Games Guide

Fourteen original games, all free to play online, and logged-in scores count toward XP. Entry point: /game.

The lobby is a dim arcade hall: every machine carries its own cabinet number and signal-light color, laid out in order from ARC-01 to ARC-14. Each machine's rules live in the "How to play" panel on its body - open it for a look before you start.

Cabinet	Game	Signal color
ARC-01	Snake	Green
ARC-02	Plinko	Purple
ARC-03	Memory Match	Mint
ARC-04	Sky Fighter	Blue
ARC-05	Escape the Teacher	Red
ARC-06	Endless Parkour	Amber
ARC-07	Gomoku	Magenta
ARC-08	15 Puzzle	Cyan
ARC-09	Go	Orange
ARC-10	Xiangqi / Chess	White
ARC-11	Luzhanqi	Army green
ARC-12	Twenty-Four	Gold
ARC-13	Tetris "Living Type"	Cinnabar
ARC-14	Neon Matrix	Phosphor cyan

Snake

Steer with arrow keys or on-screen buttons; every "teacher" eaten scores points, and every 50 points levels you up and speeds things up. Hit a wall or bite yourself and it's over. Entry: /game/snake.

Item	Details
Controls	Arrow keys / on-screen direction buttons
Scoring	Points per pickup; level up every 50
Special	Adrenaline via Q or the purple button: 10 seconds of speed, 10 charges per run
Pause	Space

Don't hoard the adrenaline - pop it as soon as the pace rises; 10 seconds of speed buys a faster scoring rhythm. After a level-up the turning window gets short, so anticipate half a tile early rather than yanking the turn at the last pixel. The 30-point and 80-point single-run tiers each carry an XP quest.

Plinko

You start with 50 coins, each drop costs 5, and you release 1, 3, or 5 marbles at a time. Marbles land in multiplier slots - left to right: 2x, 3x, 5x, 8x, 15x, 15x, 8x, 5x, 3x, 2x. Entry: /game/plinko.

The two middle 15x slots are the hardest to hit; the outer high zones are actually 8x. It's a pure-luck decompression toy, coins live in your browser, and when you're broke, "Reset marbles" starts you over. The 100-point single-run tier carries an XP quest.

Memory Match

Click cards to flip them; matching pairs clear. Less time and fewer moves mean higher scores. Entry: /game/memory.

Difficulty	Board
Easy	3×2
Normal	4×3
Hard	4×4
Expert	5×4
Insane	6×4

On your first sweep, scan row by row and memorize positions as coordinates - remembering where beats remembering what. Insane mode is 24 cards; a single pass of memory won't cut it. Your all-time best sits on the scoreboard, and the 300-point single-run tier carries an XP quest.

Sky Fighter

Move with arrow keys or WASD, fire with I, pause with Space - and the enemies shoot back. Entry: /game/air.

Difficulty	Enemy speed	Your damage	Enemy HP	Enemy fire interval
Easy	5 m/s	15	25	2s
Normal	10	25	50	1.5s
Hard	15	40	80	0.8s
Nightmare	20	50	100	0.5s
Extreme	Same as Nightmare, plus thunderstorms	From 30, rising to 100 by wave	Same as Nightmare	Same as Nightmare

On Extreme, your damage climbs wave by wave - early on, preserving HP pays better than chasing kills. There are two background tracks, switchable in settings; lightning during thunderstorms is an Extreme-only show. The 500-point and 1000-point tiers each carry an XP quest.

Escape the Teacher

Snake-style movement: dodge every teacher and survive until the timer runs out to win. Entry: /game/escape_teacher.

Difficulty	Teacher speed	Duration	Adrenaline
Easy	50%	1 minute	10 charges, 10s each
Normal	80%	1 minute	8 charges, 8s each
Hard	90%	1 minute	5 charges, 5s each
Nightmare	90%	3 minutes	3 charges, 3s each

Adrenaline only works when "sts" picks it up personally: a speed boost plus brief invulnerability. On Normal you can save them up; on Nightmare a new teacher joins every 20 seconds, so keep a charge for when you're boxed in. Surviving a full 60 seconds carries an XP quest.

