I built Bonsai Snip as a calm daily puzzle where everyone in the world prunes the exact same tree.
Every day, Bonsai Snip grows one tree from the date and hands it to every player on the planet. You get five snips to shape it into a bonsai, then see how your eye compared to everyone else who pruned the same starting tree. I wanted something quiet and quick that you look forward to once a day rather than a game that nags you to keep a streak alive.
Overview
Bonsai Snip started from a simple idea: what if a daily puzzle felt less like a chore and more like a small creative act? Instead of guessing a word, you are shaping a tree, and because everyone starts from the identical tree, comparing results actually means something.
The cutting mechanic is the heart of it. You only get five snips, and each one removes an entire branch and everything growing from it, so the interesting decisions are about restraint and composition rather than speed. The scoring then reflects that by looking at asymmetry, how balanced the remaining density is, and how well you opened up negative space.
I leaned hard into keeping it calm. The art has a watercolor, sumi-e feel, the animations are gentle, and there is nothing trying to hook you. No streaks, no notifications, no ads. It does one small thing each day and then gets out of your way.
At a glance
Audience: People who enjoy a short, low-pressure daily ritual like a crossword or word game, but with a calmer, more visual and artistic twist.
Built with: SwiftUI, iOS, Game Center
Project type: iPhone app
Key features
- Shape a new daily tree with five cascading snips, where each cut takes its whole subtree with it.
- Get a score from 0 to 900 across three aesthetic axes, with a breakdown of what the algorithm noticed.
- Compare your prune against the world on daily Game Center leaderboards.
- Share your finished bonsai as a clean image stamped with the date and your score.
- Play with no account, no in-app purchases, and no ads.
Highlights
Every player worldwide prunes the same algorithmically generated tree each day.
Five snips, scored on asymmetry, density balance, and negative space.
A deliberately calm, sumi-e inspired design with no streaks, ads, or notifications.
How it is built
I built Bonsai Snip as a native SwiftUI app. Each day's tree is generated deterministically from the date so it is identical for everyone, scoring runs entirely on device across three aesthetic axes, and Game Center handles the daily leaderboards.
Why it matters
Most daily games lean on streaks and notifications to pull you back. I wanted the opposite: a 90-second moment of calm with no accounts, no ads, and nothing to maintain, where the only reason to return is that you enjoyed it.