The venture loop runs this card by itself: scout the repos trending on GitHub → seats pitch → the board picks → board seats write launch plans and the chair synthesizes one → a seat builds the launch page → checks (deterministic, then headless Chrome where the runner has it, then the judge seat's review of the code) → Teahub Pages ships it at its own subdomain → seven days of signups decide. Progress is posted here as it happens.
DONE: a launched venture linked from this card, or a digest saying where it stuck.
The venture loop runs this card by itself: scout the repos trending on GitHub → seats pitch → the board picks → board seats write launch plans and the chair synthesizes one → a seat builds the launch page → checks (deterministic, then headless Chrome where the runner has it, then the judge seat's review of the code) → Teahub Pages ships it at its own subdomain → seven days of signups decide. Progress is posted here as it happens.
DONE: a launched venture linked from this card, or a digest saying where it stuck.
Part of batch #26.
<!-- time-batch:26:box-art-night -->
time
added this to the Batch 2026-10-13 (2) milestone 2026-10-18 17:29:33 +00:00
time
added the venture label 2026-10-18 17:29:33 +00:00
🗳️ Picked by batch #26's board: Cartridge (box-art-night).
🗳️ Picked by batch #26's board: **Cartridge** (`box-art-night`).
<!-- time {"venture":true,"beat":"picked","winner":{"slug":"box-art-night","name":"Cartridge","title":"Cartridge: turn any photo into a retro game box cover, in your browser","one_liner":"Drop in a photo and a name, pick a 16-bit console style, and get a fake game box cover you can download and send in under a minute, with nothing uploaded.","for_whom":"A parent or friend who wants to make a birthday or retirement gift that makes the recipient laugh and say \"I want that on my wall.\"","why_now":"d2r-mobile (3817\u2605) and the game-port wave have people re-falling in love with old games, while qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill and other image-generation repos show how much attention goes to making personal images; Cartridge takes that nostalgia and image-making to people who will never open a repo, using only local canvas drawing.","page":"The visitor drops in a photo, types a title and a few 'stats' like a player name and a tagline, and picks one of several console box styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld). A canvas renders a front cover with the photo cropped into cover art, a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list, all in the browser. One click downloads a PNG preview at screen resolution, with a watermark-free version available for the same download. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed.","next":"A paid print-ready pack, with 300 dpi CMYK-safe exports, a physical box template, and a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf.","by":"haiku","batch":26,"rides":[{"name":"jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","stars":3817,"url":"https://github.com/jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","desc":"Open-source iOS / macOS compatibility layer for Diablo II: Resurrected with the Reign of the Warlock expansion. Runs your own Switch copy na"},{"name":"Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","stars":2723,"url":"https://github.com/Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","desc":"Qwen-Image 2.1 NSFW/\u59ff\u52bf\u51fa\u56fe skill\uff1a\u4f5c\u8005\u7ea7\u63d0\u793a\u8bcd\u914d\u65b9 + NSFW LoRA + 136 \u59ff\u52bf VNCCS \u4eba\u5076\u63a7\u5236\uff1b\u9002\u7528 Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / OpenClaw"}]}} -->
📋 Launch plan from haiku, sonnet, opus, synthesized by fable:
For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.
First users: The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or 👍 the signal issue.
Model: The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. The free page already gives a watermark-free screen-resolution PNG, so the paid pack sells only what printing needs: 300 dpi CMYK-safe files and a cut-and-fold box template, plus a shared 'family library' shelf where relatives each add a cover. That is worth a few dollars because a screen PNG is fine to text, but a print shop will reject a low-resolution file, and the pack turns a funny image into a gift that ends up on someone's wall. The free page stays complete for on-screen use; only print and group sharing are paid.
Pricing: Free $0 · Print Pack (early access, founding price) $6 one-time per cover, founding price. N · Family Shelf (early access, founding price) $4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge (early access; nothing is charged)
Design: product-first: the tool fills the first screen and the look follows the product
Full plan, with where each idea came from: LAUNCH.md
📋 Launch plan from `haiku`, `sonnet`, `opus`, synthesized by `fable`:
> For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.
**First users:** The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or 👍 the signal issue.
**Model:** The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. The free page already gives a watermark-free screen-resolution PNG, so the paid pack sells only what printing needs: 300 dpi CMYK-safe files and a cut-and-fold box template, plus a shared 'family library' shelf where relatives each add a cover. That is worth a few dollars because a screen PNG is fine to text, but a print shop will reject a low-resolution file, and the pack turns a funny image into a gift that ends up on someone's wall. The free page stays complete for on-screen use; only print and group sharing are paid.
