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Jelia.nyc / Built here / Complaint Mountain

BUILT HERE · ELECTRONIC BOARD GAME

A fine place to be unhappy

Complaint Mountain is a light-hearted electronic board game. Margaret and the other residents of Complaint Village, a gated community with its own Complaint Cafe and Complaint Roundabout, race each other up the mountain, complaining all the way.

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What it is

Two to six players share one screen and take turns: roll the dice, draw Complaint Cards, land on the Cafe or the Roundabout, and move up a winding road to the summit. The tokens glide along an illustrated mountain board.

It has its own landing page and an animated "Lost on Complaint Mountain" page for anyone who takes a wrong turn.

Who it is for

Families and friends around one phone, tablet or laptop. Nothing to install and no account.

How it started, and how I built it

It started as a fun idea built around Margaret and her neighbours in Complaint Village, and grew into a full game with its own look.

  1. Its own look. A dusk-over-the-mountain illustration, its own typefaces and palette, and an illustrated village.
  2. Pass and play. One screen, shared turns. Simple to start, which is the point of a party game.
  3. Open source. The code is public on GitHub under the MIT licence.

What it shows I can do

  • Building something playful with the same care as something serious: design, illustration and game rules.
  • Delivering a complete small product, from idea to a live, open-source release.

Games are a good test of interface design: if a rule confuses someone, they stop playing. The same attention goes into business tools.

Questions people ask

Is it free?

Yes. Play it in any browser.

Can we play online?

Not yet. It is a pass-and-play game on one screen.