Rules of the game

The idea

Every player prepares a defense plan and saves it. The plan defends on its own, even when you are offline.

Whenever you like, you attack the defense plan of another player of your level. You play live; the server plays the defense from the saved plan.

An attack is played in 5 rounds. The winner gets a pack of cards; the defender is told and can watch the fight again.

Cards in combat

Every card is inspired by a Wikipedia article. In combat, it has:

• an attack (ATK), which deals damage;
• a defense (DEF), which reduces the damage taken;
• a category, which gives an advantage or a disadvantage against the opposing card;
• a rarity, from Common to Legendary;
• a deck cost, set by its rarity.

ATK and DEF are computed from public data about the article: they are game values, not a judgement on the subject.

Deck cost by rarity

• Common1
• Uncommon2
• Rare3
• Epic4
• Legendary5

Attack deck and defense plan

To attack, you build a deck of 8 cards. During the attack, you play one per round, each one once only.

The total cost of the cards must stay within your budget, which depends on your level: two players of the same level have the same maximum strength, whatever the size of their collection.

Your defense plan holds 5 cards in the order of the rounds, one reserve card and a posture.

You will be able to save several decks and several plans, but only one plan is active. A changed plan only counts for the next attacks.

Without a valid plan, the server prepares an automatic plan from your collection; a victory against an automatic plan earns less.

How an attack goes

1. You choose a target and confirm: one attack ticket is used and the defense is reserved for your attack.
2. Reconnaissance: you see the pseudonym, level and trophies of your opponent, the terrain drawn at random and the categories of the defense cards, but neither their names, nor their order, nor the reserve.
3. Each round, you choose a card from your deck within 20 seconds; at one round of the attack, a knowledge question follows the reveal of the defense card.
4. The planned defense card (or the reserve) is revealed and the damage is computed both ways, at the same time.
5. The attack ends after 5 rounds, or as soon as one side has no hit points left.

Each side starts with 150 hit points.

Damage

The damage of a card is its ATK, multiplied by the bonuses that apply (category, terrain, knowledge, posture), minus 50% of the DEF of the opposing card, with its own bonuses. A card always deals at least 1 point of damage.

There is no luck in the damage: chance only comes from the terrain and the choice of the questions.

Categories: advantage and disadvantage

The categories form a cycle: each one has the advantage over the next and the disadvantage against the previous one.

• Sciences has the advantage over Nature and life
• Nature and life has the advantage over Geography
• Geography has the advantage over History
• History has the advantage over Arts and culture
• Arts and culture has the advantage over Society and sport
• Society and sport has the advantage over Sciences

With the advantage, the ATK of your card is raised (×1.25); with the disadvantage, it is lowered (×0.8). Otherwise it does not change.

Terrains

A terrain is drawn at random for each attack and shown from the reconnaissance on. Its bonuses apply to the cards of both sides.

These are the starting terrains; the list of each season may change.

Starting terrains

• Library of Alexandria

  • History, Arts and culture: ATK +20%

• CERN laboratory

  • Sciences: ATK +20%

• Amazon rainforest

  • Nature and life: DEF +20%

• Grand Stadium

  • Society and sport: ATK +20%
  • Round 5: damage ×1.5

• Cabinet of curiosities

  • Knowledge question: effects ×1.5, never beyond ±25%

• Fog

  • Categories of the defense hidden during the reconnaissance

Defense postures

The defense plan chooses a posture, applied to every defense card played, the reserve included:

• Cautious: ATK −10%, DEF +10%
• Balanced: no change
• Offensive: ATK +10%, DEF −10%

The defense also gets a rampart bonus: DEF +8% for all its cards. It makes up for the information and the knowledge bonus the attacker has.

Reserve card

Once per fight, the reserve replaces the card planned for the round when its condition is met. The plan chooses one condition among:

• the attacker plays a card of a chosen category;
• the attacker plays a card of rarity Epic or rarer;
• the hit points of the defense are below 50% of their maximum at the start of the round.

The replaced card is not played.

Knowledge questions

Once per attack, at the first round whose planned defense card has a question, a question is asked about the defense card just revealed: 15 seconds, three answers. Its difficulty follows the rarity of that card and its effect lasts from that round to the end of the attack: easy (common, uncommon) ATK +15% for your cards, −5% on a wrong answer; medium (rare) DEF +20% for your cards; hard (epic, legendary) DEF −25% for the opposing cards. The stake is shown before you answer.

The question is optional: skipping it, or letting the time run out, has no effect. You can turn the questions off in your settings, but you then give up a major edge in attack.

The questions come from public Wikidata data and are reviewed before they are published. The right answer is never sent to your browser before you answer.

Victory and stars

★★★ Three stars

The defense has no hit points left: the attack stops at once.

★★ Two stars

You win, and the defense ends with 50% of its hit points or less.

★ One star

After the last round, you have more hit points than the defense.

Defeat

You have no hit points left, or as many or fewer than the defense after the last round: a tie goes to the defense.

If both sides lose their last hit points in the same round, the defense wins.

Time limits, giving up and disconnection

Without a choice after 20 seconds, the server plays your cheapest remaining card for you, without the knowledge bonus.

A disconnection does not stop the attack: come back before the time limit of the round ends to carry on; otherwise the remaining rounds are played automatically.

Giving up counts as a defeat, and the ticket used is not given back.

Targets and level

Your level rises with experience (attacks, defenses, objectives) and cannot be bought. It sets your deck budget.

You will be able to attack players of a level close to yours who finished the tutorial and are not protected. The arena will offer you targets close to you in trophies.

Some players are protected for a while: new players and those who just lost heavily in defense. The same player cannot be attacked over and over by the same opponent, and inactive players are no longer offered.

Trophies measure your performance and rank you; they are distinct from the level.

Tickets and shields

Every attack uses one attack ticket. Tickets refill over time, up to a maximum. They are never sold for real money.

After a heavy defeat in defense, a shield protects you from attacks for a few hours. Attacking lifts your shield.

Rewards

A victory earns a victory pack, richer with your stars:

• ★★★ Three stars Gold Pack
• ★★ Two stars Silver Pack
• ★ One star Bronze Pack

The number of victory packs per day is limited; beyond it, a victory earns other rewards.

Against an automatic plan or a plan far below the budget, the pack is less rich.

Every successful defense earns a rampart token; a few tokens are exchanged for a Rampart Pack.

The defender never loses cards: there is no looting.

Packs arrive unopened in your inventory; their odds will be shown before every opening.