**Pricing:** Free $0 · Print Pack (early access, founding price) $6 one-time per cover, founding price. N · Family Shelf (early access, founding price) $4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge (early access; nothing is charged)
**Call to action:** Join early access → [early-access form](https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/issues/new?template=early-access.yml&title=Early+access%3A+Cartridge&venture=box-art-night&plan=Print+Pack+%28early+access%2C+founding+price%29) · **Signal:** #151
**7-day lines:** success at ≥20 signups, kill at ≤4
**Design:** product-first: the tool fills the first screen and the look follows the product
Full plan, with where each idea came from: [LAUNCH.md](https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/src/branch/gh-pages/ventures/box-art-night/LAUNCH.md)
<!-- time {"venture":true,"beat":"planned","winner":{"slug":"box-art-night","name":"Cartridge","title":"Cartridge: turn any photo into a retro game box cover, in your browser","one_liner":"Drop in a photo and a name, pick a 16-bit console style, and get a fake game box cover you can download and send in under a minute, with nothing uploaded.","for_whom":"A parent or friend who wants to make a birthday or retirement gift that makes the recipient laugh and say \"I want that on my wall.\"","why_now":"d2r-mobile (3817\u2605) and the game-port wave have people re-falling in love with old games, while qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill and other image-generation repos show how much attention goes to making personal images; Cartridge takes that nostalgia and image-making to people who will never open a repo, using only local canvas drawing.","page":"The visitor drops in a photo, types a title and a few 'stats' like a player name and a tagline, and picks one of several console box styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld). A canvas renders a front cover with the photo cropped into cover art, a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list, all in the browser. One click downloads a PNG preview at screen resolution, with a watermark-free version available for the same download. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed.","next":"A paid print-ready pack, with 300 dpi CMYK-safe exports, a physical box template, and a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf.","by":"haiku","batch":26,"rides":[{"name":"jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","stars":3817,"url":"https://github.com/jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","desc":"Open-source iOS / macOS compatibility layer for Diablo II: Resurrected with the Reign of the Warlock expansion. 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That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.","audience":"The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d the signal issue.","business_model":"The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. 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N","for":"The gift-giver who wants to print, frame or fold the cover into a real box","includes":"300 dpi CMYK-safe front, back and spine exports, a printable cut-and-fold physical box template sized to each console style, bleed and trim guides for print shops, and priority access when it opens"},{"tier":"Family Shelf (early access, founding price)","price":"$4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge","for":"A family, office or friend group making covers together for a reunion, retirement or milestone birthday","includes":"Everything in Print Pack for every cover on the shelf, plus a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf"}],"primary_cta":"Join early access","launch_channels":[{"channel":"Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)","draft":"Show HN: Cartridge \u2013 turn a photo into a fake 16-bit game box cover, entirely in the browser\n\nYou drop in a photo, type a title, player name and tagline, and pick a style (SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld). A canvas renders the front cover with your photo as cover art plus a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list. You can download a watermark-free PNG. Nothing is uploaded and there's no account. All the drawing happens locally on canvas.\n\nI built it for making birthday and retirement gifts. I'm also considering a paid print pack (300 dpi CMYK exports and a foldable box template) and a shared family shelf. Nothing is charged today. If you'd want that, there's an early-access issue on Teahub you can \ud83d\udc4d (link to the real repo before posting).\n\nI'd like feedback on the box styles, on the cropping of odd-shaped photos, and on what looks wrong in the canvas rendering.\n\n[link]"},{"channel":"r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)","draft":"I made a free browser tool that turns a photo into a fake SNES/PS1/Game Boy-style box cover\n\nIt's called Cartridge. You pick a console style, drop in a photo, and type a title and a few stats. It renders a front and back cover (cover art, rating badge, fake screenshots, spec list) right in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, there's no signup, and the PNG download has no watermark.\n\nI made it for gifts, like putting your dad on the cover of his own 16-bit game for his retirement. I'm considering a print-ready version with a fold-up box template later, and there's an early-access list if you'd want it (nothing is charged now). Which console box styles should I add next? Let me know if any of the current ones look off compared to the real boxes.\n\n[link]"},{"channel":"r/GiftIdeas","draft":"Free tool for a quick, personal gift: put someone on the cover of their own retro video game\n\nCartridge is a free web page. You drop in a photo (it never leaves your computer), type their name and a tagline, and pick a 90s console look. You get a front and back game box cover to download in about a minute, with no account and no watermark.\n\nI'm working on an optional print pack with high-res print files and a fold-up box template, so you could make an actual game box. Nothing is for sale yet. If that sounds useful, there's an early-access signup on the page.\n\n[link]"}],"success_metric":"Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w","success_signups":20,"kill_metric":"Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.","kill_signups":4,"from":{"positioning":"opus","audience":"opus","business_model":"opus","pricing":"opus","primary_cta":"haiku","launch_channels":"opus","metrics":"haiku"},"dissent":"Opus wanted the primary CTA to be 'Make your cover' (measure use of the free page) while haiku and sonnet wanted 'Join early access' (measure willingness to pay), and since all three metrics count Teahub signups rather than covers made, the chair should know we are launching a free tool but judging "}} -->
⚠️ planned failed (1/3): 'content'. Retrying next tick.
⚠️ planned failed (1/3): `'content'`. Retrying next tick.
<!-- time {"venture":true,"beat":"planned","winner":{"slug":"box-art-night","name":"Cartridge","title":"Cartridge: turn any photo into a retro game box cover, in your browser","one_liner":"Drop in a photo and a name, pick a 16-bit console style, and get a fake game box cover you can download and send in under a minute, with nothing uploaded.","for_whom":"A parent or friend who wants to make a birthday or retirement gift that makes the recipient laugh and say \"I want that on my wall.\"","why_now":"d2r-mobile (3817\u2605) and the game-port wave have people re-falling in love with old games, while qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill and other image-generation repos show how much attention goes to making personal images; Cartridge takes that nostalgia and image-making to people who will never open a repo, using only local canvas drawing.","page":"The visitor drops in a photo, types a title and a few 'stats' like a player name and a tagline, and picks one of several console box styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld). A canvas renders a front cover with the photo cropped into cover art, a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list, all in the browser. One click downloads a PNG preview at screen resolution, with a watermark-free version available for the same download. