Crabhouse: An 8-Bit Alternative to Clubhouse?

Crabhouse: An 8-Bit Alternative to Clubhouse?

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Can't manage to finagle an invite to Clubhouse? One user in Japan's developed an alternative for those caught in the FOMO.

Ever since the social media app Clubhouse launched back in April 2020, the Internet has been abuzz with speculation about its exclusivity. Similar to real-life social clubs, you have to be invited by a current member, as it’s still in beta testing.

Once inside, you’ll have access to multiple discussion rooms, curated based on your interests and location. Every user is required to use their real name, to avoid some degrees of toxicity hidden behind anonymity. As such, there’s a mix of Clubhouse members–some are from the general public, while others are public figures.

To put it simply, it’s like having a vast network of podcasts at your fingertips, presumably helmed by only those who were hand-selected to have the most engaging and insightful conversations.

As such, it’s not unusual to overhear members rave about events. Most notably, Black creatives have produced audio adaptations of both the Lion King and Dreamgirls musicals. When you add the FOMO (fear-of-missing-out) effect, an invite to Clubhouse becomes so precious that there is a money-based market for it. Because of this, there have already been discussions about alternatives to Clubhouse while applicants wait to be granted access.

Enter Crabhouse

However, one user had a different experience from the app.

On February 7th, Twitter user and Unity programmer @kamibukuro18 tweeted the following:

ENG Translation: “I had no clue how to use Clubhouse, so I made an app called ‘Crabhouse’ in three days. When a player starts up the game, they enter the room as a crab. They can talk from time to time. It’s crabtastic.”

Kamibukuro was later flooded with tweets not only showing interest in the app, but documenting their experiences as well. While the servers were overwhelmed at first, more people were able to join. According to the extensive Twitter thread, they seem to enjoy the punnery, growing community, and the simple, aesthetics-focused interface.

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A screen recording that gives a short peek at Crabhouse and its interface. In the free version, “Crab Points” are earned by watching advertisements. The Crab Points can be used to change the background music, time of day, etc. The ad-free version’s available for 490 yen. (Source: Kamibukuro)

Though the features of Crabhouse is minimal, it’s a good Unity demo. However, the only part that confuses me personally is the chat segment. It seems the messages are pre-written and randomly generated, and there’s no way to type your own.For now, it seems that Crabhouse is a novelty app with some potential.

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Thalia Harris

Thalia-Marie Harris is a North Jersey/New York native, currently residing in Tokyo, where she works as an ESL teacher and freelance writer. Her previous pieces have appeared in Metropolis Tokyo and pacificREVIEW.

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