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Summary: A two-player, split-screen browser game in which learners sort falling nouns into der, die or das within 30 seconds. Learners and teachers can also create their own topics without logging in.
Live prototype: der-die-das-duel.lovable.app
Skills: CSCL · Learning Experience Design · Rapid Prototyping
Tools: Lovable
My role: Concept, prompting and iteration. I built the prototype with Lovable, without writing code, after 2 to 3 rounds of feedback. (May 10 - 14, 2026)
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German noun genders are largely arbitrary, so learners usually have to memorize each article together with its noun, and they often practice alone with little feedback. [Add who your target learners are (level, context) and what you observed or read that motivated this project.]
A fast, face-to-face duel on one device. Two players tap falling nouns into colour-coded article buckets while a 30-second timer runs. The round ends with a review of every answer, so mistakes become immediate feedback. It can be played between students or friends, and a teacher can use it as a classroom ice-breaker or engagement activity to refresh the articles.
| Decision | What it does | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 30-second rounds | Short, time-limited rounds | Sufficient time to pace and play with min. 10 vocabularies |
| Two players, one device | Split screen with Player 1 rotated; phone/tablet held landscape | Turns solo drilling into a social, face-to-face activity (CSCL) |
| Colour-coded buckets | Blue, red and green for the three articles | Intuitive and consistent visual cue as in textbook |
| Tap to sort falling nouns | Players tap a noun and assign it to a bucket | Low-effort interaction that supports a fast pace |
| End-of-round review | Lists correct and incorrect answers with the correct article | Provides immediate corrective feedback |
| Create your own topics, no login | Anyone can add a topic with nouns and articles; community topics are visible to all | Lets teachers and peers tailor vocabulary; building a topic is itself a review activity; no login lowers the barrier |
| Topic slots that expire | Maximum 5 topics; a topic unplayed for 60 days is removed | Keeps the shared topic list fresh and manageable |
| Sound and music | Audio plays during the round | Adds energy to the duel |
Homepage
Get started by choosing the Topic and Number of Nouns to play with
Gameplay
Two players sort nouns at the same time on a split screen with a shared 30-second timer.
Round review
The end screen shows the winner and lists each player's correct and incorrect answers.
Create your own topic
Teachers and learners add their own nouns and articles, then play with peers or students.
I described the game to Lovable in prompts, reviewed the result and refined it over 2 to 3 rounds of feedback. I am not a developer, so this let me put a working version in front of classmates quickly. The next question is whether it helps learners and teachers, which needs testing as a classroom activity.
Informal feedback so far: when I presented the game in class, classmates were enthusiastic and asked whether vocabulary from a textbook could be uploaded, to make it easier to learn and play with the articles.
Planned evaluation