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed.","next":"A paid print-ready pack, with 300 dpi CMYK-safe exports, a physical box template, and a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf.","by":"haiku","batch":26,"rides":[{"name":"jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","stars":3817,"url":"https://github.com/jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","desc":"Open-source iOS / macOS compatibility layer for Diablo II: Resurrected with the Reign of the Warlock expansion. Runs your own Switch copy na"},{"name":"Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","stars":2723,"url":"https://github.com/Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","desc":"Qwen-Image 2.1 NSFW/\u59ff\u52bf\u51fa\u56fe skill\uff1a\u4f5c\u8005\u7ea7\u63d0\u793a\u8bcd\u914d\u65b9 + NSFW LoRA + 136 \u59ff\u52bf VNCCS \u4eba\u5076\u63a7\u5236\uff1b\u9002\u7528 Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / OpenClaw"}],"card":149,"url":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","pages":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","design":"product-first: the tool fills the first screen and the look follows the product","join":"https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/issues/new?template=early-access.yml&title=Early+access%3A+Cartridge&venture=box-art-night&plan=Print+Pack+%28early+access%2C+founding+price%29","signal":151},"plan":{"positioning":"For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.","audience":"The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d the signal issue.","business_model":"The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. The free page already gives a watermark-free screen-resolution PNG, so the paid pack sells only what printing needs: 300 dpi CMYK-safe files and a cut-and-fold box template, plus a shared 'family library' shelf where relatives each add a cover. That is worth a few dollars because a screen PNG is fine to text, but a print shop will reject a low-resolution file, and the pack turns a funny image into a gift that ends up on someone's wall. The free page stays complete for on-screen use; only print and group sharing are paid.","pricing":[{"tier":"Free","price":"$0","for":"Anyone who wants a funny cover to send or post today","includes":"Unlimited covers in every console style (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), front and back cover with fake screenshots, rating badge and spec list, watermark-free PNG download at screen resolution, all ren"},{"tier":"Print Pack (early access, founding price)","price":"$6 one-time per cover, founding price. N","for":"The gift-giver who wants to print, frame or fold the cover into a real box","includes":"300 dpi CMYK-safe front, back and spine exports, a printable cut-and-fold physical box template sized to each console style, bleed and trim guides for print shops, and priority access when it opens"},{"tier":"Family Shelf (early access, founding price)","price":"$4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge","for":"A family, office or friend group making covers together for a reunion, retirement or milestone birthday","includes":"Everything in Print Pack for every cover on the shelf, plus a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf"}],"primary_cta":"Join early access","launch_channels":[{"channel":"Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)","draft":"Show HN: Cartridge \u2013 turn a photo into a fake 16-bit game box cover, entirely in the browser\n\nYou drop in a photo, type a title, player name and tagline, and pick a style (SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld). A canvas renders the front cover with your photo as cover art plus a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list. You can download a watermark-free PNG. Nothing is uploaded and there's no account. All the drawing happens locally on canvas.\n\nI built it for making birthday and retirement gifts. I'm also considering a paid print pack (300 dpi CMYK exports and a foldable box template) and a shared family shelf. Nothing is charged today. If you'd want that, there's an early-access issue on Teahub you can \ud83d\udc4d (link to the real repo before posting).\n\nI'd like feedback on the box styles, on the cropping of odd-shaped photos, and on what looks wrong in the canvas rendering.\n\n[link]"},{"channel":"r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)","draft":"I made a free browser tool that turns a photo into a fake SNES/PS1/Game Boy-style box cover\n\nIt's called Cartridge. You pick a console style, drop in a photo, and type a title and a few stats. It renders a front and back cover (cover art, rating badge, fake screenshots, spec list) right in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, there's no signup, and the PNG download has no watermark.\n\nI made it for gifts, like putting your dad on the cover of his own 16-bit game for his retirement. I'm considering a print-ready version with a fold-up box template later, and there's an early-access list if you'd want it (nothing is charged now). Which console box styles should I add next? Let me know if any of the current ones look off compared to the real boxes.\n\n[link]"},{"channel":"r/GiftIdeas","draft":"Free tool for a quick, personal gift: put someone on the cover of their own retro video game\n\nCartridge is a free web page. You drop in a photo (it never leaves your computer), type their name and a tagline, and pick a 90s console look. You get a front and back game box cover to download in about a minute, with no account and no watermark.\n\nI'm working on an optional print pack with high-res print files and a fold-up box template, so you could make an actual game box. Nothing is for sale yet. If that sounds useful, there's an early-access signup on the page.\n\n[link]"}],"success_metric":"Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w","success_signups":20,"kill_metric":"Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.","kill_signups":4,"from":{"positioning":"opus","audience":"opus","business_model":"opus","pricing":"opus","primary_cta":"haiku","launch_channels":"opus","metrics":"haiku"},"dissent":"Opus wanted the primary CTA to be 'Make your cover' (measure use of the free page) while haiku and sonnet wanted 'Join early access' (measure willingness to pay), and since all three metrics count Teahub signups rather than covers made, the chair should know we are launching a free tool but judging "},"at":"2026-10-18T17:30:38Z","errors":1} -->
🔨sonnet built the launch page in 9 steps (claude-sonnet-5-5). Checking it next.
🔨 `sonnet` built the launch page in 9 steps (claude-sonnet-5-5). Checking it next.
<!-- time {"venture":true,"beat":"built","winner":{"slug":"box-art-night","name":"Cartridge","title":"Cartridge: turn any photo into a retro game box cover, in your browser","one_liner":"Drop in a photo and a name, pick a 16-bit console style, and get a fake game box cover you can download and send in under a minute, with nothing uploaded.","for_whom":"A parent or friend who wants to make a birthday or retirement gift that makes the recipient laugh and say \"I want that on my wall.\"","why_now":"d2r-mobile (3817\u2605) and the game-port wave have people re-falling in love with old games, while qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill and other image-generation repos show how much attention goes to making personal images; Cartridge takes that nostalgia and image-making to people who will never open a repo, using only local canvas drawing.","page":"The visitor drops in a photo, types a title and a few 'stats' like a player name and a tagline, and picks one of several console box styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld). A canvas renders a front cover with the photo cropped into cover art, a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list, all in the browser. One click downloads a PNG preview at screen resolution, with a watermark-free version available for the same download. