Solo dev who built a Pokemon TCG sim — hi PH

  Hi everyone — Arinc here, longtime PH lurker, first time posting.

  I'm a solo developer and the thing I've been pouring evenings into is PackRip (https://packrip.co), a free browser simulator for opening vintage Pokemon TCG booster packs. WotC through HGSS — 47 sets, the full 1999-2011 run. Mobile-first because ~86% of the people who found it organically are on phones.

  Tech-wise it's React 19 + TypeScript + Vite + Tailwind 4, Zustand for state, prerendered SEO pages on Cloudflare Pages. No backend; everything's localStorage so anyone can rip a pack in under a second from a cold load.

  Why I built it: I had a Base Set starter deck as a kid in Turkey and never owned a single holo. This is the closure project. Free forever, tip jar funded, no ads on the gameplay path.

  What I'd love to learn from this community: how did you find your first 100 true users — not visitors, but people who came back the next day? That's the metric I'm stuck on.