Bela Blok — a web app for keeping score at bela
Bela Blok is an app we built for ourselves and for anyone who plays bela. Paper blocks get lost and the arithmetic tends to stall near the end of a game — so we built a block that adds up on its own, that everyone at the table sees at the same time, and that remembers who called and who fell.
What it does
One player holds the pencil and writes every deal: who called trump, what was declared, and how many points each side collected. The app applies the rules of bela — declarations settled by the highest one, bela, štiglja, passing and falling — and ends the game itself when someone reaches 501, 701 or 1001. Everyone else follows the same block on their phone in real time.
How it is built
Next.js on the front (a PWA that keeps working offline and syncs when the connection returns), NestJS and PostgreSQL behind it, WebSockets for the live score, and a separate, thoroughly tested scoring module — the arithmetic of bela has more exceptions than it first appears. It all runs in Docker on our own server.
Who it is for
For groups that play regularly: saved rosters, private games visible only to the players at the table, runs of games with a win tally, and per-player statistics — win rate, how often you called, how often you fell, and who you usually play with.
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