diceonaut — free multiplayer board and skill games in your browser" width="800" height="450"> </li> <li> <strong>Quoridor</strong> — race across the board while walling your opponent off</li> <li><strong>Connect 4, Gomoku, Snakes &amp; Ladders, Tic-Tac-Toe, Duel Deck</strong></li> </ul> <p>Every game runs three ways: <strong>online against real players</strong>, <strong>against AI</strong>, or <strong>pass-and-play</strong> on a single device. You can challenge a friend with a private-room link, climb per-game and global leaderboards, and earn a shared currency across every game.</p> <h2> The tech (briefly) </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Backend:</strong> Go, with authoritative match state held in memory (goroutine-per-match) — the server is the source of truth for every roll and move, so online play can't be cheated.</li> <li> <strong>Frontend:</strong> React for the portal/lobby (SEO-friendly, prerendered) + Phaser for each game canvas.</li> <li> <strong>Realtime:</strong> a message-bus transport with a binary fast path for the hot loop.</li> <li> <strong>Infra:</strong> self-hosted on a single box (Podman), fronted by Nginx + Cloudflare.</li> </ul> <p>Server-authoritative dice were the fun part — the roll is generated and validated server-side, broadcast to every client, so there's no trusting the browser.</p> <h2> Try it </h2> <p>It's live and free: <strong><a href="https://diceonaut.com/?utm_source=devto&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=backlinks" rel="noopener noreferrer">diceonaut.com</a></strong>. Feedback very welcome — especially on the physics games.</p> gamedev webdev showdev javascript