Endless Parkour

Run forever through a 3D neon city: A / D to switch lanes, Space to jump, Esc to pause, with on-screen buttons on mobile. Entry: /game/parkour. It's full-screen and immersive with no site navigation - leave by refreshing or going back.

Setting	Options
Quality	Eco / Smooth / Standard / HD
Resolution	Low / Medium / High
Frame rate	15 / 30 / 60

Speed keeps climbing; watch the top of the screen to read obstacles early instead of staring at your feet. On weaker hardware, lower quality and resolution and settle for 30 fps - stuttering costs you more distance than ugly graphics ever will. The 500 m and 1200 m single-run tiers each carry an XP quest.

Gomoku

A 15×15 board; you take black and move first, the AI answers with white. Click an intersection to place a stone, and the first line of five - across, down, or diagonal - wins; a full board with no five-in-a-row is a draw. Entry: /game/gomoku.

Difficulty	Win score
Easy	100
Normal	200
Hard	300
Master	500

Losses, draws, and resignations score 0. Difficulty locks in at the start of the match; "Restart" and "Resign" are always available. Attack by building open threes first; defend by capping the opponent's pairs before they grow - a live three on both ends is the hardest threat to block. Winning on Normal and on Master each carry an XP quest.

The 15 Puzzle

Click a tile adjacent to the blank to slide it in; arrange the numbers from 1 with the blank at the end to solve. Entry: /game/slide15.

Difficulty	Board	Win score
Easy	3×3	100
Normal	4×4	200
Hard	5×5	300

Unsolved scores 0; move counts and time don't factor in. Every deal starts from the solved state and shuffles with random legal moves, so a solution always exists; "Restart" and "Give up" are available mid-game. Solve the top row and left column first, then work row by row; on the last two rows, cycle tiles as a group rather than forcing single tiles. Winning on Normal and on Hard each carry an XP quest.

Go

Boards from 9×9 to 19×19; you take black and move first, the AI answers with white, and the territory you surround is yours. Chinese rules apply: 7.5 komi to white, suicide is forbidden, and ko can't be retaken immediately. When both players pass in a row, the game scores itself: dead stones are auto-captured, both territories are marked on the board, and stones decide it - no draws. Entry: /game/weiqi.

Difficulty	Board	Win score
Easy	9×9	100
Normal	13×13	200
Hard	19×19	300

Click an intersection to place; "Pass" when you want to stop, "Resign" anytime things go south - losses and resignations score 0. Newcomers: learn "liberties" and "captures" first - a group with no liberties comes off the board, so count liberties before you play. Winning on Normal and on Hard each carry an XP quest.

Xiangqi and Chess

One cabinet, two chesses: switch between "Chinese Chess" and "International Chess" at the top of the page. Chinese Chess is the default; Easy / Normal / Hard apply to both. In Xiangqi you play red and move first; in chess you play white; the AI answers within 2 seconds a move. Entry: /game/chess.

Chinese chess: a 9×10 board with the river and the nine palaces.

Piece	Movement
General (Marshal)	One orthogonal step, confined to the palace
Advisor	One diagonal step, confined to the palace
Elephant (Minister)	Two points diagonally; blocked by a piece at the midpoint; never crosses the river
Horse	An L-shape; blocked by a piece beside its leg
Chariot	Any distance orthogonally
Cannon	Orthogonal moves; captures only by jumping one screen piece
Soldier (Pawn)	Forward one before crossing the river; after crossing, may also step sideways

Generals may not face each other on an open file; check must be answered; checkmate or stalemate loses; 60 consecutive capture-free turns are a draw.

International chess: an 8×8 checkered board.

Piece	Movement
King	One step any direction
Queen	Any distance, any direction
Rook	Any distance orthogonally
Bishop	Any distance diagonally
Knight	An L-shape, never blocked
Pawn	Forward one (two on its first move), captures diagonally

Castling is available once per side (kingside and queenside): neither king nor rook may have moved, no pieces between, the king may not be in check, pass through attack, or land in attack. En passant: when an enemy pawn advances two squares past yours, capture it on the very next move. Pawns promote to queens at the far rank; moving into check is illegal and pinned pieces can't abandon their post. Checkmate loses, stalemate draws, 50 moves without a capture or pawn move draw, and a threefold repetition of position draws.

