How to Create an Interactive Minigame with CSS

Catch-A-BabyYoda Minigame

The arcade-style game is a beloved favorite among players of all ages. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how to create your own “Catch A Baby Yoda” minigame using HTML + CSS only. With a little bit of code plus your creativity, you’ll be on your way to crafting a fun and addictive game that users will love. So let’s get started!

How to Create an Interactive Minigame with CSS checkbox - pure html and css only - Modified Catch A Mole Game

Step 1: Set Up the HTML Structure

Let’s kick this off by creating a beautiful 3 x 3 grid layout in the HTML. The <li> elements represent each of our circular targets. To enable click event detection, we’ll include an <input type="checkbox"> element within each list item.

Here’s the example for the HTML code:

<div class="uiPencil_minigame">
  <ul>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
    <li><input type="checkbox"></li>
  </ul>
</div>

CSS (Step 1)

/*Customize your main background*/
body{
    background: linear-gradient(0deg, rgba(34,193,195,1) 0%, rgba(122,189,190,1) 49%, rgba(253,187,45,1) 100%);
	height: 100vh;
	margin: 0;
	padding: 0;
	display: flex;
	justify-content: center;
	align-items: center;
	text-align: center;
}

/*To create a 3 x 3 grid layout*/
.uiPencil_minigame {
    display: grid;
	grid-template-columns: 1fr 1fr 1fr;
	gap: 20px;
}

/*Customize your list item*/
li {
   position: relative;
   list-style: none;
   height: 150px;
   width: 150px;
   border-radius: 50%;
   box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 #ffffff, inset 10px 0 0px 10px rgba(219, 219, 219, 0.42);
}

You can style anything you like for the background and the list item

Step 2: Style the Hitting Target

Style the hitting area

add width and height properties to the checkbox element to define hitting area
add appearance: none; to remove the default checkbox styling
add @keyframes target_animate animation for a popping-out effect

/*Customize your animation*/
@keyframes target_animate {
	0% {
	  top: 0
	}
	30% {
	  top: 50%
	}
	100% {
	  top: 0
	}
}

/*Style your hitting area*/
input[type=checkbox] {
  position: absolute;
  display: block;
  margin: 0 auto;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  width: 60px;
  height: 50px;
  border-radius: 50%;
  cursor: crosshair;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
     -moz-appearance: none;
          appearance: none;
  animation: target_animate infinite alternate ease-in-out;
  z-index: 1;
}

Style your main character

In this example, we’ll be using the box-shadow CSS property to create a pixelated Baby Yoda image as our main character. To ensure the Baby Yoda character is fall on the hitting area, Let’s insert the code within input[type=checkbox]:before.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to create your own pixelated art, you can check out our previous tutorial: https://uipencil.com/2023/03/31/css-shadow-art-how-to-craft-a-pixelated-masterpiece/

