Too many C# developers feel stuck building the same apps day in and day out - but learning through side projects can reignite your passion and level up your skills. This book offers a practical, hands-on approach to mastering .NET 9 and modern C# by building a variety of engaging applications, from interactive games and productivity tools to machine learning apps and browser-based chatbots. Each project focuses on building something useful or fun, reinforcing critical programming concepts and modern development techniques. You'll work with tools like Spectre.Console, ML.NET, Uno Platform, and more, developing everything from an adventure game and a card tracker to a voice-to-text transcriber and an AI chatbot. Written by an experienced C# engineer and teacher, this book blends technical depth with a developer-friendly tone, helping you learn faster and retain more. Along the way, you'll sharpen your understanding of core .NET capabilities and gain the confidence to apply them in your own work or hobby projects. By the end of this book, you'll not only have a portfolio of practical .NET apps - you’ll also have grown as a developer and rediscovered the joy of programming.