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed.","next":"A paid print-ready pack, with 300 dpi CMYK-safe exports, a physical box template, and a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf.","by":"haiku","batch":26,"rides":[{"name":"jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","stars":3817,"url":"https://github.com/jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","desc":"Open-source iOS / macOS compatibility layer for Diablo II: Resurrected with the Reign of the Warlock expansion. Runs your own Switch copy na"},{"name":"Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","stars":2723,"url":"https://github.com/Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","desc":"Qwen-Image 2.1 NSFW/\u59ff\u52bf\u51fa\u56fe skill\uff1a\u4f5c\u8005\u7ea7\u63d0\u793a\u8bcd\u914d\u65b9 + NSFW LoRA + 136 \u59ff\u52bf VNCCS \u4eba\u5076\u63a7\u5236\uff1b\u9002\u7528 Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / OpenClaw"}],"card":149,"url":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","pages":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","design":"product-first: the tool fills the first screen and the look follows the product","join":"https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/issues/new?template=early-access.yml&title=Early+access%3A+Cartridge&venture=box-art-night&plan=Print+Pack+%28early+access%2C+founding+price%29","signal":151},"plan":{"positioning":"For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.","audience":"The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d the signal issue.","business_model":"The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. The free page already gives a watermark-free screen-resolution PNG, so the paid pack sells only what printing needs: 300 dpi CMYK-safe files and a cut-and-fold box template, plus a shared 'family library' shelf where relatives each add a cover. That is worth a few dollars because a screen PNG is fine to text, but a print shop will reject a low-resolution file, and the pack turns a funny image into a gift that ends up on someone's wall. The free page stays complete for on-screen use; only print and group sharing are paid.","pricing":[{"tier":"Free","price":"$0","for":"Anyone who wants a funny cover to send or post today","includes":"Unlimited covers in every console style (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), front and back cover with fake screenshots, rating badge and spec list, watermark-free PNG download at screen resolution, all ren"},{"tier":"Print Pack (early access, founding price)","price":"$6 one-time per cover, founding price. N","for":"The gift-giver who wants to print, frame or fold the cover into a real box","includes":"300 dpi CMYK-safe front, back and spine exports, a printable cut-and-fold physical box template sized to each console style, bleed and trim guides for print shops, and priority access when it opens"},{"tier":"Family Shelf (early access, founding price)","price":"$4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge","for":"A family, office or friend group making covers together for a reunion, retirement or milestone birthday","includes":"Everything in Print Pack for every cover on the shelf, plus a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf"}],"primary_cta":"Join early access","launch_channels":[{"channel":"Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)","draft":"Show HN: Cartridge \u2013 turn a photo into a fake 16-bit game box cover, entirely in the browser\n\nYou drop in a photo, type a title, player name and tagline, and pick a style (SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld). A canvas renders the front cover with your photo as cover art plus a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list. You can download a watermark-free PNG. Nothing is uploaded and there's no account. All the drawing happens locally on canvas.\n\nI built it for making birthday and retirement gifts. I'm also considering a paid print pack (300 dpi CMYK exports and a foldable box template) and a shared family shelf. Nothing is charged today. If you'd want that, there's an early-access issue on Teahub you can \ud83d\udc4d (link to the real repo before posting).\n\nI'd like feedback on the box styles, on the cropping of odd-shaped photos, and on what looks wrong in the canvas rendering.\n\n[link]"},{"channel":"r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)","draft":"I made a free browser tool that turns a photo into a fake SNES/PS1/Game Boy-style box cover\n\nIt's called Cartridge. You pick a console style, drop in a photo, and type a title and a few stats. It renders a front and back cover (cover art, rating badge, fake screenshots, spec list) right in your browser. Nothing is uploaded, there's no signup, and the PNG download has no watermark.\n\nI made it for gifts, like putting your dad on the cover of his own 16-bit game for his retirement. I'm considering a print-ready version with a fold-up box template later, and there's an early-access list if you'd want it (nothing is charged now). Which console box styles should I add next? Let me know if any of the current ones look off compared to the real boxes.\n\n[link]"},{"channel":"r/GiftIdeas","draft":"Free tool for a quick, personal gift: put someone on the cover of their own retro video game\n\nCartridge is a free web page. You drop in a photo (it never leaves your computer), type their name and a tagline, and pick a 90s console look. You get a front and back game box cover to download in about a minute, with no account and no watermark.\n\nI'm working on an optional print pack with high-res print files and a fold-up box template, so you could make an actual game box. Nothing is for sale yet. If that sounds useful, there's an early-access signup on the page.\n\n[link]"}],"success_metric":"Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w","success_signups":20,"kill_metric":"Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.","kill_signups":4,"from":{"positioning":"opus","audience":"opus","business_model":"opus","pricing":"opus","primary_cta":"haiku","launch_channels":"opus","metrics":"haiku"},"dissent":"Opus wanted the primary CTA to be 'Make your cover' (measure use of the free page) while haiku and sonnet wanted 'Join early access' (measure willingness to pay), and since all three metrics count Teahub signups rather than covers made, the chair should know we are launching a free tool but judging "},"fixes":0,"seat":"sonnet","model":"claude-sonnet-5-5"} -->
✅ Checks pass. Ready, held for batch #26 so its ventures launch together (at most 6h after the first of them is ready).
✅ Checks pass. Ready, held for batch #26 so its ventures launch together (at most 6h after the first of them is ready).
<!-- time {"venture":true,"beat":"ready","winner":{"slug":"box-art-night","name":"Cartridge","title":"Cartridge: turn any photo into a retro game box cover, in your browser","one_liner":"Drop in a photo and a name, pick a 16-bit console style, and get a fake game box cover you can download and send in under a minute, with nothing uploaded.","for_whom":"A parent or friend who wants to make a birthday or retirement gift that makes the recipient laugh and say \"I want that on my wall.\"","why_now":"d2r-mobile (3817\u2605) and the game-port wave have people re-falling in love with old games, while qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill and other image-generation repos show how much attention goes to making personal images; Cartridge takes that nostalgia and image-making to people who will never open a repo, using only local canvas drawing.","page":"The visitor drops in a photo, types a title and a few 'stats' like a player name and a tagline, and picks one of several console box styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld). A canvas renders a front cover with the photo cropped into cover art, a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list, all in the browser. One click downloads a PNG preview at screen resolution, with a watermark-free version available for the same download. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed.","next":"A paid print-ready pack, with 300 dpi CMYK-safe exports, a physical box template, and a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf.","by":"haiku","batch":26,"rides":[{"name":"jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","stars":3817,"url":"https://github.com/jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","desc":"Open-source iOS / macOS compatibility layer for Diablo II: Resurrected with the Reign of the Warlock expansion. Runs your own Switch copy na"},{"name":"Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","stars":2723,"url":"https://github.com/Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","desc":"Qwen-Image 2.1 NSFW/\u59ff\u52bf\u51fa\u56fe skill\uff1a\u4f5c\u8005\u7ea7\u63d0\u793a\u8bcd\u914d\u65b9 + NSFW LoRA + 136 \u59ff\u52bf VNCCS \u4eba\u5076\u63a7\u5236\uff1b\u9002\u7528 Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / OpenClaw"}],"card":149,"url":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","pages":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","design":"product-first: the tool fills the first screen and the look follows the product","join":"https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/issues/new?template=early-access.yml&title=Early+access%3A+Cartridge&venture=box-art-night&plan=Print+Pack+%28early+access%2C+founding+price%29","signal":151},"plan":{"positioning":"For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.","audience":"The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d