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Group of Death – WorldCup bracket predictor with shareable URLs

Group of Death – WorldCup bracket predictor with shareable URLs

by sparc24·Jun 5, 2026·6 points·5 comments
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AI Analysis

●●SolidCozyBig Brain

Stateless bracket sharing via 217-character URL encoding beats backend-dependent predictors.

Strengths
  • •URL fragment encoding preserves full bracket state in ~217 characters with versioning
  • •No login, no ads, fully client-side with localStorage persistence
  • •Calendar subscription feature that updates as fixtures get decided
Weaknesses
  • •Bracket predictors already exist (FiveThirtyEight, ESPN) with established audiences
  • •Limited to 2026 World Cup, unclear if extensible to other tournaments
Category
Gaming
Target Audience

Sports fans, World Cup followers, bracket prediction enthusiasts

Similar To

FiveThirtyEight World Cup simulator · ESPN Bracket Challenge · FIFA official predictors

Post Description

I couldn't find a nice worldcup bracket visualizer out there so ended up building one. It's nicer than the ones I saw out there. There is no login, no ads, runs client side, uses localStorage and all the state is encoded in the URL itself and you can share it.

The calendar feature is nice. I wanted to build my own schedule for the games I was interested in. There is full calendar that you can subscribe to as well, that gets updated as the fixtures get decided. I also wanted to be able to interactively change things and visualize the whole knockout stage.

All the state is in the URL fragment. It's a handrolled compact byte format. About 203 bytes, ~217 characters. The URL has the full snapshot so the link you share always renders the same brackets. It's versioned so you can change the format not break links out there.

At this point it does everything I wanted it to do for me. Might be some real howlers in there. Let me know if you spot one.

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