diff --git a/client/src/ui/tooltip.ts b/client/src/ui/tooltip.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..80b4940
--- /dev/null
+++ b/client/src/ui/tooltip.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+// Tooltip positioning options
+type TooltipPosition = 'left' | 'right' | 'above';
+
+const TOOLTIP_STYLE = `
+  position: absolute;
+  background: #1a1a2e;
+  border: 2px solid #7878d8;
+  color: #e0d0b0;
+  font-family: 'Press Start 2P', monospace;
+  font-size: 10px;
+  padding: 4px 8px;
+  white-space: nowrap;
+  pointer-events: none;
+  z-index: 10000;
+`;
+
+/**
+ * Attach a hover tooltip to an element.
+ * Returns a cleanup function to remove the listeners.
+ */
+export function attachTooltip(
+  element: HTMLElement,
+  text: string,
+  position: TooltipPosition = 'right',
+): () => void {
+  let tooltip: HTMLDivElement | null = null;
+
+  const show = () => {
+    tooltip = document.createElement('div');
+    tooltip.style.cssText = TOOLTIP_STYLE;
+    tooltip.textContent = text;
+    document.body.appendChild(tooltip);
+
+    const rect = element.getBoundingClientRect();
+    const tipRect = tooltip.getBoundingClientRect();
+
+    switch (position) {
+      case 'right':
+        tooltip.style.left = `${rect.right + 6}px`;
+        tooltip.style.top = `${rect.top + (rect.height - tipRect.height) / 2}px`;
+        break;
+      case 'left':
+        tooltip.style.left = `${rect.left - tipRect.width - 6}px`;
+        tooltip.style.top = `${rect.top + (rect.height - tipRect.height) / 2}px`;
+        break;
+      case 'above':
+        tooltip.style.left = `${rect.left + (rect.width - tipRect.width) / 2}px`;
+        tooltip.style.top = `${rect.top - tipRect.height - 6}px`;
+        break;
+    }
+  };
+
+  const hide = () => {
+    if (tooltip) {
+      tooltip.remove();
+      tooltip = null;
+    }
+  };
+
+  element.addEventListener('mouseenter', show);
+  element.addEventListener('mouseleave', hide);
+
+  return () => {
+    element.removeEventListener('mouseenter', show);
+    element.removeEventListener('mouseleave', hide);
+    hide();
+  };
+}