🦊 Reunion Clone 🦔

A delightful crossword-style word puzzle game where you reunite two adorable animals by solving interconnected words. Built with pure vanilla JavaScript—no build tools, no dependencies, just good old-fashioned web development!

🎮 Play it now!

Or download and open index.html locally in your browser—no server required!

🎮 About

This project is a loving recreation of Merriam-Webster's Reunion game, built as an experiment to explore modern AI-assisted development workflows. We used Google's Gemini Pro 3 and the new Antigravity IDE to develop this game, pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI pair programming.

Inspiration

The original Reunion game by Merriam-Webster combines the best parts of crossword puzzles and Wordle-style feedback. We loved the concept so much that we wanted to recreate it from scratch, adding our own touches along the way.

✨ Features

Core Gameplay

• Drag-and-Drop Interface - Smooth, intuitive tile movement with support for both mouse and touch events
• Smart Color Feedback - Wordle-style green/yellow system to guide your solving:
  • 🟩 Green: Correct letter in the correct position
  • 🟨 Yellow: Letter belongs in that row OR column, but wrong spot
• Animal Reunion - Guide the fox and hedgehog together by solving all the words
• Dynamic Puzzle Generation - Every puzzle is procedurally generated using a comprehensive Scrabble dictionary
• Win Detection - All tiles must be correct AND animals must be adjacent/diagonal

Quality of Life

• Auto-Save - Your progress is saved automatically to localStorage after every move
• Statistics Tracking - Keep track of your performance:
  • Average moves per puzzle
  • Total puzzles solved
  • Current winning streak
• Star Rating System - Earn 1-3 stars based on move efficiency:
  • ⭐⭐⭐ Under 20 moves
  • ⭐⭐ Under 30 moves
  • ⭐ 30+ moves
• Share Results - Share your victory with friends

Customization

• Dark Mode - Switch between classic green/yellow and stylish blue/purple/red color schemes
• Sound Effects - Procedurally generated audio feedback using Web Audio API:
  • Tile movement sounds
  • Correct letter placement
  • Word completion fanfare
  • Victory celebration
  • Error feedback
• Reset Stats - Start fresh whenever you want

Polish

• Responsive Design - Scales beautifully from mobile to desktop
• No External Dependencies - Runs entirely in the browser, no server needed
• Fast Load Times - Minimal footprint, maximum fun
• Smooth Animations - CSS transitions for a polished feel

🏗️ Code Structure

This project is organized into clean, modular classes that each handle a specific responsibility:

Core Classes

ReunionGame (script.js)

The main game controller and orchestrator.

• Manages game state (tiles, moves, solution grid)
• Coordinates between all other components
• Handles game lifecycle (init, load, save, win conditions)
• Uses localStorage for state persistence
• Implements dark mode theming

Key Methods:

• init() - Loads dictionary and initializes game
• loadLevel() - Generates a new puzzle
• attemptMove() - Handles tile placement logic
• updateColors() - Applies color feedback to tiles
• handleWin() - Triggers win sequence and saves stats

PuzzleGenerator (puzzle_generator.js)

Procedural puzzle generation engine.

• Loads 80,000+ word Scrabble dictionary from GitHub on init
• Organizes words by length (3-7 letters) in Map for efficient lookup
• Uses backtracking algorithm to generate valid puzzle grids
• Places animals (fox/hedgehog) and validates grid constraints
• Ensures all horizontal and vertical words are valid

Algorithm Highlights:

• Smart word selection with backtracking
• Conflict resolution for intersecting words
• Validation of all word combinations

GameRules (game_rules.js)

Static utility class for game logic.

• Win Condition Logic: All tiles correct + animals adjacent/diagonal
• Color Calculation: Green/yellow tiles using letter budget system (similar to Wordle)
• Stats Tracking: Moves, streak, solved count
• Word Completion Detection: Checks if entire rows/columns are solved

Key Methods:

• checkWin(tiles, solutionGrid) - Validates victory conditions
• calculateColors(tiles, solutionGrid) - Wordle-style feedback system
• calculateStars(moves) - Star rating based on efficiency
• saveStats() / getStats() - Persistent statistics

InputHandler (input_handler.js)

Drag-and-drop interaction manager.

