Connecticut man creates game to track spotted lanternfly kills

CONNECTICUT (WFSB) - Spotted lanternflies have been a problem across Connecticut through the summer and into the fall. One Connecticut man created a game to make the fight against the invasive insect more engaging.

The game is called Spotted, found at lanternflygame.com, according to creator Steve Dailey.

How the game works

Dailey and his son created the game. Users log in, then find a spotted lanternfly, squish it and take a photo. The photo reports the kill to the game and places the user on a leaderboard.

In the six weeks since the game launched, users have tracked more than 18,000 bugs.

“It’s sort of surreal. I joke that I’ve seen more pictures of dead lanternflies than I’ve ever imagined I would have wanted to see,” Dailey said.

A side project that grew

Dailey and his son said they started the game as a side project.

“We just kind of kept talking about stuff and, you know, found out that some people are oddly into it. They’re really, it’s very strange,” Dailey said.

The current leader on the leaderboard is someone in Tolland with more than 1,900 sightings.

Future plans

Dailey said he hopes to eventually partner with the state and local Connecticut towns, as well as neighboring states, to use the data collected through the game.

“If we can get that and we can give that aggregated data to the state or from towns that are having issues with lanternflies, maybe that will help with finding those hotspots,” Dailey said.