chopsticks

Chopsticks

A browser implementation of the hand game Chopsticks. Play against an AI opponent or challenge a friend online in real time.

How to Play

Each player starts with one finger raised on each hand. On your turn you can:

• Attack drag one of your hands onto an opponent’s hand. Their finger count increases by yours. A hand that reaches exactly 5 is eliminated.
• Split drag one of your own hands onto your other hand to preview a redistribution, then click Split to confirm. You cannot split into the same arrangement you already have.

Eliminate both of your opponent’s hands to win.

Features

• Single-player vs AI with three difficulty levels
• Online multiplayer via shareable room codes
• Drag-and-drop controls with live move preview

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 16 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript 5
Multiplayer server	.NET 9, ASP.NET Core, SignalR
Tests	Vitest

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• .NET 9 SDK (multiplayer only)

Single-player

npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

Multiplayer (local)

Start the SignalR server in one terminal:

cd server && dotnet run

In another terminal, set the server URL and start the frontend:

# .env.local
NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL=http://localhost:5000

npm run dev

The server runs on port 5000 by default. The frontend falls back to http://localhost:5000 if NEXT_PUBLIC_SERVER_URL is not set.

Project Structure

app/                  # Next.js App Router pages
components/           # React components (GameBoard, Hand, modals, online/)
lib/
  ai/                 # Bot strategy (bots.ts) and minimax (minimax.ts)
  game/               # Pure game logic, types, constants, tests
  hooks/              # useGame, useDragDrop, useOnlineGame
server/               # .NET SignalR server (GameHub, RoomManager, GameLogic)

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