HOW TO PLAYFull rules · 3 min read

THE IDEA

Noku is a short duel on a 5×5 board. You are blue, the bot is coral. For 45 seconds both of you flip tiles to your own colour. When the clock hits zero, whoever holds more tiles wins the round. Nothing is bet, nothing is paid in, and nothing is paid out.

It is not a coin toss. The board starts the same for both sides, the bot follows the same rules you do, and the result comes from where you flip, when you flip, and how you protect what you already hold.

1 · WHERE YOU MAY FLIP

  1. You start with one tile on the lower half; the bot starts on the mirrored tile up top.
  2. You may flip any tile that touches one of yours: up, down, left or right. Diagonals do not count.
  3. Empty tiles and rival tiles can both be flipped. Your own tiles cannot.
  4. If you ever hold no tiles at all, you may restart anywhere on the board.

2 · TIMING

  • After every flip you wait 0.5 s before the next one. A ring around your score shows when you are ready.
  • A tile that was just flipped is guarded for 2 s: nobody can flip it back during that time. Guarded tiles show a bright border.
  • The clock runs in steps of 100 ms. A click is played on the next step, so two clicks inside one step count once.

3 · PINCER (SANDWICH)

When your new tile and another tile of yours sit on both sides of a single rival tile in a straight line, that rival tile turns to you as well. Only one tile deep, only up, down, left and right, and only if that rival tile is not guarded.

A good pincer swings the count by two in one move: one tile for you, one fewer for the bot.

4 · THE BOT

LEVELEXTRA WAITHOW IT PICKS
Easy0.9 sloose, often wanders
Normal0.5 sgreedy, some noise
Hard0.2 sgreedy, little noise

The bot waits the same 0.5 s cooldown you do, plus the extra wait of its level. It prefers rival tiles, pincers and tiles near its own group, and its small random choices come from the round's seed, so the same seed and the same moves always give the same bot.

FINAL SCORE

SCORE = TILES YOU HOLD WHEN THE CLOCK ENDS · WIN = YOUR TILES > BOT TILES

Example: the clock runs out with 14 blue, 9 coral and 2 empty tiles. Your score is 14 and the round is a win. 12 against 12 is a draw. A score is only a number of tiles; it is never converted into tokens or anything else.

5 · DUEL ROOMS

A room is a bot level, a board seed and a short title packed into one code, like N1.DN.…. Send the code or link to friends: everyone who opens it plays the identical round against the identical bot, at any time. Nothing has to be created on a server; the code is the room.

Each room has its own board of best posted scores, separate from the open board.

6 · POSTING A SCORE

  1. Connect a Solana wallet before you start. The site hands your wallet a one-time round ticket.
  2. Play the round. Every flip is recorded as a step number and a tile.
  3. Press Sign and post. Your wallet signs a plain message (no transaction, no fee).
  4. The server replays every move with the same rules. If the replay gives your score, the ticket is fresh and the round took at least the full clock, it goes on the board.

7 · PROFILE AND BADGES

Your rounds, wins, streaks and badges are kept in this browser. With a wallet you can also sign a short player card (tag, colour, motto) that shows next to your scores.

  • First flip: Finish any round.
  • Board holder: End a round holding more tiles than the bot.
  • Half the map: End a round holding 13 tiles or more.
  • Pincer: Take 5 or more tiles by sandwich in one round.
  • Comeback: Trail the bot at the half-way mark, then win.
  • Hard read: Win against the hard bot.

8 · WHAT IS NOT LIVE YET

  • Live duels against other people in real time PLANNED
  • Tile skins and arena looks PLANNED
  • Community events and challenges PLANNED
  • Any use of $NOKU inside the game PLANNED

This build is an early preview. The 45-second round and the 5×5 board are the first design and may change after testing.

TIPS

  • Grow towards the middle early: centre tiles touch four others and give you more choices later.
  • Flip next to tiles that are still guarded; the bot cannot answer there for a moment.
  • Look for a rival tile with your colour behind it. Flipping in front of it takes both.
  • A long thin line is easy to cut. A compact block is hard to pincer.
  • The final 2 seconds count most: tiles flipped then stay guarded until the clock ends.

No stakes, no entry, no prizes. Scores and badges have no cash value.