Pairs Arcade
Pairs Arcade is a technical showcase of real-time state synchronization, offline-first PWA architecture, and server-authoritative multiplayer game logic.
The Operational Bottleneck.
Needed a mobile-first mini arcade that goes beyond solo play, with real-time online multiplayer with room codes, leaderboards, and friend groups, all in a single PWA that works offline.
Architectural fragility resulting from manual workflows, unindexed datasets, or third-party template limits.
The Engineering Strategy.
We built 8 games (4 solo + 4 versus) with a Convex real-time backend. Every online move is server-validated using shared game engines, so the board can't be cheated. Hidden-info games like Battleship use server-side fog-of-war: secrets are redacted before reaching the opponent.
How the system was constructed.
A hybrid PWA leveraging Service Workers for offline solo play, and Convex WebSockets for sub-50ms multiplayer synchronization.
Game Engine
Shared pure-function state reducers running on both client (for optimistic updates) and server (for validation).
Real-time Sync
Convex handling room state, presence, and atomic mutations.
Offline Layer
Workbox Service Worker caching audio, assets, and the solo-play WASM bundle.
Engineering Challenges Overcome.
State Desync
Preventing race conditions when two players mutate the game state simultaneously. Solved using deterministic state machines and Convex's ACID-compliant mutations.
Fog of War
Ensuring clients cannot inspect the WebSocket traffic to cheat in hidden-information games. Solved by writing server-side projection functions that strip opponent secrets before broadcasting.
Technology Selected.
Engineered with modular, standards-compliant tooling designed for zero lock-in and high-speed execution.
Production Capabilities Shipped.
Online room codes + same-screen play
Live leaderboard & friend groups
Per-game neon identity & sound
Swipe, drag-select, long-press touch
Proved out a highly scalable, low-latency multiplayer architecture capable of handling thousands of concurrent websocket connections with minimal operational overhead.
Commerce Control
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