Talent Acquisition Manager Volodymyr Andreev, together with Senior DevOps Engineer Kyrylo Skobylko, created a digital analogue of the popular backyard pastime. The project also involved the artificial intelligence Claude, which helped bring the beloved classic to an online format.
Talent Acquisition Manager Volodymyr Andreev, together with Senior DevOps Engineer Kyrylo Skobylko, created a digital analogue of the popular backyard pastime. The project also involved the artificial intelligence Claude, which helped bring the beloved classic to an online format.
"The childhood game that was played in every yard is now on your smartphones and on your monitors. Gather a gang of four people, follow the link, and cut into a square. Only one should remain," shared Volodymyr Andreev on his LinkedIn.
The authors preserved the main excitement of yard competitions, adapting the mechanics to screen devices.
Four players: each has their own area, divided into four separate sectors.
Secret choice: while the ball is in the opponent's possession, the player must secretly choose the sector they will stand in. If they don't make it to the end of the countdown, the player ends up "nowhere" and cannot catch the ball.
Blind shot: the participant with the ball makes one shot into any sector of the opponent's zone.
The logic of interception: if the player was standing in the exact sector where the ball was hit, he successfully catches it without any losses. If he doesn't guess correctly, a missed point is scored. Regardless of the result, the ball goes to him.
Elimination game: the participant who reaches the limit of missed balls is eliminated, and his zone "extinguishes". The winner, who remains last, receives the title of "King of the Square".
The project is based on classic rules: in real life, the field was drawn with chalk on the asphalt, the serve was made with hands from the center, and then the game was played only with feet, knees, chest and head. Before starting a digital match, users can customize the details of the rules to suit the customs of their own playground. Currently, players have access to online game modes, training with bots and playground statistics.
The developers also added a special nostalgic detail — an "addon for oldies." Instead of the usual session exit, if the host leaves the game prematurely, a message appears on the screen that his "mom called him home and he took the ball."
In the comments under the post, users have already appreciated the idea and suggested that the next stage be to hold a full-fledged offline championship from the yard "Square".
The authors promise to soon release full-fledged applications for iOS and Android.
