A high score table transforms a game from a solo experience into a tiny competition — even if it's just the player competing with themselves across sessions, or a family sharing one device. "I scored 4,200 — can you beat it?" is one of the most natural things to say about a game, and a leaderboard makes that conversation happen. Here's how to add one, from a simple personal best to a top-ten local table.

What you'll learn

  • The simplest version: just save the personal best
  • A local top-10 table with player initials
  • How to show it on the game over screen
  • When a global leaderboard makes sense (and when it doesn't)

Start simple: just the personal best

Before building a full leaderboard, make sure you're at least saving the personal best. This is the minimum viable version and the most impactful: showing the current score next to the all-time best on the game over screen creates immediate motivation to try again. 

Add a personal best high score. Save it in localStorage
with a prefixed key (e.g. "myGame_highScore"). On game
over, compare the current score to the saved best. If it's
higher, update the save and show a "New record! 🎉"
celebration. Always show both "Your score: X" and
"Best: Y" on the game over screen.

A local top-10 table

The next step is a proper table — the top 10 scores saved on the device, each with player initials. This is perfect for games played by multiple people on the same device (a family computer, a tablet), and it gives solo players a ranked history to compete against. 

Add a local top-10 high score leaderboard using localStorage.

When a game ends:
1. Ask the player to enter 2-3 initials (a short text input
   on the game over screen, defaulting to "AAA").
2. Add their score to the list, sort descending, keep the
   top 10, and save to localStorage as JSON.

Show the leaderboard table on the game over screen with
rank, initials, and score. Highlight the player's new entry
if it made the top 10. Add a "Leaderboard" button on the
main screen to view it any time. Include a "Clear scores"
option. Keep everything in one HTML file.

Make the game over screen count

The game over screen is your highest-leverage moment for retention — the player just finished a run and is deciding whether to try again. A well-designed game over screen should show:

Design tip: Don't bury the leaderboard behind a menu. Showing it automatically on the game over screen — with the player's new entry highlighted — creates a natural "I need to beat that" reaction every time.

When to think about a global leaderboard

A global leaderboard (where scores from all players worldwide are compared) sounds appealing, but it's a significant step up in complexity. You need a server to store scores, protection against cheating (anyone can submit any number they want), and ongoing maintenance. For most small browser games, a local leaderboard is plenty.

If you do want to try a global one, services like Supabase (which is what AIgames123 is built on) can store scores in a database that any player can read and write to. The tricky part is anti-cheat — at minimum, validate that scores fall within a plausible range server-side. This is a fun challenge for a more advanced build, but start with local first.

Key takeaways

  • Start with just the personal best — it's high-impact and simple.
  • A local top-10 table with initials is great for shared devices.
  • Show the leaderboard on the game over screen, not behind a menu.
  • Global leaderboards are fun but complex — local is usually enough.