Play Magic Reef
Our Story
It started as a present for my two nieces in Chicago. Now it's a reef for kids everywhere.
Hi, I'm Eugene. I'm a Korean American creative technologist, and Paris, France has been home for the past fourteen years. I've spent more than twenty years building interactive things for the web, and along the way — across several agencies — I've been lucky to work with clients like Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Google, among other big names. These days I'm technical director for an agency in New York. If you're curious, you can take a look at my other work.
A while back I was in Chicago visiting my two nieces, and we spent an afternoon at an aquarium together — the kind where you color a fish, it appears on a giant screen, and it swims off with everyone else's. They couldn't stop talking about it, and kept asking when we could all go again. The honest answer involved tickets, a free weekend, and in my case a flight across the Atlantic.
That stayed with me the whole flight home. I build this kind of thing for a living, and there was no good reason the magic had to live inside one building in one city. So I made them their own little reef in the browser, where a drawing turns into a fish on whatever screen is in the room.
It was meant for two kids. Watching them play, it was obvious that any kid, anywhere, could have this — no tickets, no lines, no special hardware. So I kept going, and Play Magic Reef grew from a family gift into the site you're reading now.
— Eugene Lee
Where your money goes
Play Magic Reef is a one-person project, and passes are what keep it swimming. From every Play Pass, Day Pass, and subscription, a portion goes to children's charities and orphanages. The rest covers the unglamorous side: servers, storage, and the time it takes to keep the reef growing.
No ads, no investors, no selling your data. Families pay for something their kids love, and part of that goes to kids who could use some magic the most.
Safety came first
A lot of the work on this site is invisible, and much of it went into protecting kids. Your reef belongs to your family: only people you've shared it with can add fish, kids never need an account of their own, and we collect as little personal information as possible.
There's no chat, no comments, and no strangers — just your tank, your kids' drawings, and the people you choose to invite.
Why families stay
Screen time that makes something
Kids aren't watching a video. They're drawing a fish, setting it loose, and checking on it the next morning.
Nothing to install
It runs in the browser on the TV, laptop, or tablet you already own. Open a link and you're underwater.
Together from anywhere
Grandparents on the other side of the world can open the same reef and meet the fish your kids drew today.
Start your tank in seconds
Open it on any big screen, share the code, and watch the fish roll in.