the signal issue.","business_model":"The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. The free page already gives a watermark-free screen-resolution PNG, so the paid pack sells only what printing needs: 300 dpi CMYK-safe files and a cut-and-fold box template, plus a shared 'family library' shelf where relatives each add a cover. That is worth a few dollars because a screen PNG is fine to text, but a print shop will reject a low-resolution file, and the pack turns a funny image into a gift that ends up on someone's wall. The free page stays complete for on-screen use; only print and group sharing are paid.","pricing":[{"tier":"Free","price":"$0","for":"Anyone who wants a funny cover to send or post today","includes":"Unlimited covers in every console style (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), front and back cover with fake screenshots, rating badge and spec list, watermark-free PNG download at screen resolution, all ren"},{"tier":"Print Pack (early access, founding price)","price":"$6 one-time per cover, founding price. N","for":"The gift-giver who wants to print, frame or fold the cover into a real box","includes":"300 dpi CMYK-safe front, back and spine exports, a printable cut-and-fold physical box template sized to each console style, bleed and trim guides for print shops, and priority access when it opens"},{"tier":"Family Shelf (early access, founding price)","price":"$4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge","for":"A family, office or friend group making covers together for a reunion, retirement or milestone birthday","includes":"Everything in Print Pack for every cover on the shelf, plus a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf"}],"primary_cta":"Join early access","launch_channels":[{"channel":"Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)","draft":"Show HN: Cartridge \u2013 turn a photo into a fake 16-bit-era game box cover, entirely in the browser\n\nYou drop in a photo, type a title, player name, tagline, a back-cover blurb and up to four stats (\"Label: value\", one per line), and pick a style: SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld. A canvas draws the front cover with your photo as cover art plus a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots (pixelated crops of your photo) and the stats list. You crop with a zoom slider and two pan sliders. Download is a watermark-free PNG: front and back together (1280\u00d7880) or either side alone (600\u00d7840). Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and the page makes no network requests with your data. It is plain JavaScript with no libraries; the photo is read with browser built-ins and drawn on a canvas.\n\nIt was built by an agent-run venture studio for making birthday and retirement gifts. Honest limits: the PNGs are screen resolution RGB, not 300 dpi or CMYK, and there is no box template. Cropping is a centered zoom with pan, no face detection or rotation. The three styles are original looks inspired by their eras, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings"},{"channel":"r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)","draft":"A free browser tool that turns a photo into a fake SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld-style game box cover\n\nIt's called Cartridge, built by an agent-run venture studio. You pick one of three console styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), drop in a photo, and type a title, player name, tagline, blurb and up to four stats. It draws a front and back cover (cover art, rating badge, fake screenshots that are pixelated crops of your photo, and the stats list) in your browser with plain JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, there is no signup, and the PNG download has no watermark. You can download front and back together or either one alone.\n\nIt's meant for gifts, for example putting someone on the cover of their own game for a retirement. A few things to know: the styles are original looks inspired by each era, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings. The PNG is screen resolution, not print resolution. Cropping is zoom plus two pan sliders, no rotation. Nothing is saved between reloads.\n\nThe page lists a Print Pack (print-resolution exports and a cut-and-fold box template) as early access only. It isn't built yet and nothing is charged; joining opens a pub"},{"channel":"r/GiftIdeas","draft":"Free tool for a personal gift: put someone on the cover of their own fake retro video game\n\nCartridge is a free web page from an agent-run venture studio. You drop in a photo (it stays in the page; nothing is uploaded), type a title, their name, a tagline, a short back-cover blurb and a few stats, and pick a SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld look. You get a front and back game box cover to download as a PNG, with no account and no watermark. It was made for birthday and retirement gifts.\n\nTwo honest notes: the PNG is screen resolution (good for sending or posting, not set up for a print shop), and nothing is saved, so reloading the page starts over. Text uses whatever fonts your device has, so check how it looks on yours.\n\nThe page lists an optional Print Pack with 300 dpi print files and a fold-up box template, so you could make an actual game box. That doesn't exist yet and nothing is for sale. If it sounds useful, early access is a public issue form on Teahub, no email and no payment.\n\nhttps://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/"}],"success_metric":"Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w","success_signups":20,"kill_metric":"Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.","kill_signups":4,"from":{"positioning":"opus","audience":"opus","business_model":"opus","pricing":"opus","primary_cta":"haiku","launch_channels":"opus","metrics":"haiku"},"dissent":"Opus wanted the primary CTA to be 'Make your cover' (measure use of the free page) while haiku and sonnet wanted 'Join early access' (measure willingness to pay), and since all three metrics count Teahub signups rather than covers made, the chair should know we are launching a free tool but judging "},"shot":null,"note":"browser pass skipped: no Chrome on this runner; `fable` reviewed the code: The user's photo is loaded into `photo` via `loadPhoto(f, ...)` and drawn with `k.drawImage(photo, (sw - photo.width * s) * fx, ...)` in `art()`, while `read()` pulls `f.ttl.value`, `f.player.value`, "} -->
For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.
Anyone who wants a funny cover to send or post today
Print Pack (early access, founding price)
$6 one-time per cover, founding price. N
The gift-giver who wants to print, frame or fold the cover into a real box
Family Shelf (early access, founding price)
$4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge
A family, office or friend group making covers together for a reunion, retirement or milestone birthday
7-day lines: success at ≥20 signups (Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or 👍'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w); kill at ≤4 (Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or 👍'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.). Decision on 2026-10-25.
✅ Checks passed: files and links, the early-access button in the header, pricing, limits, no invented social proof, nothing loaded from other sites; browser pass skipped: no Chrome on this runner; fable reviewed the code: The user's photo is loaded into photo via loadPhoto(f, ...) and drawn with k.drawImage(photo, (sw - photo.width * s) * fx, ...) in art(), while read() pulls f.ttl.value, f.player.value, .
📣 Launch drafts (nothing is sent; the chair posts what they like):
Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)
Show HN: Cartridge – turn a photo into a fake 16-bit-era game box cover, entirely in the browser
You drop in a photo, type a title, player name, tagline, a back-cover blurb and up to four stats ("Label: value", one per line), and pick a style: SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld. A canvas draws the front cover with your photo as cover art plus a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots (pixelated crops of your photo) and the stats list. You crop with a zoom slider and two pan sliders. Download is a watermark-free PNG: front and back together (1280×880) or either side alone (600×840). Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and the page makes no network requests with your data. It is plain JavaScript with no libraries; the photo is read with browser built-ins and drawn on a canvas.
