Unleash the Wapuu: A WordPress Card Game Built with AI and Open Source Spirit
Build your WordPress dashboard. Deploy plugins. Sabotage your friends with malware. Block their moves with a perfectly timed “Access Denied.” That’s the premise of Unleash the Wapuu, a new Wapuu-themed strategy card game designed by Marcus Burnette and now available to preorder.
The 108-card game is a fast-paced mix of engine-building and sabotage, with a heavy dose of WordPress in-jokes. Players build their dashboard with Team Wapuus, upgrade it using plugins, and use function and malware cards to derail the competition. “It’s part engine-builder, part sabotage fest, and all heart,” reads the game’s product description, “wrapped in colorful artwork and plenty of inside jokes for open source fans.”
Burnette, who works in strategy and customer experience at Bluehost and created The WP World, said the idea for the game had been simmering for some time. “I’ve been wanting to create something fun around the playful mascot for some time,” he said. A longtime Wapuu enthusiast, he also runs the WordCamp Wapuu Archive and helped bring a life-size Wapuu costume to events during his time at GoDaddy. But he wanted something more interactive — something that could travel from meetups to WordCamps and everywhere in between.
Inspired by a card game he played with his daughters, Burnette began designing Unleash the Wapuu just a few weeks ago, relying heavily on generative AI and the open source GPL license to move fast. ChatGPT helped him brainstorm card names, generate game text, and create artwork, with each card image based on the original Wapuu and AI-generated using a custom JSON prompt.
“What would have normally taken months or even over a year, I was able to put together in about three weeks,” he said.
The result? A game packed with community nods: contributor lounge cards, default and legendary Wapuus, malware, plugins, and function cards designed to celebrate working with WordPress and contributing to open source.
Presale decks are available now for $34.99 (US and Canada only), with orders shipping after August 8. Burnette said the price is just a few dollars over cost and may drop depending on demand. He also plans to bring decks to WordCamp US 2025, where attendees can play in person.
“I’ll be bringing a few decks to WordCamp US to play with whoever wants to give it a go!” he said.
Unleash the Wapuu is available via The WP World or unleashthewapuu.com.
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