[ANN] Blockchain-reaction | Up to 10,000x winnings | 100% Skill based

[monsterer]

• 100% Skill based
• Play for free, or with bitcoins
• Win up to 4 times your bet
• 5% fee taken from the winning pot
• Multiplayer, or single-player
• 1 - 4 Player games
• Algorithmically fair*
• Win BTC against the CPU player
• Spectate on games in progress to pick up play hints
• No luck involved
• Integrated faucet
• Go from 0 BTC invested to 0.01 BTC

http://Blockchain-reaction.com

I'm very excited to announce the launch of Blockchain-reaction (beta)!

Blockchain reaction is a very addictive, online multiplayer board game. The objective of the game is to eradicate all other colours from the board. Board cells multiply when they reach critical-mass, exploding into neighbouring cells, occupying them in a cascading chain reaction. If you've played the old game Atoms, or chain-reaction, you'll know how to play already.

You can play for free, or deposit some bitcoins and play for stakes!

If you're good enough to beat the CPU, you can win BTC by betting against it in one of the single-player stakes games.

I'd love for you to take a look and let me know what you think! There will be a BTC giveaway in near future as well, so stay tuned.

Cheers, Paul.

(from Wildbunny Ltd, UK company no. 07308277)

* Algorithmically fair means the outcome of each game follows strict algorithmic rules, like any board-game and as such cannot be manipulated against the player.

[1715658963]

1715658963

[1715658963]

1715658963

[RGBKey]

This looks like a really fun game but you shouldn't use solely a bitcoin address as a login.

[Kyraishi]

wow, so hard ...
after, training beat cpu two times in a row haha

[monsterer]

This looks like a really fun game but you shouldn't use solely a bitcoin address as a login.

Thanks for the feedback - google authenticator is on the cards. Would you like to see things done differently?

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

So far:

• 291 games have been played
• 953670 satoshis have been won (0.00953670 BTC)
• The best player is Baaandy with winning percentage of 70% and winnings of 687802 satoshis

Overall the CPU player is losing more bitcoins than it's winning which suggests there is money to be made for the smart player.

Cheers, Paul.

[001sonkit]

I like your site. MOAR INTERESTING GAMES PLZ

[001sonkit]

another thing, use address start with 1, I can't pop money to you with my kryptokit

EDIT: it seems you me your site can't add #anchor or ?id=1234 in behind of the URL or errors return (actually you should prob debug your code on chrome, thou it work...)

[monsterer]

another thing, use address start with 1, I can't pop money to you with my kryptokit

I'm using multi-signature addresses, which is why they start with a 3. I guess a lot of 3rd party clients have yet to support them?

[001sonkit]

kryptokit false
blockchain.info false

[RGBKey]

another thing, use address start with 1, I can't pop money to you with my kryptokit

I'm using multi-signature addresses, which is why they start with a 3. I guess a lot of 3rd party clients have yet to support them?

I for one have no idea how to use multi-signature addresses. Normal bitcoin addresses would be appreciated

[monsterer]

Ok, thanks guys - this is right at the top of my priority list now

[monsterer]

I've updated the tutorial - hopefully its more obvious now how the cells multiply based on their location on the board.

Cheers, Paul.

[Zaih]

This is an awesome idea and very well implemented site.

I really hope to see this take off!

[monsterer]

This is an awesome idea and very well implemented site.

I really hope to see this take off!

Thanks, I really appreciate that

[001sonkit]

Down for bitcoind update?

[monsterer]

Down for bitcoind update?

Sorry, had some technical difficulties, should be back up now

[BlueMonkey]

Nice game. Do you have plan to make ref thing and promo or tournament ?

[BlueMonkey]

Can't deposit anything 

[monsterer]

Can't deposit anything 

Sorry about that!

Are you getting a message from your wallet about the deposit address being invalid?

If so, I am currently working on a fix - stay tuned

If not, please let me know the details, and I'll get on it.

Cheers, Paul.

[BlueMonkey]

Can't deposit anything 

Sorry about that!

Are you getting a message from your wallet about the deposit address being invalid?

If so, I am currently working on a fix - stay tuned

If not, please let me know the details, and I'll get on it.