Difficulty	Win score
Easy	100
Normal	200
Hard	300

Scores follow difficulty, not variant; losses, resignations, and draws all score 0. Moves take two steps: click your piece, then click the highlighted destination; "Restart" and "Resign" are always available. Beginners: learn what "check" looks like on Easy first - the horse's leg and elephant's eye in xiangqi, and castling conditions in chess, are the things to check before your hand moves. Winning on Normal and on Hard each carry an XP quest.

Luzhanqi

Standard luzhanqi played as dark-piece flip war: the board has railways and roads, camps and headquarters, and you and the AI each hold 25 pieces. The game opens with a deployment phase - the system offers a preset formation and you can drag or click two of your pieces to swap them; mines and bombs must sit in the back two rows, and the flag must be in a headquarters. Easy uses one fixed recommended formation; Normal and Hard pick randomly from several presets. Entry: /game/junqi.

Play flow: players alternate turns; each turn you flip one dark piece or move one of your revealed ones. Roads move one step; railways slide any distance in a straight line without obstruction. Pieces inside camps can't be attacked, and a piece that walks into a headquarters can't move again.

Piece	Count	Notes
Field Marshal	1	Highest rank; when it dies, your flag is revealed
General	1	Just under the Field Marshal
Major General	2	Beats Brigadier
Brigadier	2	Beats Colonel
Colonel	2	Beats Major
Major	2	Beats Captain
Captain	3	Beats Lieutenant
Lieutenant	3	Beats Engineer
Engineer	3	Lowest rank; defuses mines; the only piece that can turn on railways
Bomb	2	Destroys itself and any piece it strikes
Landmine	3	Cannot move; back two rows only
Flag	1	Headquarters only; captured means defeat

Equal ranks destroy each other. Mines end three ways: an Engineer eats one and survives, a Bomb takes it down together with itself, and any other piece dies on contact while the mine stays.

Difficulty	Win score
Easy	100
Normal	200
Hard	300

Losses and resignations score 0. Capture the enemy flag by walking into their headquarters (taking the flag) to win; if the opponent has no legal move, you win too; a dead Field Marshal auto-reveals their flag. The AI answers within 1.5 seconds a move. Newcomers: learn the railway lines first - one Engineer turn can swing deep into your rear, so plant your mines beside the headquarters and keep an Engineer guarding home. Winning on Normal and on Hard each carry an XP quest.

Twenty-Four

Each round deals four cards; make 24 using +, -, ×, ÷ and parentheses. A counts as 1, and J, Q, K as 11, 12, 13. Entry: /game/twentyfour.

• Every deal is brute-force verified before it's shown, so a solution always exists - even fraction-friendly deals like 8/(3-8/3) show up
• You type the answer yourself and the parser checks it term by term: a missing card, a reused card, or a wrong result all come back with a clear reason
• Three "new deal" skips per round; viewing a solution shows one answer and voids the round's win/loss
• Your streak and daily best live only in your browser and survive closing the page
• Logged-in correct answers count toward the "finish any game" XP quest, streaks join your account's game records, and 5- and 10-win streaks each carry an XP quest

First, scan the four cards for factors of 24 (3, 4, 6, 8, 12) - the multiplication path is usually fastest; when the cards are all small, think fraction division.

Tetris "Living Type"

The arcade's thirteenth cabinet, "Living Type": a printing press converted into a game machine, its 10×20 well lined with a sheet of deckle-edged paper. Dropping a block inks a character; locking presses it into the paper; clearing a line lifts a whole row of type; finish a full plate and the ARC-13 stamp comes down before fresh paper feeds in. Entry: /game/tetris.

Item	Details
Controls	←→ move - ↓ soft drop - ↑ or X rotate clockwise - Z rotate counter-clockwise - Space hard drop
Hold	C or Shift, once per piece; the HOLD letter cells are clickable too
Pause	P
Scoring	1/2/3/4 lines: 100/300/500/800 × level; soft drop +1 per cell, hard drop +2 per cell
Levels	Level up every 10 lines; gravity rises with level

Modern rules throughout: SRS rotation with wall kicks, 7-bag randomizer, a three-piece NEXT preview, ghost piece marking your landing, and move corrections inside lock delay. On mobile use the on-screen buttons or gestures in the well: swipe to move, swipe down to soft drop, fast swipe to hard drop, tap to rotate. When danger rises, the paper stains yellow and crop lines surface.