It was built by an agent-run venture studio for making birthday and retirement gifts. Honest limits: the PNGs are screen resolution RGB, not 300 dpi or CMYK, and there is no box template. Cropping is a centered zoom with pan, no face detection or rotation. The three styles are original looks inspired by their eras, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings
r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)
A free browser tool that turns a photo into a fake SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld-style game box cover
It's called Cartridge, built by an agent-run venture studio. You pick one of three console styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), drop in a photo, and type a title, player name, tagline, blurb and up to four stats. It draws a front and back cover (cover art, rating badge, fake screenshots that are pixelated crops of your photo, and the stats list) in your browser with plain JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, there is no signup, and the PNG download has no watermark. You can download front and back together or either one alone.
It's meant for gifts, for example putting someone on the cover of their own game for a retirement. A few things to know: the styles are original looks inspired by each era, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings. The PNG is screen resolution, not print resolution. Cropping is zoom plus two pan sliders, no rotation. Nothing is saved between reloads.
The page lists a Print Pack (print-resolution exports and a cut-and-fold box template) as early access only. It isn't built yet and nothing is charged; joining opens a pub
r/GiftIdeas
Free tool for a personal gift: put someone on the cover of their own fake retro video game
Cartridge is a free web page from an agent-run venture studio. You drop in a photo (it stays in the page; nothing is uploaded), type a title, their name, a tagline, a short back-cover blurb and a few stats, and pick a SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld look. You get a front and back game box cover to download as a PNG, with no account and no watermark. It was made for birthday and retirement gifts.
Two honest notes: the PNG is screen resolution (good for sending or posting, not set up for a print shop), and nothing is saved, so reloading the page starts over. Text uses whatever fonts your device has, so check how it looks on yours.
The page lists an optional Print Pack with 300 dpi print files and a fold-up box template, so you could make an actual game box. That doesn't exist yet and nothing is for sale. If it sounds useful, early access is a public issue form on Teahub, no email and no payment.
🚀 **Cartridge** is live: https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/
For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.
**Join early access:** [issue form](https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/issues/new?template=early-access.yml&title=Early+access%3A+Cartridge&venture=box-art-night&plan=Print+Pack+%28early+access%2C+founding+price%29) · **Signal:** #151 · **Plan:** [LAUNCH.md](https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/src/branch/gh-pages/ventures/box-art-night/LAUNCH.md) · **Code:** [ventures/box-art-night](https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/src/branch/gh-pages/ventures/box-art-night)
| Tier | Price | For |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | Anyone who wants a funny cover to send or post today |
| Print Pack (early access, founding price) | $6 one-time per cover, founding price. N | The gift-giver who wants to print, frame or fold the cover into a real box |
| Family Shelf (early access, founding price) | $4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge | A family, office or friend group making covers together for a reunion, retirement or milestone birthday |
**7-day lines:** success at ≥20 signups (Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or 👍'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w); kill at ≤4 (Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or 👍'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.). Decision on 2026-10-25.
✅ Checks passed: files and links, the early-access button in the header, pricing, limits, no invented social proof, nothing loaded from other sites; browser pass skipped: no Chrome on this runner; `fable` reviewed the code: The user's photo is loaded into `photo` via `loadPhoto(f, ...)` and drawn with `k.drawImage(photo, (sw - photo.width * s) * fx, ...)` in `art()`, while `read()` pulls `f.ttl.value`, `f.player.value`, .
📣 Launch drafts (nothing is sent; the chair posts what they like):
**Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)**
> Show HN: Cartridge – turn a photo into a fake 16-bit-era game box cover, entirely in the browser
>
> You drop in a photo, type a title, player name, tagline, a back-cover blurb and up to four stats ("Label: value", one per line), and pick a style: SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld. A canvas draws the front cover with your photo as cover art plus a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots (pixelated crops of your photo) and the stats list. You crop with a zoom slider and two pan sliders. Download is a watermark-free PNG: front and back together (1280×880) or either side alone (600×840). Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and the page makes no network requests with your data. It is plain JavaScript with no libraries; the photo is read with browser built-ins and drawn on a canvas.
>
> It was built by an agent-run venture studio for making birthday and retirement gifts. Honest limits: the PNGs are screen resolution RGB, not 300 dpi or CMYK, and there is no box template. Cropping is a centered zoom with pan, no face detection or rotation. The three styles are original looks inspired by their eras, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings
**r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)**
> A free browser tool that turns a photo into a fake SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld-style game box cover
>
> It's called Cartridge, built by an agent-run venture studio. You pick one of three console styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), drop in a photo, and type a title, player name, tagline, blurb and up to four stats. It draws a front and back cover (cover art, rating badge, fake screenshots that are pixelated crops of your photo, and the stats list) in your browser with plain JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, there is no signup, and the PNG download has no watermark. You can download front and back together or either one alone.
>
> It's meant for gifts, for example putting someone on the cover of their own game for a retirement. A few things to know: the styles are original looks inspired by each era, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings. The PNG is screen resolution, not print resolution. Cropping is zoom plus two pan sliders, no rotation. Nothing is saved between reloads.
>
> The page lists a Print Pack (print-resolution exports and a cut-and-fold box template) as early access only. It isn't built yet and nothing is charged; joining opens a pub
**r/GiftIdeas**
> Free tool for a personal gift: put someone on the cover of their own fake retro video game
>
> Cartridge is a free web page from an agent-run venture studio. You drop in a photo (it stays in the page; nothing is uploaded), type a title, their name, a tagline, a short back-cover blurb and a few stats, and pick a SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld look. You get a front and back game box cover to download as a PNG, with no account and no watermark. It was made for birthday and retirement gifts.
>
> Two honest notes: the PNG is screen resolution (good for sending or posting, not set up for a print shop), and nothing is saved, so reloading the page starts over. Text uses whatever fonts your device has, so check how it looks on yours.
>
> The page lists an optional Print Pack with 300 dpi print files and a fold-up box template, so you could make an actual game box. That doesn't exist yet and nothing is for sale. If it sounds useful, early access is a public issue form on Teahub, no email and no payment.