Cheers, Paul.

Yes that the problem

[moocoin]

That's really cool.  Lots of fun!  I like at the end of the game when things cascade across the board and the tables swing back and forth massively with each move.  Really great job on this!

It's nice to see some innovation in bitcoin games!

MooCoin

[monsterer]

That's really cool.  Lots of fun!  I like at the end of the game when things cascade across the board and the tables swing back and forth massively with each move.  Really great job on this!

It's nice to see some innovation in bitcoin games!

MooCoin

Thanks Yeah, the game play can be very dynamic - it can almost seem random at first, but there is a great depth to be explored for the advanced player.

[sergiom]

Fantastic Game

Congratulations!!

[hynx]

Could you describe the exact algorithm for the chain reaction ? I'm guessing you do it in a breadth first manner, but the ordering also matters. Do you go clock-wise, counter-clock-wise, is that fixed, or does it vary ?

The game is great since forever, indeed.

[monsterer]

Could you describe the exact algorithm for the chain reaction ? I'm guessing you do it in a breadth first manner, but the ordering also matters. Do you go clock-wise, counter-clock-wise, is that fixed, or does it vary ?

The game is great since forever, indeed.

Here's some pseudocode for the actual propagation algorithm:

Code:

int PropagateOnce(int player)
{
	int changes = 0;

	m_incrementList.Clear();

	// go bredth first, in scanline order where j is horizontal and i is vertical
	for (int i = 1; i < m_size - 1; i++)
	{
		for (int j = 1; j < m_size - 1; j++)
		{
			GameCell up = GetCell(i+1, j);
			GameCell down = GetCell(i - 1, j);
			GameCell left = GetCell(i, j - 1);
			GameCell right = GetCell(i, j + 1);
			GameCell current = GetCell(i, j);
			int neighbours = up.m_Count + down.m_Count + left.m_Count + right.m_Count;
	
			if (current.m_l >= neighbours)
			{
				current.m_l = 0;

				m_incrementList.Add(up);
				m_incrementList.Add(down);
				m_incrementList.Add(left);
				m_incrementList.Add(right);
		
				changes++;
			}
		}
	}

	foreach (GameCell g in m_incrementList)
	{
		g.Increment(player);
	}

	return changes;
}

// propagate changes in the board after a player moves
do
{
	// one wave of propagation
	changes = PropagateOnce(player);
} while (changes > 0);

It's breadth-first and the cells are traversed in scanline order. On the client there is a pause between each wave of propagation so the player can see what happened, which would be located after the PropagateOnce function in the above code.

Hope that helps

Cheers, Paul.

[thecoinjournal]

Nice idea

[hynx]

Could you describe the exact algorithm for the chain reaction ? I'm guessing you do it in a breadth first manner, but the ordering also matters. Do you go clock-wise, counter-clock-wise, is that fixed, or does it vary ?

The game is great since forever, indeed.

It's breadth-first and the cells are traversed in scanline order. On the client there is a pause between each wave of propagation so the player can see what happened, which would be located after the PropagateOnce function in the above code.

Hope that helps

It helps, thanks. Good luck with the site.

[monsterer]

Hi everyone,

I've just rolled out a new build with the deposit problem now fixed! Blockchain-reaction should now be fully compatible with all wallets, including blockchain.info.

In addition, I've added password protection to all accounts - existing users will be prompted to enter a password in order to protect their accounts. If you dismiss the dialog after the page loads, you can still protect your account from the menu bar.

Full change list:

* Deposit addresses now compatible with all wallets
* Any existing, in-flight deposits sent to the old multi-sig addresses will continue to work as well
* Added password protection to login, join and create stakes games
* Added a visible call to register for guest players
* Added favicon.ico
* Multiple misc bug and security fixes
* Password protection includes failed attempt retry delay which doubles at each failed attempt, starting from 1 second

Ok, let me know how you guys get on with this, as ever if you have any problems, post them here or you can raise a support request through the site!

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

A blockchain.info user confirms deposits are now fully functional

http://Blockchain-reaction.com

[monsterer]

Wow, didn't expect to be DDOS'ed out of existence before the site even took off...

Stay tuned while I try and get some counter-measures installed.

[monsterer]

We're back up and running!

[monsterer]

• 612 games played
• 1,742,175 satoshis (0.01742175 BTC) won
• Baaandy is the top player with a winning percentage of 70% and 114 games won

[Light]

Nice game, it's great fun to see the blocks rapidly shift all the time Loving it thus far!

[monsterer]

User hynx, doubled their bitcoins last night playing against the CPU player.

People are starting to get good at this game!

[monsterer]

Announcing the first blockchain-reaction giveaway!

Details are here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=425542.0

Cheers, Paul.

[dan_bn]

Hello,
Where is the tutorial ?
I can't understand how that's works.
Could I chose the color and to be the first to move ?

[monsterer]

Hello,
Where is the tutorial ?
I can't understand how that's works.
Could I chose the color and to be the first to move ?

Hi Dan,

The tutorial should pop up when you first load the page - it's the thing on the left with a big green arrow pointing to it.

Let me know if you're still have problems?

Cheers, Paul.

[dan_bn]

hello
I use this URL : http://blockchain-reaction.com/
But nothing pops up and i see no green arrow except the one which says : click here to occupy this cell
But no tutorial anywhere.

[monsterer]

hello
I use this URL : http://blockchain-reaction.com/
But nothing pops up and i see no green arrow except the one which says : click here to occupy this cell
But no tutorial anywhere.

The screen should look like this:



...and the tutorial is the board on the left with the green arrow and the text "Click here to occupy this cell". Once you click, the game attempts to teach you the rules by interacting with it.

Hope that helps!

Cheers, Paul.

[MakeBelieve]

This is very difficult to master congraulations on making such a amazing game.

[snuffish]

The site seems down atm.. 

[monsterer]

The site seems down atm.. 

Sorry, had some technical difficulties while I was asleep :| Should be back up now

[dan_bn]

Hello
Nothing happens when I click on the rectangle with "click here to .......".
same when I click on the green arrow.
I'm using chrome, is it a problem with the browser ?

[monsterer]

Hello
Nothing happens when I click on the rectangle with "click here to .......".
same when I click on the green arrow.
I'm using chrome, is it a problem with the browser ?

Very odd - do you have js enabled?

Are you getting any errors in the debug console? (right click, inspect element, then click on console in the tab which appears).

On a different subject, blockchain reaction is now compatible with IE8!

[monsterer]

Get paid up to 0.1BTC/month advertise blockchain-reaction.com in your signature: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=427374.0

[monsterer]

Latest changes:

• Added typeahead in the chat window for usernames, triggers on '@'
• Spectating mode now shows you more clearly where the players moved before the board updates
• The top 25 players table now auto-updates after every game
• Fixed a typo in the tutorial

Cpu has payed out over twice as many bitcoins as it bet, make sure you take advantage of this before I'm forced up update his playing style!

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Stay upto date with the latest blockchain-reaction news by following me on twitter!

https://twitter.com/bcreaction

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

blockchain-reaction.com

• More than 2000 games played
• 3,300,240 satoshis won (0.03300240 BTC)
• @hynx is now the top player with 496 games won, and a 97% winning percentage!

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Does anyone have any features requests?

Are people understanding how to play?

[Chancellor]

Does anyone have any features requests?

Seems that the CPU player played poorly and ran out of money . Gambling is a risky business...

[monsterer]

Does anyone have any features requests?

Seems that the CPU player played poorly and ran out of money . Gambling is a risky business...

Heh heh, yes this is true. I've refilled his balance

[monsterer]

CPU has now paid out 2.67 times more than it bet, meaning it is losing money quite badly despite my best efforts to write some decent AI

5,207,469 satoshis (0.05207469 BTC) have been won,
4,161 games have been played,
Top player is still hynx with 715 games won and 97% win rate.

Cheers, Paul.

[RGBKey]

I bet it's hard to find a good way to design that AI, good luck.

[monsterer]

I bet it's hard to find a good way to design that AI, good luck.

