Niche-Knack · Android
Your budget has stats. Bring a Pocket Nerd.
See what you can safely spend between now and payday, choose the interface that feels like yours, and turn a stuck purchase decision into a short side quest.
Not out yet. No store listing is open and the checkout is not built, so nothing here can be bought or downloaded today. The terms, when it does ship.
- Four interfaces: Simple, HUD, Tranquil, and Campaign
- Four risk-weighted games of chance
- One glance from now to payday
- No account or telemetry
The daily read
A spending HUD, not another spreadsheet.
One number for today, set once in the morning and held there. Spend against it and watch what that leaves for every day still between you and payday.
No bank login. No category puzzle. No target that quietly moves at lunchtime to make the afternoon look survivable.
Pick your class
Four personalities. One source of truth.
Simple is quiet and direct. HUD turns the day into cockpit telemetry. Tranquil makes the pay period a cozy journey. Campaign presents the same numbers like a tabletop character sheet.
The theme changes the experience—not the ledger, thresholds, or math.
Optional side quest
Can't decide whether to buy something?
Enter its price and play for it: fair coins in Simple, a skill shot in HUD, a D20 in Campaign, or pull the petals off a daisy in Tranquil.
You get one accepted play each day. “No thanks” leaves the games open for another decision later. Playing or accepting never buys or logs anything.
For entertainment purposes only.
The stakes still matter
A lucky roll never outranks your budget.
The games become harder when the proposed purchase would put more pressure on your goals and thresholds. If it would leave you in warning, low, or danger, Pocket Nerd stops first and shows exactly what would remain.
You must acknowledge that risk before playing, and the warning remains even if the game says yes. The game can break a tie; it cannot make an unsafe purchase affordable.
Solo or co-op
Keep it personal, or share the same pot.
One phone is a complete experience. If household spending is multiplayer, Pocket Nerd can keep two phones looking at the same entries and the same remaining runway. Each person can still choose their own threshold lens and visual theme.
At period end, the temporary run can be handed to LedgerKeep for permanent review and categorization.
Questions people actually ask
Is Pocket Nerd a game or a budget app?
It is a small between-payday spending tool with an optional playful decision layer. The gauge, thresholds, and projections use your real numbers. Coin Flip, Target, D20, and Daisy Oracle are for entertainment purposes only; you always make the purchase decision.
How do the games respond to my budget?
The odds get harder as a purchase puts more pressure on your remaining money and the thresholds you chose. Warning, low, and danger results are called out before play and require acknowledgment. Even a lucky “yes” never means a purchase is affordable.
Do I need a second person?
No. Pocket Nerd works as your personal spending HUD. If you share the same pot with somebody else, add their phone and both of you can see the same entries and runway.
What does it cost?
Free for your first 25 entries on each phone, then $3.99 per phone, once, for this major version. No subscription — if two phones share a pot, each phone licenses itself. Point releases within that major version are included. Nothing is on sale yet.
How do two phones stay in sync?
Over your local Wi-Fi, or foreground Bluetooth LE when you are nearby. When you are apart, an optional end-to-end encrypted Dropbox shared folder can carry it — each person signs in to their own Dropbox account and accepts the folder invitation inside Pocket Nerd. Automatic checking is off until you turn it on.
Is it a full accounting system?
No. Pocket Nerd deliberately has no categories, bank connections, or permanent accounting ledger. For complete books, use LedgerKeep; Pocket Nerd can hand a finished period to it for review.
Which phones?
Android. Nothing is on sale yet: no Google Play listing is open and there is no direct download, so today the honest answer is “not yet, on any phone”. iOS is planned — the app core is ready for it, the native project is not set up.
Your spending HUD, with side quests.
Not out yet. No store listing is open and the checkout is not built, so nothing here can be bought or downloaded today. The terms, when it does ship.