How to play

The basics

1. Pick a Word theme, or play today's Warrior daily / Mage daily (same list for everyone, theme shown at the top).
2. Choose Warrior (sword swing) or Mage (spell cast).
3. Type the glowing word exactly. At the start of a run its first letter flashes huge across the hall to show you where to begin — the timer waits for your first key. Damage is full / 2⁄3 / 1⁄3 by timer third; clean clears charge strike power.
4. Wrong letter or timer empty = the monster hits you, every time — no grace period (see the damage numbers below). A mistype also drops your power back.
5. Clear every foe in a hall to advance (the monster box shows where you are, e.g. Kobold 3/10). A hall clear is a full heal. At halls 3, 6, and 9 you may Hold or buy one Extra potion.
6. The last foe of each hall is a red BOSS, a little bigger than the rest (you'll see it glowing in the line). A boss hit costs hall number + 10 HP; the Hall 10 Tarrasque always costs 20 HP. Other monsters cost hall number + 4 HP.
7. Some boss words are DEFEND YOURSELF! attacks: type the whole defend word cleanly and you step out of the blow (and your hero lets the boss know about it). A wrong key or timeout breaks the defense and takes double damage. Every boss's last stand is always a DEFEND word.
8. Hall 10 is the Tarrasque, the final boss. Beat it and the exit gate opens — outrun the dark to win.
9. The keyboard overlay at the bottom-left of combat highlights the next key; a wrong key flashes red.

Knight moves

• Level 1: Silver Slash, Boot the Baddie, and Meteor Slash.
• Level 3: Sneaky Slice. Level 4: Cyclone. Level 5: Surgical Strike. Level 6: Top Lopper.
• Level 7: Holy Meteor replaces Meteor Slash. Level 8: Holy Meteor Level 2. Level 9: Holy Meteor Level 3.
• Streak buffs: every 10 clean clears in a row unlocks the next one, up to 90×. A wrong key or timeout resets the streak, so keep it clean.

CtrlAltP

Drink a potion (10% heal, carry up to 10)

CtrlShiftSpace

Pause / resume

Esc

Back to class select

Score

• Word score: up to 10 — the share of the word's timer still left when you finish it. A timed-out word scores 0. Every mistake, and every hit you take after the timer runs out, is another −1, so a word can go below zero.
• Monster score: the average of the word scores you used on that monster, added to your total when it dies. One clean word or five clean words — same score. The Tarrasque counts ten times, so a perfect run is 1000.
• Monsters you never reach score nothing, and the escape run isn't scored. Totals can be negative.
• The scroll under the monster box shows your score, monsters vanquished, the current monster's average and the current word counting down.
• Scoreboard: escaped runs first, then the most monsters vanquished, then the highest score.

Treasure coins

Ten mistake-free words in a row drop one coin into your chest. A mistype or a timeout resets that count. Coins come in five rarities:

At the end of a run, keep your haul to add it to your Treasure museum on the start screen. Save your museum code (QR, copy, or email) — it's the only backup.

Burning coins for buffs

All buffs