$ cd ~/projects/symmetric-pandemic
Symmetric Pandemic
A seeded deck shuffler that lets two teams play the same game of Pandemic head to head.
$ cat README.md
About 13 years ago we wanted to turn Pandemic into a competition: if two teams play with the same deck, they’re essentially playing the same game. A simple seed made the shuffle repeatable across devices.
My first vibe-coded project. When I rebuilt it in 2025, it was the first time I really tried to “vibe” a project from the start. The original code still existed: a static jQuery page built for a 2012 iPod Touch screen. Instead of porting it line by line, I loosely described what I wanted and let Claude Code build it. In a couple of hours it was playable again, now a React and TypeScript app with seeded shuffles, a game log, shareable game URLs and offline support. I fixed a few bugs along the way, with and without Claude, and Gemini made the pandemic-ridden city artwork.
The one thing I didn’t love: Claude rewrote the seed logic. It’s better than mine ever was, but the legendary seed 666 doesn’t annihilate you anymore.
The whole story is in the Dew Drop below.