It began as a conversation starter, and quickly snowballed. Initially it was just a question: "What color are numbers?"

For example, the number 2 is a dark blue to me. 3 is red, 4 is green, and 5 is orange. I can't tell you why I feel that way, but I do. When I picture those numbers in my head, that's what I see.

I thought it was an interesting topic - I may have initially seen it online, and I started asking my friends about it for fun. Almost everyone I knew clicked with the idea immediately, and had passionate convictions on what numbers were what colors.

After seeing how engaged everyone was with the idea, I started to use the color/numbers question on people I met at parties and social gatherings. I tried to come up with other questions of that nature while I did it: What two things can you ask people to associate when there is almost zero connection between them?

What colors are shapes (square, circle, triangle) was one of the next logical steps, but I quickly got esoteric with my ideas.

Who would win in a fight between the shapes? Which light source (lamp, flashlight, ceiling light) could do the most pull-ups?

And every time I came up with a new one, my friends were excited to hear it, and excited to share their opinions and reasoning.

It became my go-to activity when I needed to entertain a group, and my conversations starter with almost everyone I met.

And especially in a group setting, people got heated. "Oh, you think 5 is blue? You're a moron."

There were also a portion of people that had no idea what I was talking about. "All the numbers are just black..." was a common response. But among the people that got it, it was always a hit - and because the topic was so low-stakes and based purely on personal preference, the arguments it created were purely for fun.

In my investigation of this topic, I learned that most people call it "synesthesia" - at least with relation to color-coding numbers.

Most of my questions however, were so random I'm sure the term synesthesia wouldn't apply anymore - but I had SO much fun coming up with new association questions for my friends that I had to turn it into a project.

I assembled all the questions I had come up with so far into a form, and then created a simple dashboard for all the answers to populate into. It took surprisingly long to manage and coordinate data across that structure - but I think I was also using the wrong tool.

I attached a domain to the site, and called it "Vibe Association" because that's what all the questions were asking you to do - associate unrelated vibes.

After sending it to all my friends, and hearing back a number of impassioned responses, I felt satisfied. It's still an occasional go-to conversation starter, and especially if someone is complaining about being bored, it's a great 10-minute activity to recommend.

Throughout the process of building it though, I was never sure exactly why it was so much fun. I think everyone likes to share their opinion, so that's definitely a component, but my theory is that Vibe Association scratches the mental itch for out-of-the-box thinking.

Most conversations we have are about the same 50 things, especially when you're in a larger social situation and small-talk takes over. But when someone asks you "if all the planets were food, which one would taste the best?" you have to use a different part of your brain.

There's no monetization opportunities, there's no real growth path, but it was really fun to think about and build - and it's something I'll use in conversations for the rest of my life. That's worth $12 bucks, in my opinion.