useless-buttons a collection of needlessly elaborate buttons

Every button's background is a live Rust/wasm simulation β€” and some of them are games you have to beat first.

Games

The game starts on its own and plays in the background. The label stays hidden and the button ignores clicks until you beat it. Left alone, every game ends in a game over and restarts.

flappy

You can fly! text-fx="snake"

πŸ”’ Locked

Click to flap. Thread the bird through 10 pipes to reach the checkered flag. Hit a pipe or the ground and it starts over.

runner

Stage clear text-fx="slot"

πŸ”’ Locked

The kid runs on their own. Click to jump over 10 chasms and reach the flag. Some ledges are barely wide enough to land on, so time those jumps late. Miss one and it's back to the start.

timing

Perfect timing text-fx="explode"

πŸ”’ Locked

Click while the ball is inside the ring and the ring jumps somewhere else. Land 10 hits to clear. One chance per ring: clicking while the ball is outside it, or letting the ball pass through without clicking, ends the run.

crossy

Why did the chicken… text-fx="ricochet"

πŸ”’ Locked

Get the chicken across 10 roads to the finish on the right. Click the right half of the button to hop right, the left half to hop left. Cars run up and down every road, with a grass rest spot every 3–4 roads. Once you leave the start, or reach a rest spot, there's no going back past it. Dawdle for 6 seconds and the eagle gets you.

django

Fastest gun in the West text-fx="slot"

πŸ”’ Locked

3–5 targets pop up around a western town. Shoot them all before the fuse runs out, with one round per target: a single miss ends it. Clear 10 waves.

balloon

Pop goes the button text-fx="explode"

πŸ”’ Locked

Balloons drift down. Click each one 3–5 times to pop it (the dots show how many are left); every hit bumps it back up. Don't let one touch the ground. Pop 10.

memory

Total recall text-fx="snake"

πŸ”’ Locked

6–8 numbered cards show for a moment, then turn face down. Turn them over two at a time, and each two must be a pair. A mismatch or running out of time ends it. Win 10 rounds.

dodge

Made it home text-fx="streak"

πŸ”’ Locked

Weave through traffic on a 5-lane highway. Click the top half of the button to change lanes up, the bottom half to change down. Signs mark each km; the finish is at 10 km.

breakout

Level complete text-fx="explode"

πŸ”’ Locked

Click anywhere and the paddle slides there. Where the ball hits the paddle sets its angle. Break all 10 bricks; miss the ball and it's over.

invaders

Earth is saved text-fx="matrix"

πŸ”’ Locked

Click and your cannon slides under that spot, then fires. Shoot down all 10 invaders before they land, and dodge their bombs.

pong

Game, set, match text-fx="ricochet"

πŸ”’ Locked

You're the left paddle: click a height and it slides there. Hit the ball with the paddle's edge to angle it past the computer. First to 10 wins; let one past you and it's over.

mole

Whack attack text-fx="slot"

πŸ”’ Locked

Whack-a-mole: click a mole while it's up. Whack 10 in a row; let a single one get away and it's back to zero. They get quicker, and later come two at a time.

stack

Tower of power text-fx="spin"

πŸ”’ Locked

Click to drop the sliding block. Overhangs stay, so lean too far and the top of the tower tips over the edge. Stack 10. Dawdle and the block slips off on its own.

heli

Clear skies text-fx="streak"

πŸ”’ Locked

Hold the button to climb, let go to sink. Thread the winding, narrowing cave through 10 checkpoint gates without touching the walls.

numbers

In order text-fx="slot"

πŸ”’ Locked

Click the scattered numbers in order, 1 first, before time runs out. A wrong number ends it. Rounds grow from 4 to 8 numbers; win 10.

rhythm

On beat text-fx="supernova"

πŸ”’ Locked

3–5 numbered circles per screen, on a beat. Click each one as its shrinking ring closes on it: too early, too late or not at all is a miss. Clear 10 screens.

survivor

Survived the night text-fx="explode"

πŸ”’ Locked

Your hero shoots in every direction on its own; click to walk there. Dodge the bats swarming in from every edge and collect 10 gems. Stand still too long and the Reaper comes.

frog

Hop to it text-fx="ricochet"

πŸ”’ Locked

Hop across 10 rivers on drifting lily pads: right half of the button hops right, left half hops left. Miss a pad or ride it off the edge and you're in. Rest on the grassy banks.

crawler

Dungeon cleared text-fx="corridor"

πŸ”’ Locked

Explore the maze in first person. When a monster steps out, click its head to drop it in one hit, or its body three times, before it reaches you. The 10th guards the exit.

shooter

Mission complete text-fx="streak"

πŸ”’ Locked

Your fighter fires on its own. Click the top half to climb, the bottom half to dive. Shoot down drones, dodge the meteors that can't be shot, and reach the finish line.

Visual effects

Animated backgrounds and label effects. Always clickable.

swarm (boids)

Flee the swarm text-fx="spin"

Hundreds of boids flock, wander and split up.

sand (falling sand)

Pile up sand text-fx="skew"

Sand rains in and piles up until the button is full, then starts over in a new color.

life (Conway)

Game of life text-fx="explode"

New clusters sprout as cells die off, so the board never stalls.

fractal (Mandelbrot)

Fractal zoom text-fx="zoom"

A never-ending zoom that relocates whenever the view runs out of detail.

bounce (pixel bounce)

Pixel chaos text-fx="ricochet"

Dozens of colored pixels ricochet off the walls and each other, changing color on every hit. Trails are painted permanently β€” they never fade.

dungeon (maze explorer)

Dungeon crawl text-fx="corridor"

A raycast first-person view (DOOM-style) wandering a maze forever. Brick walls, warm where they run north-south and cool where they run east-west, over tiled floor and ceiling.

starry (Starry Night)

Starry night text-fx="snake"

Van Gogh-ish spirals turning over a night sky, with brush strokes streaming between them.

voronoi (moving cells)

Voronoi cells text-fx="slot"

A Voronoi diagram over drifting points, re-forming every frame.

hyperdrive (lightspeed)

Punch it text-fx="streak"

The jump to lightspeed, on a loop: the starfield stretches into streaks that are swallowed by the vanishing point, then a white flash.

tunnel (dimension tunnel)

Enter the portal text-fx="tunnel"

Fly down a neon tunnel of glowing rings and twisting rails.

blackhole

Beyond the horizon text-fx="blackhole"

Orbit an accretion disk on an elliptical flyby: dive close, roll around it, and pull away.

chrome

Liquid metal text-fx="chrome"

Liquid metal reflects moving cyan and magenta light.

plasma

High voltage text-fx="plasma"

Branching electric filaments converge on a glowing core.

stained-glass

Break the glass text-fx="stained-glass"

Shared junctions drift while the outer frame stays fixed, reshaping the colored panes.

aurora

Chase the lights text-fx="aurora"

Layered green and violet curtains ripple across the sky.

ripple

Make waves text-fx="ripple"

Caustic light dances across dark water.

hologram

System overload text-fx="hologram"

Rotating wireframe slices float above a scan grid.

supernova

Go supernova text-fx="supernova"

A fiery star pumps at 144 BPM with sharp zoom kicks and rotation.

matrix (digital rain)

Follow the code text-fx="matrix"

Green code streams fall continuously with bright heads and fading tails.

Typo'd variant (fallback check)

Typo fallback text-fx="none"

variant="SWRAM " β€” should fall back to swarm.