How to scale a daily puzzle game on Vercel using serverless and edge functions

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Hey everyone,

I’ve been experimenting with deploying small interactive projects on Vercel, and recently I built a lightweight version of the letter boxed rules word puzzle game as a side project.

Project Goals

The goal was pretty simple:

  • Fast load times
  • Minimal UI (focused on gameplay)
  • Smooth client-side interactions without heavy dependencies

I deployed it using Vercel mainly to take advantage of its instant deployments and global edge network, and honestly, the DX has been great so far. The app feels super responsive, especially for a puzzle-based experience.

Future Roadmap

Right now, the game logic runs fully on the frontend, but I’m thinking about expanding it with:

  • Daily puzzle generation (maybe using serverless functions)
  • Storing user streaks or stats
  • Possibly integrating AI to suggest hints or validate word chains

Questions for the Community

Since the Vercel community is full of people building really cool stuff, I’d love to get your thoughts:

  1. Would you recommend keeping this fully client-side, or moving some logic to edge or serverless functions?
  2. Any best practices for scaling something like a daily puzzle feature?
  3. Has anyone here built something similar with Next.js or the AI SDK?

Also open to any general feedback on structuring small game projects on Vercel.

Thanks in advance :raising_hands: