The HackerNoon Newsletter: How to Make A Clicker Game on the Desmos Graphing Calculator (6/13/2026)

The Desmos Graphing Calculator has long been a staple in mathematics classrooms, loved by teachers and students for its clean interface and powerful visualization capabilities. But the latest HackerNoon newsletter explores what happens when you push the tool beyond its intended purpose entirely.

The newsletter, published June 13th, 2026, features a tutorial on building a clicker game using only Desmos's graphing interface. Clicker games, those addictive incremental games where players tap to accumulate points and unlock upgrades, seem like they'd require JavaScript or a proper game engine. Instead, this guide shows how to construct one using the calculator's built-in functions, variables, and interactive sliders.

Why Desmos for Game Development?

At first glance, using a graphing calculator for games sounds like a novelty trick. But the approach reveals something interesting about how educational tools can foster computational thinking. Desmos supports variables that update based on user input, conditional logic through piecewise functions, and visual feedback through plotted graphs. These are the same building blocks that power simple games.

The tutorial leverages Desmos's onClick actions and variable expressions to track clicks, increment scores, and display progress. Players click on a point, which triggers an action that adds to a counter. The game's visual elements, like a progress bar or celebratory animation, are rendered as mathematical curves that change shape based on the score variable.

This method of thinking about games, as systems of variables and visual transformations, mirrors how game engines work under the hood. The difference is that Desmos makes these mechanics explicit and visible. Every number, every conditional branch, every visual element exists as a readable mathematical expression rather than hidden code.

The Technical Breakdown

Building a clicker game in Desmos requires understanding a few key concepts:

State management through variables. The game tracks score, click count, and unlock thresholds using Desmos variables. Each variable updates when certain conditions are met, creating a simple but functional game state.

Conditional logic with piecewise functions. Desmos doesn't have if/else statements in the traditional sense, but piecewise functions can simulate branching behavior. The game uses these to determine which upgrades are available, when animations trigger, and how the visual display changes.

Visual feedback as mathematical curves. The game's graphics are plots of functions that respond to variable changes. A progress bar might be a rectangle whose width depends on the score. Unlockable upgrades could be new curves that appear once certain thresholds are reached.

User interaction through points and sliders. Desmos allows users to click and drag points, which the game repurposes as input mechanisms. Sliders provide another way for players to interact, adjusting parameters in real time.

The result is a game that runs entirely within the browser, requires no programming knowledge beyond basic algebra, and demonstrates mathematical concepts in an engaging way.

Educational Value Beyond the Novelty

The HackerNoon newsletter positions this tutorial as more than a fun project. It highlights how game design can teach mathematical thinking, and conversely, how mathematical tools can introduce programming concepts without the friction of learning syntax.

Students who build games in Desmos encounter variables, conditionals, loops (through recursive expressions), and event handling, all within a familiar interface. Teachers can use these projects to show that math isn't just about solving equations. It's a language for describing systems, behaviors, and interactive experiences.

The Desmos platform itself has been expanding its capabilities. The calculator now supports actions, animations, and more complex interactivity than its earlier versions. This evolution has made it possible for creative users to build surprisingly sophisticated projects.

The HackerNoon Newsletter Approach

This particular newsletter is part of HackerNoon's daily digest, which curates top homepage stories and delivers them to subscribers. The newsletter format allows readers to discover content they might otherwise miss, especially tutorials and guides that don't immediately trend on social media.

The newsletter also links to related stories, connecting the Desmos tutorial to broader conversations about creative coding, educational technology, and unconventional uses of software tools. This curation helps readers see patterns across different projects and domains.

For those interested in exploring Desmos's game development potential, the official Desmos Graphing Calculator is free to use in any modern browser. The platform also offers a Desmos Geometry tool and resources for classroom activities that showcase the calculator's versatility.

What This Says About Tool Culture

Stories like this reflect a broader trend of users finding unexpected uses for software tools. The Desmos graphing calculator was designed for mathematics education, but its flexibility has attracted a community of creative builders who push it in directions the original developers never anticipated.

This pattern repeats across software. Spreadsheets become game engines. Chatbots become coding assistants. Image editors become design platforms. The most interesting uses of software often come from users who refuse to accept the boundaries of a tool's intended purpose.

The HackerNoon newsletter captures this spirit of exploration. By featuring a clicker game tutorial alongside more traditional tech news, it suggests that innovation isn't always about new tools. Sometimes it's about seeing familiar tools in unfamiliar ways.

The full newsletter is available on HackerNoon, where readers can subscribe to receive daily stories about technology, programming, and creative coding projects.