🎮 Building a Number Guessing Game in Python with SQLite Leaderboard

Ever wondered how to combine simple game logic with real-world data persistence? In this post, we’ll walk through how I created a Python-based Number Guessing Game that uses an SQLite database to track player points and maintain a leaderboard.

👉 View on GitHub

🔍 Project Overview

The project is a CLI (Command Line Interface) number guessing game where:

• Players choose a difficulty level.
• They have 5 attempts to guess the correct number.
• Points are awarded based on how quickly they guess the number.
• The game stores user points in an SQLite database.
• It includes a leaderboard to showcase top players.

🛠️ Core Features

1. Difficulty Selection

Players can choose from:

• Easy: 1–10
• Medium: 1–100
• Hard: 1–1000
  This helps cater to different player skill levels.

2. Random Number Generation

Using Python’s random module, the program generates a number within the difficulty range. Players get 5 attempts to guess correctly.

3. Point System

Points awarded are based on the number of guesses left:

• 3 guesses left → 10 points
• 2 guesses left → 5 points
• Otherwise → 2 points
  This adds a strategic element — the faster you guess, the more you score.

4. User Authentication

Each user is identified by a username and a secret word. This helps:

• Prevent impersonation.
• Securely update scores.

New users are prompted to create a secret word. Returning users must verify theirs to update their points.

5. SQLite Leaderboard

Data is stored in a lightweight SQLite database:

users (
  username TEXT PRIMARY KEY,
  points INTEGER,
  secret_word TEXT
)

After each round, the game displays a live leaderboard, sorted by the highest points.

💡 Why This Project Matters

This simple game is more than just entertainment — it’s an entry point to essential programming concepts:

• Input handling
• Conditional logic
• Loops
• Error handling
• Database integration
• Data validation

🔗 How to Run the Project

Clone the repo:

git clone https://github.com/mobile-desk/2025-Python-Projects.git
cd 2025-Python-Projects/guessing
python number_guessing.py

🚀 What’s Next?

Here are a few ideas to take this further:

• Add levels or rounds to extend gameplay.
• Implement a web version with Flask or Django.
• Add session history or game statistics per user.
• Hash the secret word using hashlib for better security.

🧠 Final Thoughts

This project is a fun and practical way to learn Python and databases. It’s beginner-friendly but also scalable if you’re looking to build on it. Whether you’re teaching Python or learning yourself, this guessing game offers a real sense of progress and accomplishment.

🎉 Try it out and let me know how many guesses it takes you!

🔗 GitHub Repo