05 · Event app

A costume contest the whole room can vote in from their phones.

For a Rocky Horror Picture Show watch party at Wild Corgi Pub, I built a photo contest app guests use without downloading anything or creating an account. They scan a QR code, snap a costume to enter, vote for their favorites, and watch the winners appear on the bar's TV.

Visit the live app See the shape of it

Problem

Costume contests at a bar usually run on applause or a show of hands: hard to count, easy to dispute, and over in a minute. The venue wanted something guests could join from their seats, that felt like part of the night's theme, and that staff could run without a learning curve.

Approach

  • No logins and no app store. Each phone gets a silent anonymous account, so a guest goes from QR code to entering in a few taps.
  • Fair-play limits per phone: by default two entries and three votes, and you cannot vote for your own entry.
  • A TV and print poster with a live QR code and running counts, plus a printable sheet of 20 cut-apart QR tiles for tables.
  • A photo wall anyone can add pictures of the night to, which stays up after the event.
  • An admin page for the host: open and close entries and voting, watch the live tally, hide anything inappropriate, and publish results to every phone and the TV at once.
  • Themed skins per event. The Rocky Horror night got its own look and load screen; a pumpkin carving night reuses the same app with a new theme.
Rocky Horror costume contest app on a phone: event title, entry button and vote counter
The contest page guests see after scanning the QR code.

What it does on the night

  1. The poster goes up on the TV and QR tiles go on the tables.
  2. Guests scan, enter a costume photo and vote.
  3. The host taps Publish results, and the winners appear everywhere at once.

Notes

Each event can have its own web address and theme, so one app serves a run of themed nights. Built in October 2026.