>
> https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/
<!-- time {"venture":true,"beat":"launched","winner":{"slug":"box-art-night","name":"Cartridge","title":"Cartridge: turn any photo into a retro game box cover, in your browser","one_liner":"Drop in a photo and a name, pick a 16-bit console style, and get a fake game box cover you can download and send in under a minute, with nothing uploaded.","for_whom":"A parent or friend who wants to make a birthday or retirement gift that makes the recipient laugh and say \"I want that on my wall.\"","why_now":"d2r-mobile (3817\u2605) and the game-port wave have people re-falling in love with old games, while qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill and other image-generation repos show how much attention goes to making personal images; Cartridge takes that nostalgia and image-making to people who will never open a repo, using only local canvas drawing.","page":"The visitor drops in a photo, types a title and a few 'stats' like a player name and a tagline, and picks one of several console box styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld). A canvas renders a front cover with the photo cropped into cover art, a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots and a spec list, all in the browser. One click downloads a PNG preview at screen resolution, with a watermark-free version available for the same download. Nothing is uploaded, and no account is needed.","next":"A paid print-ready pack, with 300 dpi CMYK-safe exports, a physical box template, and a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf.","by":"haiku","batch":26,"rides":[{"name":"jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","stars":3817,"url":"https://github.com/jhaizhou-ops/d2r-mobile","desc":"Open-source iOS / macOS compatibility layer for Diablo II: Resurrected with the Reign of the Warlock expansion. Runs your own Switch copy na"},{"name":"Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","stars":2723,"url":"https://github.com/Arekejoker/qwen21-nsfw-pose-skill","desc":"Qwen-Image 2.1 NSFW/\u59ff\u52bf\u51fa\u56fe skill\uff1a\u4f5c\u8005\u7ea7\u63d0\u793a\u8bcd\u914d\u65b9 + NSFW LoRA + 136 \u59ff\u52bf VNCCS \u4eba\u5076\u63a7\u5236\uff1b\u9002\u7528 Claude Code / Codex / Cursor / OpenClaw"}],"card":149,"url":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","pages":"https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/","design":"product-first: the tool fills the first screen and the look follows the product","join":"https://teahub.xyz/teahubxyz/time/issues/new?template=early-access.yml&title=Early+access%3A+Cartridge&venture=box-art-night&plan=Print+Pack+%28early+access%2C+founding+price%29","signal":151},"plan":{"positioning":"For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.","audience":"The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d the signal issue.","business_model":"The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. The free page already gives a watermark-free screen-resolution PNG, so the paid pack sells only what printing needs: 300 dpi CMYK-safe files and a cut-and-fold box template, plus a shared 'family library' shelf where relatives each add a cover. That is worth a few dollars because a screen PNG is fine to text, but a print shop will reject a low-resolution file, and the pack turns a funny image into a gift that ends up on someone's wall. The free page stays complete for on-screen use; only print and group sharing are paid.","pricing":[{"tier":"Free","price":"$0","for":"Anyone who wants a funny cover to send or post today","includes":"Unlimited covers in every console style (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), front and back cover with fake screenshots, rating badge and spec list, watermark-free PNG download at screen resolution, all ren"},{"tier":"Print Pack (early access, founding price)","price":"$6 one-time per cover, founding price. N","for":"The gift-giver who wants to print, frame or fold the cover into a real box","includes":"300 dpi CMYK-safe front, back and spine exports, a printable cut-and-fold physical box template sized to each console style, bleed and trim guides for print shops, and priority access when it opens"},{"tier":"Family Shelf (early access, founding price)","price":"$4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge","for":"A family, office or friend group making covers together for a reunion, retirement or milestone birthday","includes":"Everything in Print Pack for every cover on the shelf, plus a shareable 'family library' link where several people add their own covers to one shelf"}],"primary_cta":"Join early access","launch_channels":[{"channel":"Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)","draft":"Show HN: Cartridge \u2013 turn a photo into a fake 16-bit-era game box cover, entirely in the browser\n\nYou drop in a photo, type a title, player name, tagline, a back-cover blurb and up to four stats (\"Label: value\", one per line), and pick a style: SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld. A canvas draws the front cover with your photo as cover art plus a rating badge, and a back cover with fake screenshots (pixelated crops of your photo) and the stats list. You crop with a zoom slider and two pan sliders. Download is a watermark-free PNG: front and back together (1280\u00d7880) or either side alone (600\u00d7840). Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and the page makes no network requests with your data. It is plain JavaScript with no libraries; the photo is read with browser built-ins and drawn on a canvas.\n\nIt was built by an agent-run venture studio for making birthday and retirement gifts. Honest limits: the PNGs are screen resolution RGB, not 300 dpi or CMYK, and there is no box template. Cropping is a centered zoom with pan, no face detection or rotation. The three styles are original looks inspired by their eras, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings"},{"channel":"r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)","draft":"A free browser tool that turns a photo into a fake SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld-style game box cover\n\nIt's called Cartridge, built by an agent-run venture studio. You pick one of three console styles (SNES-era, PS1-era, handheld), drop in a photo, and type a title, player name, tagline, blurb and up to four stats. It draws a front and back cover (cover art, rating badge, fake screenshots that are pixelated crops of your photo, and the stats list) in your browser with plain JavaScript. Nothing is uploaded, there is no signup, and the PNG download has no watermark. You can download front and back together or either one alone.\n\nIt's meant for gifts, for example putting someone on the cover of their own game for a retirement. A few things to know: the styles are original looks inspired by each era, not copies of real boxes or logos, and the rating badges are not official ratings. The PNG is screen resolution, not print resolution. Cropping is zoom plus two pan sliders, no rotation. Nothing is saved between reloads.\n\nThe page lists a Print Pack (print-resolution exports and a cut-and-fold box template) as early access only. It isn't built yet and nothing is charged; joining opens a pub"},{"channel":"r/GiftIdeas","draft":"Free tool for a personal gift: put someone on the cover of their own fake retro video game\n\nCartridge is a free web page from an agent-run venture studio. You drop in a photo (it stays in the page; nothing is uploaded), type a title, their name, a tagline, a short back-cover blurb and a few stats, and pick a SNES-era, PS1-era or handheld look. You get a front and back game box cover to download as a PNG, with no account and no watermark. It was made for birthday and retirement gifts.\n\nTwo honest notes: the PNG is screen resolution (good for sending or posting, not set up for a print shop), and nothing is saved, so reloading the page starts over. Text uses whatever fonts your device has, so check how it looks on yours.\n\nThe page lists an optional Print Pack with 300 dpi print files and a fold-up box template, so you could make an actual game box. That doesn't exist yet and nothing is for sale. If it sounds useful, early access is a public issue form on Teahub, no email and no payment.\n\nhttps://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/"}],"success_metric":"Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w","success_signups":20,"kill_metric":"Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or \ud83d\udc4d'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.","kill_signups":4,"from":{"positioning":"opus","audience":"opus","business_model":"opus","pricing":"opus","primary_cta":"haiku","launch_channels":"opus","metrics":"haiku"},"dissent":"Opus wanted the primary CTA to be 'Make your cover' (measure use of the free page) while haiku and sonnet wanted 'Join early access' (measure willingness to pay), and since all three metrics count Teahub signups rather than covers made, the chair should know we are launching a free tool but judging "},"shot":null,"since":"2026-10-18T18:27:37Z"} -->
Renamed at the owner's request: Cartridge now lives at https://cartridge.yolopreneur.lol/ (gh-pages:ventures/cartridge/, the same files byte for byte). box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol redirects there, the portfolio entry and signal issue #151 point at the new address, and the slug stays box-art-night as the loop's key ("home": "cartridge" in ventures.json). Until #160 lands, the loop still writes to ventures/box-art-night/; that only matters for a next version after day 7.
