Building Booker Blitz: A Wrestling Booking Sim in React

I've always been a wrestling fan, but not the kind who memorizes every pay-per-view from 1997. What draws me in is the creative side. The booking decisions, the politics, the crowd psychology, understanding how to get someone over as a performer. It's game design dressed in spandex.

I wanted to build a game around that idea. That's where Booker Blitz came from. A few months in, it's become the most engaging side project I've worked on.

What Is Booker Blitz?

You're the head booker of a wrestling promotion. Sign talent, book shows, script feuds, keep the finances from imploding.

The core mechanic is the Gorilla Position system. In real wrestling, that's where the head of creative sits during a live show, watching from backstage with a headset. You call audibles, adjust on the fly, quick decisions when something isn't working.

In Booker Blitz, you don't just plan a card and watch it simulate. You're actually there, reacting as it happens. If the crowd isn't buying a match, you change the winner. Trigger a run-in at the right moment. Pull the plug early if it's tanking. It's the reactive layer of booking that other booking sims skip over.

The Stack

The tech is straightforward:

• React - Yes, a game in React. I'll explain the reasoning below.
• Vite - Excellent for iteration and hot reload.
• Tailwind - Handles the neon cyan and magenta aesthetic.
• TypeScript - Type safety.

No game engine. No Phaser. I used Phaser for a previous project, but Booker Blitz is management sim territory, not action-oriented. The game is almost entirely UI and state management. React fits that problem better than trying to shoehorn a game engine into it.

I wanted the UI to be keyboard-first. You should book a full card without touching the mouse. That constraint changed how I approached navigation and flows.

What's Built So Far

⚠️ Add specific features that are currently implemented and roughly how far along development is

The core booking flow works. You can:

• Build show cards with matches, promos, and stipulations
• Manage a roster. Sign, release, handle injuries.
• Simulate shows with live segment ratings and crowd reactions
• Make real-time calls during the Gorilla Position segment

Arena selection is functional. Each venue has different capacity, costs, risk factors, and bonus match types. The Forge Pit plays differently from Neon Nexus.

Staff management is partially in. Scouts and trainers affect your prospects over time.

The Hard Parts

Simulation balance is tricky. The match quality system needs to feel fair but unpredictable. If your best worker always generates a five-star match, booking decisions become meaningless. I'm still tuning this.

The Gorilla Position pacing required multiple iterations. The first version moved too fast; you'd miss your window to intervene. The second was too slow, felt like watching a progress bar without agency. What's here now gives you enough time to react without feeling artificial.

JSON modding was a priority from the start. The entire game universe (wrestlers, promotions, arenas) lives in swappable JSON files. Building the data layer to support that from day one shaped a lot of early decisions. It's something I'm glad I committed to rather than bolting on later.

Where It's Headed

The target is Steam in June. There's a community on Reddit at r/BookerBlitz, and a fictional wrestling universe baked into the default experience so you can play immediately.

The roadmap:

• TV deals and ratings war mechanics against AI opponents
• Supercard and PPV buildups with proper feud payoff systems
• More arena types and match stipulations
• Community modding hub for custom rosters (in progress on the game website)

I'll keep writing dev logs. If you're interested in management sims, wrestling, or just want to see what building a game in React looks like, wishlist Booker Blitz on Steam and join the community on Reddit. Feedback from people who actually understand booking has shaped the design, and I want to keep that going.