/*Customize your main character*/
input[type=checkbox]:before {
  content: "";
  display: block;
  background-color: black;
  height: 50%;
  width: 6px;
  position: absolute;
  left: -80%;
  right: 0;
  top: 0;
  margin: 0 auto;
  z-index: -1;
  width: 1px;
  height: 1px;
  bottom: 15px;
  box-shadow: 26px 1px #35c161, 0 2px #35c161, 1px 2px #35c161, 25px 2px #35c161, 26px 2px #35c161, 27px 2px #35c161, 0 3px #35c161, 1px 3px #35c161, 2px 3px #35c161, 24px 3px #35c161, 25px 3px #35c161, 26px 3px #35c161, 27px 3px #35c161, 1px 4px #ffa3bf, 2px 4px #35c161, 3px 4px #35c161, 23px 4px #35c161, 24px 4px #35c161, 25px 4px #ffa3bf, 26px 4px #35c161, 27px 4px #35c161, 1px 5px #35c161, 2px 5px #ffa3bf, 3px 5px #ffbdd1, 4px 5px #35c161, 5px 5px #35c161, 6px 5px #35c161, 7px 5px #35c161, 8px 5px #35c161, 9px 5px #35c161, 10px 5px #35c161, 11px 5px #35c161, 12px 5px #35c161, 13px 5px #35c161, 14px 5px #35c161, 15px 5px #35c161, 16px 5px #35c161, 17px 5px #35c161, 18px 5px #35c161, 19px 5px #35c161, 20px 5px #35c161, 21px 5px #35c161, 22px 5px #35c161, 23px 5px #ffbdd1, 24px 5px #ffa3bf, 25px 5px #35c161, 26px 5px #35c161, 27px 5px #35c161, 1px 6px #35c161, 2px 6px #ffbdd1, 3px 6px #ffa3bf, 4px 6px #ffbdd1, 5px 6px #35c161, 6px 6px #292929, 7px 6px #292929, 8px 6px #292929, 9px 6px #35c161, 10px 6px #35c161, 11px 6px #35c161, 12px 6px #35c161, 13px 6px #35c161, 14px 6px #35c161, 15px 6px #35c161, 16px 6px #292929, 17px 6px #292929, 18px 6px #292929, 19px 6px #35c161, 20px 6px #35c161, 21px 6px #35c161, 22px 6px #ffbdd1, 23px 6px #ffa3bf, 24px 6px #ffbdd1, 25px 6px #35c161, 26px 6px #35c161, 1px 7px #35c161, 2px 7px #35c161, 3px 7px #ffbdd1, 4px 7px #ffa3bf, 5px 7px #35c161, 6px 7px #35c161, 7px 7px #35c161, 8px 7px #35c161, 9px 7px #35c161, 10px 7px #35c161, 11px 7px #35c161, 12px 7px #35c161, 13px 7px #35c161, 14px 7px #35c161, 15px 7px #35c161, 16px 7px #35c161, 17px 7px #35c161, 18px 7px #35c161, 19px 7px #35c161, 20px 7px #35c161, 21px 7px #35c161, 22px 7px #ffa3bf, 23px 7px #ffbdd1, 24px 7px #35c161, 25px 7px #35c161, 2px 8px #35c161, 3px 8px #35c161, 4px 8px #35c161, 5px 8px #35c161, 6px 8px #35c161, 7px 8px #000000, 8px 8px #000000, 9px 8px #000000, 10px 8px #35c161, 11px 8px #35c161, 12px 8px #35c161, 13px 8px #35c161, 14px 8px #35c161, 15px 8px #35c161, 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#9c9c9c, 0 15px #878787, 1px 15px #878787, 2px 15px #35c161, 3px 15px #878787, 4px 15px #303030, 5px 15px #303030, 6px 15px #9e6f00, 7px 15px #9e6f00, 8px 15px #9e6f00, 9px 15px #9e6f00, 10px 15px #9e6f00, 11px 15px #9e6f00, 12px 15px #9e6f00, 13px 15px #9e6f00, 14px 15px #9e6f00, 15px 15px #9e6f00, 16px 15px #9e6f00, 17px 15px #9e6f00, 18px 15px #9e6f00, 19px 15px #9e6f00, 20px 15px #9e6f00, 21px 15px #9e6f00, 22px 15px #9e6f00, 23px 15px #303030, 24px 15px #303030, 25px 15px #303030, 26px 15px #878787, 27px 15px #9c9c9c, 0 16px #878787, 1px 16px #878787, 2px 16px #35c161, 3px 16px #9e6f00, 4px 16px #9e6f00, 5px 16px #ffc231, 6px 16px #9e6f00, 7px 16px #9e6f00, 8px 16px #9e6f00, 9px 16px #9e6f00, 10px 16px #9e6f00, 11px 16px #ffc231, 12px 16px #ffc231, 13px 16px #ffc231, 14px 16px #9e6f00, 15px 16px #9e6f00, 16px 16px #9e6f00, 17px 16px #9e6f00, 18px 16px #9e6f00, 19px 16px #35c161, 20px 16px #9e6f00, 21px 16px #9e6f00, 22px 16px #9e6f00, 23px 16px #9e6f00, 24px 16px #303030, 25px 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23px 18px #e3e3e3, 24px 18px #e3e3e3, 25px 18px #9c9c9c, 26px 18px #9c9c9c, 27px 18px #9c9c9c, 0 19px #9c9c9c, 1px 19px #9c9c9c, 2px 19px #9c9c9c, 3px 19px #9c9c9c, 4px 19px #9c9c9c, 5px 19px #9c9c9c, 6px 19px #9c9c9c, 7px 19px #9c9c9c, 8px 19px #9c9c9c, 9px 19px #9c9c9c, 10px 19px #9c9c9c, 11px 19px #9c9c9c, 12px 19px #9c9c9c, 13px 19px #9c9c9c, 14px 19px #9c9c9c, 15px 19px #9c9c9c, 16px 19px #9c9c9c, 17px 19px #9c9c9c, 18px 19px #9c9c9c, 19px 19px #9c9c9c, 20px 19px #9c9c9c, 21px 19px #9c9c9c, 22px 19px #9c9c9c, 23px 19px #9c9c9c, 24px 19px #9c9c9c, 25px 19px #9c9c9c, 26px 19px #9c9c9c, 27px 19px #9c9c9c, 0 20px #9c9c9c, 1px 20px #9c9c9c, 2px 20px #9c9c9c, 3px 20px #9c9c9c, 4px 20px #9c9c9c, 5px 20px #9c9c9c, 6px 20px #e3e3e3, 7px 20px #9c9c9c, 8px 20px #9c9c9c, 9px 20px #9c9c9c, 10px 20px #9c9c9c, 11px 20px #e3e3e3, 12px 20px #9c9c9c, 13px 20px #9c9c9c, 14px 20px #9c9c9c, 15px 20px #9c9c9c, 16px 20px #e3e3e3, 17px 20px #9c9c9c, 18px 20px #9c9c9c, 19px 20px #9c9c9c, 20px 20px #9c9c9c, 21px 20px #9c9c9c, 22px 20px #9c9c9c, 23px 20px #9c9c9c, 24px 20px #9c9c9c, 25px 20px #9c9c9c, 26px 20px #9c9c9c, 27px 20px #9c9c9c, 0 21px #9c9c9c, 1px 21px #9c9c9c, 2px 21px #9c9c9c, 3px 21px #9c9c9c, 4px 21px #9c9c9c, 5px 21px #e3e3e3, 6px 21px #e3e3e3, 7px 21px #e3e3e3, 8px 21px #9c9c9c, 9px 21px #9c9c9c, 10px 21px #e3e3e3, 11px 21px #e3e3e3, 12px 21px #e3e3e3, 13px 21px #9c9c9c, 14px 21px #9c9c9c, 15px 21px #e3e3e3, 16px 21px #e3e3e3, 17px 21px #e3e3e3, 18px 21px #9c9c9c, 19px 21px #9c9c9c, 20px 21px #9c9c9c, 21px 21px #9c9c9c, 22px 21px #9c9c9c, 23px 21px #9c9c9c, 24px 21px #9c9c9c, 25px 21px #9c9c9c, 26px 21px #9c9c9c, 27px 21px #9c9c9c, 1px 22px #9c9c9c, 2px 22px #9c9c9c, 3px 22px #9c9c9c, 4px 22px #9c9c9c, 5px 22px #9c9c9c, 6px 22px #e3e3e3, 7px 22px #9c9c9c, 8px 22px #9c9c9c, 9px 22px #9c9c9c, 10px 22px #9c9c9c, 11px 22px #e3e3e3, 12px 22px #9c9c9c, 13px 22px #9c9c9c, 14px 22px #9c9c9c, 15px 22px #9c9c9c, 16px 22px #e3e3e3, 17px 22px #9c9c9c, 18px 22px #9c9c9c, 19px 22px #9c9c9c, 20px 22px #9c9c9c, 21px 22px #9c9c9c, 22px 22px #9c9c9c, 23px 22px #9c9c9c, 24px 22px #9c9c9c, 25px 22px #9c9c9c, 26px 22px #9c9c9c, 27px 22px #9c9c9c, 1px 23px #9c9c9c, 2px 23px #9c9c9c, 3px 23px #9c9c9c, 4px 23px #9c9c9c, 5px 23px #9c9c9c, 6px 23px #9c9c9c, 7px 23px #9c9c9c, 8px 23px #9c9c9c, 9px 23px #9c9c9c, 10px 23px #9c9c9c, 11px 23px #9c9c9c, 12px 23px #9c9c9c, 13px 23px #9c9c9c, 14px 23px #9c9c9c, 15px 23px #9c9c9c, 16px 23px #9c9c9c, 17px 23px #9c9c9c, 18px 23px #9c9c9c, 19px 23px #9c9c9c, 20px 23px #9c9c9c, 21px 23px #9c9c9c, 22px 23px #9c9c9c, 23px 23px #9c9c9c, 24px 23px #9c9c9c, 25px 23px #9c9c9c, 26px 23px #9c9c9c, 2px 24px #9c9c9c, 3px 24px #9c9c9c, 4px 24px #9c9c9c, 5px 24px #9c9c9c, 6px 24px #9c9c9c, 7px 24px #9c9c9c, 8px 24px #9c9c9c, 9px 24px #9c9c9c, 10px 24px #9c9c9c, 11px 24px #9c9c9c, 12px 24px #9c9c9c, 13px 24px #9c9c9c, 14px 24px #9c9c9c, 15px 24px #9c9c9c, 16px 24px #9c9c9c, 17px 24px #9c9c9c, 18px 24px #9c9c9c, 19px 24px #9c9c9c, 20px 24px #9c9c9c, 21px 24px #9c9c9c, 22px 24px #9c9c9c, 23px 24px #9c9c9c, 24px 24px #9c9c9c, 25px 24px #9c9c9c, 3px 25px #9c9c9c, 4px 25px #9c9c9c, 5px 25px #9c9c9c, 6px 25px #9c9c9c, 7px 25px #9c9c9c, 8px 25px #9c9c9c, 9px 25px #9c9c9c, 10px 25px #9c9c9c, 11px 25px #9c9c9c, 12px 25px #9c9c9c, 13px 25px #9c9c9c, 14px 25px #9c9c9c, 15px 25px #9c9c9c, 16px 25px #9c9c9c, 17px 25px #9c9c9c, 18px 25px #9c9c9c, 19px 25px #9c9c9c, 20px 25px #9c9c9c, 21px 25px #9c9c9c, 22px 25px #9c9c9c, 23px 25px #9c9c9c, 24px 25px #9c9c9c, 4px 26px #9c9c9c, 5px 26px #9c9c9c, 6px 26px #9c9c9c, 7px 26px #9c9c9c, 8px 26px #9c9c9c, 9px 26px #9c9c9c, 10px 26px #9c9c9c, 11px 26px #9c9c9c, 12px 26px #9c9c9c, 13px 26px #9c9c9c, 14px 26px #9c9c9c, 15px 26px #9c9c9c, 16px 26px #9c9c9c, 17px 26px #9c9c9c, 18px 26px #9c9c9c, 19px 26px #9c9c9c, 20px 26px #9c9c9c, 21px 26px #9c9c9c, 22px 26px #9c9c9c;
  transform: scale(2);
}