Renamed at the owner's request: Cartridge now lives at https://cartridge.yolopreneur.lol/ (`gh-pages:ventures/cartridge/`, the same files byte for byte). `box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol` redirects there, the portfolio entry and signal issue #151 point at the new address, and the slug stays `box-art-night` as the loop's key (`"home": "cartridge"` in `ventures.json`). Until #160 lands, the loop still writes to `ventures/box-art-night/`; that only matters for a next version after day 7.
Blocking a user prevents them from interacting with repositories, such as opening or commenting on pull requests or issues. Learn more about blocking a user.
The venture loop runs this card by itself: scout the repos trending on GitHub → seats pitch → the board picks → board seats write launch plans and the chair synthesizes one → a seat builds the launch page → checks (deterministic, then headless Chrome where the runner has it, then the judge seat's review of the code) → Teahub Pages ships it at its own subdomain → seven days of signups decide. Progress is posted here as it happens.
DONE: a launched venture linked from this card, or a digest saying where it stuck.
Part of batch #26.
🗳️ Picked by batch #26's board: Cartridge (
box-art-night).📋 Launch plan from
haiku,sonnet,opus, synthesized byfable:First users: The first 100 users are adults who grew up with the SNES, PS1 and Game Boy and now need a personal gift for a sibling, partner, parent or retiring coworker: millennial parents, siblings, and coworkers organizing farewell gifts. They gather in r/retrogaming, r/SNES, r/gaming, r/GiftIdeas, r/crafts, and on Hacker News (Show HN), where local-only canvas tools get a fair look. Early-access signups come through Teahub, where they open the early-access request or 👍 the signal issue.
Model: The person making the gift pays once when they want to turn the cover into a physical object: a framed print, a real box on the shelf, or a cover for a party. The free page already gives a watermark-free screen-resolution PNG, so the paid pack sells only what printing needs: 300 dpi CMYK-safe files and a cut-and-fold box template, plus a shared 'family library' shelf where relatives each add a cover. That is worth a few dollars because a screen PNG is fine to text, but a print shop will reject a low-resolution file, and the pack turns a funny image into a gift that ends up on someone's wall. The free page stays complete for on-screen use; only print and group sharing are paid.
Pricing: Free $0 · Print Pack (early access, founding price) $6 one-time per cover, founding price. N · Family Shelf (early access, founding price) $4/mo, founding price. Nothing is charge (early access; nothing is charged)
Call to action: Join early access → early-access form · Signal: #151
7-day lines: success at ≥20 signups, kill at ≤4
Design: product-first: the tool fills the first screen and the look follows the product
Full plan, with where each idea came from: LAUNCH.md
⚠️ planned failed (1/3):
'content'. Retrying next tick.🔨
sonnetbuilt the launch page in 9 steps (claude-sonnet-5-5). Checking it next.✅ Checks pass. Ready, held for batch #26 so its ventures launch together (at most 6h after the first of them is ready).
🚀 Cartridge is live: https://box-art-night.yolopreneur.lol/
For a parent or friend making a birthday or retirement gift, Cartridge turns one photo and a name into a convincing 16-bit-era game box cover (front and back) in under a minute, in the browser with nothing uploaded and no account. That is faster and funnier than fiddling with Canva templates or hiring someone on Etsy, and no one has to trust a site with family photos.
Join early access: issue form · Signal: #151 · Plan: LAUNCH.md · Code: ventures/box-art-night
7-day lines: success at ≥20 signups (Within 7 days of launch, at least 20 distinct Teahub accounts have either opened the early-access request or 👍'd the print-pack signal issue, with at least a few of them naming the print pack or family shelf as what they want, and at least one channel post has drawn real replies. That shows people w); kill at ≤4 (Within 7 days, after all three channel posts have run, fewer than 4 distinct Teahub accounts have opened the early-access request or 👍'd the signal issue, with no substantive replies asking about print or sharing. In that case we stop building the paid tiers and leave the free page up as is.). Decision on 2026-10-25.
✅ Checks passed: files and links, the early-access button in the header, pricing, limits, no invented social proof, nothing loaded from other sites; browser pass skipped: no Chrome on this runner;
fablereviewed the code: The user's photo is loaded intophotovialoadPhoto(f, ...)and drawn withk.drawImage(photo, (sw - photo.width * s) * fx, ...)inart(), whileread()pullsf.ttl.value,f.player.value, .📣 Launch drafts (nothing is sent; the chair posts what they like):
Show HN (news.ycombinator.com)
r/retrogaming (check the rules on self-promotion first, or ask the mods)
r/GiftIdeas
Renamed at the owner's request: Cartridge now lives at https://cartridge.yolopreneur.lol/ (
gh-pages:ventures/cartridge/, the same files byte for byte).box-art-night.yolopreneur.lolredirects there, the portfolio entry and signal issue #151 point at the new address, and the slug staysbox-art-nightas the loop's key ("home": "cartridge"inventures.json). Until #160 lands, the loop still writes toventures/box-art-night/; that only matters for a next version after day 7.