As part of the startup Astra, I was gearing up for the most anticipated winter event—our year-end party (second only to Christmas, of course). At Astra, there’s a special tradition: whoever wins the grand prize becomes the planner and host for the following year’s celebration.

My good friend Timmy, an imaginative iOS engineer and last year’s grand prize winner, came up with the idea of designing an app that would let everyone play Bingo and Lucky Draw during the event. When he invited me to design it with him, I gladly said yes without hesitation.

With only a few days outside of work hours, we teamed up to turn this fun idea into reality — and that’s how this project began.

Received wishes 1

The first wish came from Kelly, my marketing teammate and one of the organizers of the year-end party, who offered a thoughtful suggestion.

Received wishes 2

The second wish came as a pleasant surprise — an email from a Japanese user sent to our developer, Timmy, shortly after the app launched.They kindly suggested adding sound effects, and that’s when it hit us — they were absolutely right! Unlike our company’s year-end party, most people wouldn’t have a sound system at their event. The app itself needed to carry the joyful sounds to set the mood!

Not only did the app make the year-end party night smooth and fun, but the Lucky Draw App also allowed everyone to play Bingo and participate in the lucky draw for various grand prizes. The day after the event, we even launched the app on the App Store.

The downloads for Lucky Draw have continued to grow steadily — and they’re coming from all around the world! It seems like my creation is especially popular among users in Japan! 😝

Shortly after the app was launched, Timmy received an email from a Japanese YouTuber! In the message, they mentioned wanting to use the LuckyDraw App for their live stream giveaway and asked for permission. Of course, Timmy gladly agreed — it was an amazing opportunity for exposure!

After that, YouTubers in Japan and Taiwan began using the LuckyDraw App in their live streams — so many that we eventually lost count! One of my colleagues even attended a friend's wedding and was thrilled to see LuckyDraw being used to draw guests for the bouquet toss and stage games. It was such a joy and an honor to know our app could bring happiness and excitement to people's special moments!

To our surprise, LuckyDraw App started appearing on various recommendation sites online — especially many Japanese ones — and even ranked among the top three most useful apps. Over time, the app has continued to improve and evolve, and incredibly, some users have even taken the initiative to write their own guides on how to use it!

This side project turned out to be one of the most rewarding surprises despite requiring the least effort. Together with a team of passionate teammates, we managed to build the first version in just a few days (and of course, Timmy kept improving it afterward!). It was truly amazing to see how much positive feedback it received.

While designing, I imagined how fun it would be if this app could bring joy to live Lucky Draw moments — and to my surprise, that dream actually came true. It was such a refreshing and grateful experience!

A huge thank-you to Kelly and Timmy for their genuine feedback, and to Claire and her husband for their enthusiastic support with the sound effects — I couldn’t have done it without you all.