How a Berlin-based developer turned Lagos traffic into a viral game

Swipe to the left to dodge the car ahead. Swipe to the right to swerve around a heap of tyres blocking the road. Hit the brake as you approach the yellow-lined bus stop. Passengers tumble out, new ones climb in, and you hit the gas to keep going. A 3D figure carrying a tray steps into the road, so you hit the horn and the familiar pom-pom-pom rings out.

This is Lagos Run, a browser-based endless runner that has taken over Nigerian social media timelines over the past two days. Built by Opeyemi Adeniran, a Berlin-based senior frontend engineer who posts on X as Eureka, the game has drawn more than 20,000 players within two days of its public release, according to him.

Like most endless-runner games, the rules are simple. Players use swipe gestures to steer a danfo, the yellow, black-lined public buses particular to Lagos, Nigeria’s most populous city, collecting coins and boosters along the way. Players must pull over at bus stops to drop off and pick up passengers, dodge other vehicles and pedestrians crossing the road, swerve around roadblocks, and navigate the traffic without crashing.

There are road signs, missions and levels to complete, a leaderboard to compete on, and a radio playing in the background. The result is a digital Lagos, rooted in Ojuelegba, a suburb where Adeniran grew up.

Lagos Run’s launch screen shows the game’s virtual Lagos, where players can start a run, check their missions, visit the garage and compare their scores on the leaderboard. Image source: TechCabal

Bringing Lagos to Berlin

Adeniran told TechCabal in an interview on Tuesday that he spent much of his early life around Lagos, where he developed an interest in games. He said he still plays regularly, with Call of Duty Warzone, FIFA, and mobile games like Candy Crush in his rotation.

“I play games almost every day of my life,” he said.

He recalled that he first encountered t game development at the beginning of his career as a frontend engineer in 2017. Since then, he has experimented with different tools, including Unity, a game development software, while exploring ways to build games on the web.

The idea for Lagos Run came after he moved to Germany, and it started partly to explore what was possible with game development.

“I missed home. I needed to go home, so I asked, ‘Why don’t I bring home to myself?’,” he said. “It all started as a side project, but at the moment I see a big picture around it.”

Getting to the version now being played by thousands of people took several attempts, according to Adeniran. He explained that the first version was a flatter, two-dimensional visual experience, different from the current 3D experience users use. The radio feature was not in the original plan, he said, emerging from an attempt to recreate the familiar experience of riding in a danfo inside the virtual version of Lagos.

“When you are in danfo, you usually hear these guys playing radios…,” he said. “So, why don’t we bring the same experience you get when inside danfo into the game as well?”

From the point of coding to the current versions on players’ screens, Adeniran estimates that it took about four to five weeks to build.

Lagos Run currently requires no login or sign-up. The only information players provide is a non-identifying username for the leaderboard. The game has no paywalls; however, Adeniran noted that it has commercial potential.

A player’s end-of-game screen shows a score of 849,657 after driving 15.05km, completing missions and picking up 86 passengers in Lagos Run. Image source: Ola Lateef

**AI made the build faster **

Adeniran told TechCabal that he used artificial intelligence, which has become common in software development. A 2025 study by Game Oracle, a market research platform for indie game developers, found that 20.9% of the 16,554 games released between January 2025 and November 2025 included an AI disclosure statement identifying where and how generative AI tools were used in development. Adeniran said he used AI-generated graphics for the game’s visual assets and Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, during game development.

“If I were to create this game four, five years ago, it would have taken me months,” he said, “but with AI, anyone could spin up something to work on.”

That faster development cycle could matter in Nigeria’s growing gaming industry. Nigeria’s gaming revenue is forecast to reach $226.6 million in 2026, while mobile gaming accounts for the largest share of Africa’s gaming market. Adeniran argued that AI could help close the gap between the number of ideas developers have and the number of games they can build.

“If we have more people creating stuff and more people testing it out for us and giving us feedback, it would encourage investors to come in and put in some money,” he said.

Lagos Run already provides a small test of that audience. Players on social media began sharing their scores online, challenging friends and comparing themselves on the leaderboard. Some have also suggested new features, prompting Adeniran to set up a WhatsApp channel where players can contribute ideas.

“This is my first time playing a Nigerian-made game,” Ola Lateef, a player who scored over 800,000 points in Lagos Run, said. “It was new, funny, and had a variety of music on the radio. Trending songs, to be specific. I mean, it was very different and enjoyable.”

The attention has also given Adeniran ideas for what could come next. He said he has more games in mind, all rooted in what it feels like to live in Lagos and what people experience there. For Lagos Run itself, the plan is to keep iterating. He is working through bug fixes, new features, and possible collaborations, and taking suggestions from the WhatsApp channel he set up for players.

“When I created the project, it was intended as a side project and for me to see what’s possible around this game development, around this idea I have,” he said. “I feel grateful for the love Nigerians have for helping their people.”

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