The tetris is this cabinet's signature moment: four whole rows rise as one plate, the nameplate flashes a beat, and the tray in the left column engraves one character in that clear's dominant ink color - collect 12 and you have a full set of living type. Records and high scores stay in this browser only.

• Logged-in runs count toward the "finish any game" XP quest, and run scores join your account's game records
• The 1000-point and 3000-point single-run tiers each carry an XP quest; all game score thresholds are in the Accounts & XP guide

Neon Matrix

The arcade's fourteenth cabinet, "Neon Matrix": a CRT that has glowed for forty-one years and refuses to die, its phosphor congealed into bricks clogging the light path. Your paddle is the last intact scanline in the tube, and your job is to escort the one photon still flowing inside the matrix through all twenty sectors, clearing each one. Entry: /game/breakout.

Item	Details
Controls	←→ or A/D move - Space or click launch - on mobile, drag the paddle and tap to launch
Pause	P or Esc
Clearing	Destroy every breakable brick; gray bricks score nothing, welded bricks can't break, and toll bricks cost points when broken
Stars	1 star for clearing; 2 stars at 80% of the par score; 3 stars at 120% (lives left and time both feed the total)
Unlocking	Clearing one level opens the next; 15 stars in a chapter unlock the next; 20 chapters, 200 levels in the book

Every chapter has its own temperament: gap chapters hide one never-lit row, static bricks take their neighbors when they shatter, the ball vanishes in scan gaps, deflector bricks bend its path 45 degrees, twin bricks break in two places at once, gate bricks wait for their open-face window, neck chapters squeeze the field, and the soldered maze shifts a cell every twenty seconds. Round capsules are power-ups; red octagons are curses; amber-deep-red bricks drop double loot - whether to grab it is your call.

At the end of chapter 20, a cathode core sits at the top: shatter it and the book closes, with the cabinet playing your completion roll.

Two side modes

The level-select page also offers two entrances that don't count toward the campaign; their records live in this browser only:

Mode	Details
Daily Matrix	One special layout rotates in daily (a pool of thirty), identical for the whole site that day; one attempt a day, three lives, clear to win. Clears extend your daily streak; a loss closes the stand for the day. Records copy with one click
Endless Corridor	Hand-built patterns assemble into endless waves; the deeper you go, the more brick types unlock, the faster the ball, and the music re-arranges each chapter. Every fifth wave sends in a cabinet (except the Proofreader); three lives gone and you're at the bottom - it records your deepest wave and best score

• Logged-in level results count toward the "finish any game" XP quest, and level scores join your account's game records
• The 5000-point and 15000-point single-level tiers each carry an XP quest; all game score thresholds are in the Accounts & XP guide
• The two side modes never touch XP or account records - purely local scores

Neon Matrix at a glance

The arcade's fourteenth cabinet: a CRT-neon brick breaker, all 20 chapters × 10 levels hand-designed, each chapter with its own mechanic and its own power-ups, plus the Daily Matrix and Endless Corridor side modes.

• The physics use swept collision at 240Hz substeps - the ball never tunnels through a brick, however fast; bounce angles follow where and how the paddle was moving, so you can aim deliberately
• Twenty-plus power-ups including cursed ones; drops are weighted, with stacking and exclusion rules between them
• The level grid unlocks level by level with three-star ratings; clearing level 200 triggers a CRT celebration with a custom fanfare
• Two side modes: the Daily Matrix (one shared board a day) and the Endless Corridor (endless waves, a cabinet every fifth)
• Progress, stars, and high scores stay in this browser only

General notes

• Everything is free, nothing to install, and high scores record automatically
• XP requires being logged into a main site account; logged out, only local high scores remain
• Score-to-XP thresholds for the scoring fourteen (Snake 80 points, parkour 1200 m, and so on) are in the Accounts & XP guide
• Game-related daily quests live at /user/tasks
• Want more arcade in one sitting? The Retro TV at /player hides 18 more mini-games on its game deck - see the Retro TV Handbook