PokerDAO
A crypto-light Web3 poker MVP: 64 screens, 9 core flows, a $750K private round, and room creation reduced from 11 steps to 3.
(YEAR)
2024
(TIMELINE)
3 months
(SERVICES)
Branding
PokerDAO needed to make decentralized poker feel like a normal game, not a DeFi dashboard with cards attached.
The risk was simple: if users had to think about wallets, approvals, tokens, and network logic before joining a table, the poker mood was already broken. Poker is not a passive game. Players need to read the table, understand stakes instantly, and feel in control before they put money at risk. Standard crypto onboarding works against that state: it asks for trust before the product earns attention.
I shaped the MVP around a crypto-light architecture: game first, blockchain later. Room creation became a three-click flow. Betting treated tokens as poker value, not raw decimals. Wallets, confirmations, empty states, and network mechanics were moved into contextual moments instead of blocking the first play. The system covered onboarding, game tables, multi-token betting, wallet states, and technical waiting states in one modular product language. The visual direction also had to carry trust without becoming another casino skin. We kept the product close to familiar poker-room behavior, then added Web3 mechanics only where they improved the experience: provable fairness, flexible tokens, and clearer technical states.
PokerDAO got a complete Web3 gaming MVP system: 64 screens, 9 core flows, a reusable component base, and a room setup flow reduced from 11 steps to 3. The same product logic shaped the investor story. The MVP, deck, and product narrative helped support a $750K private round by making the platform feel less like a risky crypto experiment and more like a serious gaming product.
The project later met regulatory limits, but the design logic held up: mainstream users do not need less crypto. They need crypto to appear only when it finally makes sense. That became the useful outcome of the work: a game-first UX pattern for Web3 products where the technical layer supports the moment instead of taking over the product.
Product screens
Private round
Setup flow reduction
“
These guys pulled off an insanely good UI. I’ve honestly never seen anything better in iGaming, ever. It hit me hard. Ivan is an absolute beast, Marie is the best designer on the planet, and I’m fucking blown away!
Andrew L.
Founder, CEO
