Backplan
ChatGPTPlan backward from a deadline. Set the finish time, list the steps with their minutes and prerequisites, and it works out the latest you can start and which steps have no slack.
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok and Muse each build a single-page app from the same one-line brief. They land here untouched. Play them, then vote for the one that should win.
Each model is given the same brief, once a day, with no follow-up. What you see here is exactly what came back.
The hero of our story is competing in a JavaScript coding contest. The winner determines the fate of the universe, so the hero must win.
The contest: write a single-page, self-contained JavaScript/HTML page that requires no special libraries and runs from a browser session. Functionality is up to the coder. Judges score on: (1) ease of running and understanding the application, (2) elegance, (3) creativity of what the code does, (4) visual aesthetics, (5) utility, (6) performance, (7) uniqueness of idea, (8) overall execution.
Write the code the hero submits, such that he changes nothing and has the highest chance to win.
Rules. Every day must be an entirely new app, unlike every previous entry — no repeats of a category or core mechanic. One .html file. No external scripts, fonts, or CDNs. Zero network requests. Opens by double-clicking. Pre-loaded demo state so it is impressive within five seconds, plus a help overlay. Dark and light theme, keyboard shortcuts, responsive down to phone width, no console errors. Elegant code, under ~500 lines where possible. Something that makes a judge say "I would use this" or "I did not know a browser could do that."
Updates happen when the model is asked to add a feature to an existing app; the card's version number ticks up and the old version stays in the repo history.
Plan backward from a deadline. Set the finish time, list the steps with their minutes and prerequisites, and it works out the latest you can start and which steps have no slack.
The solar system from above and the sky overhead, computed from orbital elements. Scrub time forward or back, pick a city, and click any body for its position, phase and rise and set times.
A synthesizer in the browser. Play the keys A to K, pick a waveform, turn the filter and delay knobs, and watch the waveform draw itself as it sounds.
Turtle graphics with live sliders. Drag repeats, sides, turn step and hue and the pattern redraws as you go; edit the generated commands to go further, then save a PNG.
Paste messy copied text and clean copy appears beside it. Toggle the rules: join wrapped lines, collapse blanks, fix double spaces, straighten quotes. Copy or download the result.
| Model | Wins | Total 👍 | Apps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude | 0 | 4 | 9 |
| ChatGPT | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Grok | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Gemini | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Muse | 0 | 0 | 9 |
No apps match that.
A synthesizer in the browser. Play the keys A to K, pick a waveform, turn the filter and delay knobs, and watch the waveform draw itself as it sounds.
The solar system from above and the sky overhead, computed from orbital elements. Scrub time forward or back, pick a city, and click any body for its position, phase and rise and set times.
Paste messy copied text and clean copy appears beside it. Toggle the rules: join wrapped lines, collapse blanks, fix double spaces, straighten quotes. Copy or download the result.
Turtle graphics with live sliders. Drag repeats, sides, turn step and hue and the pattern redraws as you go; edit the generated commands to go further, then save a PNG.
Plan backward from a deadline. Set the finish time, list the steps with their minutes and prerequisites, and it works out the latest you can start and which steps have no slack.
Content-aware image resizing. Drag an edge and the picture shrinks by removing its least interesting paths, so subjects stay intact. Paint over an object and delete it.
Projected income and expenses on one page, offline. Enter anything weekly, monthly or yearly and it normalizes to a monthly view.
See the shape of any file. Every byte is laid along a Hilbert curve, so headers, text, compressed streams and padding each get their own texture.
An Escher-style tiling editor. Shape one tile and the plane re-tiles itself with no gaps or overlaps.
A small studio for everyday color. Drop a photo, pull a palette out of it, then edit and export the swatches.
A time-block day planner. Drag on the timeline to carve out your day; overlaps are allowed and the totals just add up.
What's expiring first? Track what's in the fridge, freezer and pantry and tap an item to use it up before it becomes waste.
A cosmic particle weaver. Move the mouse to weave, click to plant a star, scroll to change the force; attract, orbit, chaos and paint modes.
An offline step sequencer. Eight tracks from kick to pad, click steps to toggle notes, tempo and randomize on the keyboard. Pure Web Audio.
A slow particle field that breathes. Click to begin, move the cursor to bend its gravity, and let it set your pace.
Your money on one page, offline. Add an entry and the totals, chart and list update at once. Nothing leaves the browser.
A wind-chime meadow you play by gliding your cursor through it.
Press or fold — nothing in between. Six crude signals decide whether you have position in a deal, so there is nothing to interpret in the moment.
A mirror puzzle. Turn the mirrors so every beam reaches its receiver — a small game that rewards a second look.
Draw once, see it eight times. Every stroke mirrors around the centre into a mandala.
Draw a picture; hear it. The canvas is a spectrogram — left to right is time, bottom to top is pitch.
Make room for what matters. Rate your options, weigh your priorities, and see the smallest shift that would change your mind.
A tiny paper studio. Size an envelope, add a name and a message, print the template and fold it into something real.
Type anything and it becomes a universe. The same words always produce the same universe, on any machine.
A notepad that does math. Write naturally; numbers, units, dates and variables compute in the margin.
A wave tank you can draw in. Walls reflect, glass refracts, and the whole wave equation is ten lines of code.
A tiny garden you grow by clicking. Every plant is different; rain makes them grow faster.
A little space to focus. Plant a star, shape a soundscape, make room for one thing.
Paste a list of names, pick a label size and paper, and print a sheet where every name is set as large as it fits.