Step 3: Style the Cover

To create the feeling that our Baby Yoda character is popping out of its container, style the li::before with a background that covers the bottom half of the list item.

/*Style the cover*/
li::before {
  content: "";
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 0;
  left: 0;
  right: 0;
  top: 50%;
  background-color: #2c2c2c;
  box-shadow: inset 10px -5px 0px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.42);
  border-radius: 0 0 50% 50%;
  z-index: 2;
}

Step 4: Define Random Number for Animation Duration

In this step, we’ll assign a animation duration to each item. You can define different durations for your animation by either hardcoding a random number or using a CSS preprocessor (ie: SCSS) to generate one.

SCSS:

li{
   @for $i from 1 through 9 {
		$speed: random() + 0.3 + 's' ;

		&:nth-child(#{$i}) {
			input {
				animation-duration: #{$speed};
			}
		}
	}
}

In this example, we set a minimum value of 0.3s to prevent the animation from being too fast.

CSS:

li:nth-child(1) input {
  animation-duration: 0.87s;
}
li:nth-child(2) input {
  animation-duration: 0.6s;
}
li:nth-child(3) input {
  animation-duration: 1.2s;
}
li:nth-child(4) input {
  animation-duration: 1.1s;
}
li:nth-child(5) input {
  animation-duration: 1.3s;
}
li:nth-child(6) input {
  animation-duration: 0.7s;
}
li:nth-child(7) input {
  animation-duration: 0.4s;
}
li:nth-child(8) input {
  animation-duration: 1.5s;
}
li:nth-child(9) input {
  animation-duration: 1.0s;
}

Step 5: Styled the “checked” effect

In the final step, we’ll style the ‘:checked‘ effect that occurs once your main character gets caught (when the checkbox is checked). Additionally, we need to style the input[type=checkbox]:focus to remove any default browser styling that might be applied during the focus state.

/*Remove the animation*/
/*Style the "checked" effect*/
input[type=checkbox]:checked {
  pointer-events: none;
  animation: none;
  border: 4px solid #e6b031;
  height: 70px;
  width: 70px;
}

/*Customize the text effect for "checked"*/
input[type=checkbox]:checked:after {
  content: "Gotcha!";
  font-size: 18px;
  background: #e6b031;
  line-height: 20px;
  font-weight: bold;
  margin-top: 50px;
  position: absolute;
}

/*Remove browser default styling */
input[type=checkbox]:focus {
  outline: none;
  -webkit-appearance: none;
     -moz-appearance: none;
          appearance: none;
}

Congratulations! you’ve completed the “Catch A Baby Yoda Minigame” tutorial. For the full version, please check out the link below to see the demo in action. Now that you’ve learned how to create this game, you can start building your own game with the skills you’ve acquired.

Click me for demo

Please leave a comment and let me know if you found this article helpful or have any questions. And don’t forget to share this article with your friends or colleagues who might find it useful. Good luck and happy coding!

How to Create an Interactive Minigame with CSS

Catch-A-BabyYoda Minigame

Step 1: Set Up the HTML Structure

Step 2: Style the Hitting Target

Style the hitting area

Style your main character

Step 3: Style the Cover

Step 4: Define Random Number for Animation Duration

Step 5: Styled the “checked” effect

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