Rules

Goal

Get your piece to the opposite side of the board before your opponent does. In the four-player mode the goal is different: the golden cell in the very centre of the board.

One turn, one action

Each turn you either move your piece to an adjacent square (up, down, left or right) or place one wall. You cannot do both.

Walls

A wall cannot be jumped over, only walked around. Your supply is limited: once it runs out, all you can do is move.

Jumping your opponent

When the two pieces are adjacent you may jump over your opponent. If a wall or the edge of the board sits directly behind them, the jump goes diagonally instead.

No full block

You may not place a wall that leaves your opponent with no route to their goal at all. The game simply refuses such a move.

Modes

• Duel — a 9×9 board. Players start on opposite sides with 10 walls each.
• Race — a 9×13 board. Both start at the bottom and race to the top with 10 or 15 walls each.
• Four at a table — an 11×11 board. Four players, one on each side, 7 walls each.

Four at a table

Four players sit down at an 11×11 board, each in the middle of their own side, and all four race for the single golden cell in the very centre. First one to reach it wins: one winner, three losers.

Everyone gets 7 walls. The no-full-block rule now holds for everybody at once: you cannot place a wall that leaves anyone still in the game without a route to the centre.

If two pieces stand in a line directly in front of you, you may jump over both — but only when there is nothing else left to do except go backwards.

A move takes at most 30 seconds and the whole game at most 5 minutes. Miss your move and you are out, while the other three play on without you; the walls you built stay on the board. Lose your connection and you have 30 seconds to come back. If only one player is left at the table, that player wins.

Points: a win is +40, a loss −15, and walking out of a game you started −25. If the table outranks you, the win is worth 55. Your rating never falls below zero, and a game shorter than sixteen moves scores nothing.

Time

The format is chosen when the room is created: no limit, 3 minutes or 5 minutes for the whole game. In every format a single move may take no longer than 30 seconds, otherwise the game is lost. The four-player mode has nothing to choose: always 5 minutes for the game and 30 seconds a move, and whoever misses their move is out while the rest play on.

Points and ranks

A win in a public room is worth 25 points, or 40 if your opponent outranked you. A loss costs 10, or 20 if they were below you. Your rating never falls below zero.

Points set your rank: Rookie → Student → Strategist → Wall Master → Pro → Legend → GOAT 🐐. Your opponent’s rank is shown during the match.

Games with a friend by code and practice against the AI do not affect points.

When points are not awarded

• A game decided in fewer than six moves. The result stands, but nothing is scored — this is how the game keeps automation off the ladder.
• Rematch after rematch against the same person: from the fourth game points are halved, and from the seventh they stop. Change opponent and they come back.
• The first 1500 points of a day are earned at full rate. After that a win is worth half, and past 3000 a quarter. A win is always worth at least one point, so your rating can never stand still while you are winning. Losses always count in full.

Daily streak 🔥

Every day you play at least one game against a real person, the flame grows.

Miss a day and the streak breaks. A "Get the streak back" button then appears on the home screen and in your profile and stays for a week — it works even if you have already started a new run. The button saves a streak, it does not grow one: to make the number go up, play.

The flame changes at 7, 30, 50, 100 and 200 days, and again after a year. Until you have played today it stays grey, which means the streak can still be lost today. One game lights it again.