Universal Paperclips
Hacker ApprovedIncremental game in Games & consoles
Free browser game where you make paperclips, praised for pushing incremental game mechanics to a logical extreme and for being very addictive.
11 people recommended Universal Paperclips in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 11 comments.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- mixed feelings
- 1
- warn against or regret it
- 1
The record
Recommended in 7 of 12 months
In 10 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 10 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 18% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 11 of the 13 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Very addictive, eats hours of time
“don't click this if you value the next 72 hours or so of your life”
Comment from 28 Nov 2025 in “The mysterious black fungus from Chernobyl that may eat radiation” “reminds me of the hours i've spent on the paperclip game”
Comment from 25 Sep 2026 in “Too AI; Didn't Read” “That game is entirely too addictive especially at 3am.”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Proof of Corn” Game mechanics taken to extreme
“the absolute pinnacle of taking game mechanics to a logical extreme”
Comment from 19 May 2026 in “Show HN: Number Gacha, a gacha game distilled to its essence” “Incremental games do an amazing job at this”
Comment from 5 May 2026 in “Why Most Product Tours Get Skipped” Praised as best in its genre
“Universal Paperclips is much better”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “RSI Simulator” “The best game ever written”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Turn your best AI prompts into one-click tools in Chrome”
What people recommend instead
The same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Universal PaperclipsThis page | 11 | 1 | 1 | 92% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Evolve (incremental game) | 10 | 1 | 4 | 71% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 13 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“reminds me of the hours i've spent on the paperclip game”
“Universal Paperclips is much better”
“Why am I being tricked into playing another cookie clicker”
“I love things like this (and Universal Paperclips, and Kitten's Game, etc”
“the absolute pinnacle of taking game mechanics to a logical extreme”
“Incremental games do an amazing job at this”
“The best game ever written”
“Experience Bostrom's Paperclip Maximiser as web based strategy game.”
“Releasing the Hypnodrones is always a very satisfying milestone.”
“That game is entirely too addictive especially at 3am.”
“don't click this if you value the next 72 hours or so of your life”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.