• Handles both mouse events (dragstart/drop) and touch events
• Prevents dragging locked (correct) tiles
• Calculates drop targets (tiles or slots)
• Custom drag image for better UX
• Smart swap logic when dropping on occupied tiles

SoundManager (sound_manager.js)

Procedural audio generation.

• Uses Web Audio API for sound generation (no external audio files!)
• Distinct sounds for different game events:
  • playTileMove() - Subtle movement feedback
  • playCorrect() - Single letter correct
  • playWordComplete() - Entire word solved
  • playWin() - Victory fanfare
  • playError() - Invalid move
• User preference saved to localStorage

Game Grid Structure

The puzzle uses a carefully designed 7×5 grid:

• 7 rows × 5 columns
• 6 fixed "holes" at positions (1,1), (1,3), (3,1), (3,3), (5,1), (5,3)
• Animal start positions: Fox at (0,2), Hedgehog at (6,2)
• Word configuration:
  • 4 horizontal words (rows 0, 2, 4, 6)
  • 3 vertical words (columns 0, 2, 4)

This creates an elegant crossword-style grid where animals and holes break up the words naturally.

State Management

All game state is persisted to localStorage for seamless resume:

• reunion_current_puzzle - Current puzzle state

  • Solution grid
  • Tile positions
  • Move count
  • Automatically restored on page load

• reunion_stats - Player statistics

  • Solved count
  • Total moves across all games
  • Current winning streak

• reunion_dark_mode - Theme preference

• soundEnabled - Audio preference

🛠️ Technology Stack

• Pure Vanilla JavaScript (ES6 classes)
• CSS Custom Properties for responsive design
• Web Audio API for runtime sound generation
• LocalStorage API for persistence
• No build process, bundlers, or transpilation
• No external dependencies or frameworks

🚀 Getting Started

1. Clone this repository
2. Open index.html in your favorite modern browser
3. Start solving puzzles!

That's it. No npm install, no build step, no configuration. Just pure web development.

🎯 Game Rules

1. Drag letters to form valid words in every row and column
2. Green tiles mean the letter is correct and in the right position (these become locked)
3. Yellow tiles mean the letter belongs somewhere in that row OR column
4. Animals and holes act as word breakers in the grid
5. Win condition: Solve all words AND move the fox and hedgehog next to each other (adjacent or diagonal)

🎨 Code Style

This project follows clean, readable JavaScript practices:

• Pure vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks)
• Class-based architecture for clear separation of concerns
• Minimal comments (code should be self-documenting)
• No build tooling - what you see is what runs
• CSS custom properties for maintainable styling
• Progressive enhancement approach

📝 Development Notes

This project was built as an experiment in AI-assisted development using Gemini Pro 3 and the Antigravity IDE. The vibe was fairly casual and exploratory—we didn't obsess over perfection but instead focused on making rapid progress and getting to a working game quickly.

The result? We went from concept to a fully playable game with sound effects, dark mode, statistics, and smooth gameplay in record time. It's a testament to what's possible when you embrace the "move fast and build things" mentality with modern AI tools.

Key learnings:

• AI pair programming can dramatically accelerate development velocity
• Sometimes "good enough" is actually great—shipped beats perfect
• Rapid iteration leads to a finished product faster than meticulous planning
• Vanilla JavaScript remains powerful and elegant for straightforward projects
• The best way to learn new tools (like Gemini Pro 3 & Antigravity) is to just build something

🤝 Contributing

Feel free to fork this project and make it your own! Some ideas for enhancements:

• Daily puzzle mode with shareable results
• Difficulty levels (different grid sizes)
• Hint system
• Multiplayer/competitive mode
• Additional themes and customization
• Accessibility improvements

📄 License

This is a learning project inspired by Merriam-Webster's Reunion. Built for educational purposes and as an exploration of AI-assisted development.

🙏 Credits

• Original game concept: Merriam-Webster's Reunion
• Dictionary source: Scrabble word list
• Built with: Google Gemini Pro 3 & Antigravity IDE
• Font: Outfit by Google Fonts

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Made with ❤️ and a lot of AI assistance. Now go reunite those animals! 🦊🦔