Yeah, extremely hard actually! Humans have this knack of adaptation. Would love to come up with a learning AI, but machine learning looks so complicated.

[dhankitsu]

nice game sir..... but defeat cpu is difficult, maybe i need more learn

Cheers

[Chancellor]

Server seems to be not responding.

[uwe]

Server seems to be not responding.

still down? any news?

[Chancellor]

Server seems to be not responding.

still down? any news?

Still down.

[monsterer]

Sorry guys, server went down while I was away, I've restarted it. Many apologies.

[blazsword]

I always lose no matter what i do on this game :/

[sanjoea]

I always lose no matter what i do on this game :/

You need some experience and patience

[monsterer]

Does anyone know any other 4 player multiplayer bitcoin related games?

I'm trying to work out if blockchain-reaction is unique in that regard...

[blazsword]

I've lost 546 times now on easy cpu and won zero times! Lol.. I'm so freaking bad

[monsterer]

I've lost 546 times now on easy cpu and won zero times! Lol.. I'm so freaking bad

That's some perseverance you have there! I am impressed!

[monsterer]

New build uploaded.

Changes:

• Added new CPU mode Medium difficulty
• Can now play AI for stakes in easy mode
• Maximum AI stake level has increased 10 times to 0.00010000 BTC
• AI now has more randomness to its play style

Lets see how long it takes people to drain the AI's account!

Cheers, Paul.

[Chancellor]

Lets see how long it takes people to drain the AI's account!

Aaaaand... Server is not responding again.

[monsterer]

Lets see how long it takes people to drain the AI's account!

Aaaaand... Server is not responding again.

Sorry, went down in the night - it's back up now

[monsterer]

Uploaded a new build - hopefully this one solves the lost connection issue some people were experiencing.

Let me know if you have any issues.

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Here's a great quote from one of our players:

From my point of view this game is my best bitcoin investment so far ;>

Made 5000%

No exchange or mining can beat it.

[monsterer]

Update:

• 7,462 games played
• 10,175,834 satoshis (0.10175834 BTC) won by users
• Top player has won 5000% of his deposit

Come and join the multi-player fun!

BTClockchain-reaction.com | 100% Skill based | Win bitcoins | Multiplayer

Cheers, Paul.

[Chancellor]

The server is down again. Seems that it is not very stable, Microsoft technologies used? 

[Aswan]

I found the game yesterday and I like it. Have you invented the game or is it a remake or an old game. If it's a remake, whats the original game? If it's not a remake, what has inspired you to do such a game?

[wang_yan]

Is the site down?

[Chancellor]

Is the site down?

Currently it works.

[monsterer]

I found the game yesterday and I like it. Have you invented the game or is it a remake or an old game. If it's a remake, whats the original game? If it's not a remake, what has inspired you to do such a game?

If you've played the old game 'chain-reaction', sometimes called 'atoms', this is the same game-play as the original. I just found the original so additive and compelling when playing against a human opponent, but there was no on-line multiplayer version of the game in existance (to my knowledge) so I decided to make one!

Cheers, Paul.

[Mivexil]

Seems cool. Too bad I suck at it, and too bad I don't have the time, I used to do some gaming AIs for simple games back in the day. And seeing how it's probably going to be a botfest anyway...

[wang_yan]

Is it down?

[Chancellor]

Is it down?

True. Seems that there are some repeating technical problems. Let's hope it won't be a MtGox miniature .

[monsterer]

Sorry - it always seems to go down when I'm asleep Back now.

[monsterer]

CPU has been refilled

[surfer43]

Please refill the hot wallet.

But first... Answer Ticket Number 10 please 
...
asap

[monsterer]

Please refill the hot wallet.

But first... Answer Ticket Number 10 please 
...
asap

Email sent.

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Hot wallet has been refilled, all withdrawals should go through ok now.

[monsterer]

• 11,528 games played
• 25,013,256 satoshis (0.25013256 BTC) won in total
• Top player is steelin who has won 0.10489097 BTC

Cheers, Paul.

[Chancellor]

Waited for a game, when an opponent joined, server crashed. Server instability is what will discourage people to play at higher stakes. Noone wants to loose BTC just because of technical glitch.

[monsterer]

Waited for a game, when an opponent joined, server crashed. Server instability is what will discourage people to play at higher stakes. Noone wants to loose BTC just because of technical glitch.

Sorry you are having problems - I checked the logs but I can't see anything relevant.

Can you describe what you mean by 'crashed'?

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Update:

• Added a new AI level Very Easy which is equivalent to the old Easy
• CPU stake sizes have been increased by a factor of 10, so the largest is now 0.001 BTC
• 10 win CPU stakes game only limit has been removed for all but Very Easy CPU level
• In PvP matches all players get awarded a bonus after every game
• AI difficulty has been rebalanced

Hope you enjoy the changes!

Cheers, Paul.

[Chancellor]

Server is down again? Lost connection while playing and cannot connect anymore.

[uptweets]

This is the best game I've played using BTC. Would love to see an investing function.

[monsterer]

Server is down again? Lost connection while playing and cannot connect anymore.

We're back - and I've rolled out a candidate fix for connection issues. Let me know how you get on?

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

This is the best game I've played using BTC. Would love to see an investing function.

Thanks

I'm considering adding something like that.

I'm also open to traditional investment offers from interested parties. PM me if you're interested.

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Congratulations to user TheKazu4u, who won over 0.1BTC in the last 24 hours.

[Chancellor]

Server is down again? Lost connection while playing and cannot connect anymore.

We're back - and I've rolled out a candidate fix for connection issues. Let me know how you get on?

Another server takedown... I guess the code needs some serious review...

[monsterer]

Another server takedown... I guess the code needs some serious review...

We're back again

[monsterer]

New build with some changes:

• CPU difficulty has been completely reworked to be more transparent
• Add new skill stat for each player which gets recalculated as you play CPU stakes games
• As you level up you must play against the CPU difficulty suited to your skill level
• Minimum stake game size has been changed to be accessible to all balance sizes
• 10 Game lock is now present on all but the Hard difficulty level

I understand that the skill level lock may be a controversial feature; it is the first part of a multi-part plan to mature the game design

The second part will be an option to play against a lower CPU difficulty than your skill level would allow, with a move handicap.

This move handicap will also be present on all PvP games to make sure that newbies playing experts is fair proposition.

I would love to hear what you think about these ideas, please let me know

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Announcing the highest paying referral system in all of bitcoin!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=484662.0

25% of the fees for every stakes game a player you refer to us participates in. Whether they win or lose!

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

New build today with handicap system!

This allows players of differing skill level to play each other in a fair game. Lower skilled players are awarded a number of auto-placed moves on the board before the game starts. These moves are always placed in the same locations on board, much like the handicap system in the old game Go.

Let me know what you think!

Cheers, Paul.

[Chancellor]

This allows players of differing skill level to play each other in a fair game. Lower skilled players are awarded a number of auto-placed moves on the board before the game starts. These moves are always placed in the same locations on board, much like the handicap system in the old game Go

As a player having the highest skill level in the game I have to say that number of handicap moves needs to be tuned a bit. When playing with a player from Top 10, he got 43 moves of handicap. Considering the pattern of the handicap, I have 0% chances to win, when my opponent is doing just obvious moves (bumping up fields near my ones he always gets his fields ready to explode one move faster than me). Or maybe just the handicap pattern has to be modified? I suggest something less symetric.

[monsterer]

I've just made a little video showing me winning the 4 CPU difficulty levels, hope it gives you some play tips!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yln-ckNgylk

[Chancellor]

I've just made a little video showing me winning the 4 CPU difficulty levels, hope it gives you some play tips!

I would like to watch a video where you show how to win with Medium CPU having +59 handicap against you .

[monsterer]

I've just made a little video showing me winning the 4 CPU difficulty levels, hope it gives you some play tips!

I would like to watch a video where you show how to win with Medium CPU having +59 handicap against you .

Yes, that would indeed be impressive. I've just updated the handicap curve so it should be more sensible now. Let me know how you get on?

[Chancellor]

I would like to watch a video where you show how to win with Medium CPU having +59 handicap against you .

Yes, that would indeed be impressive. I've just updated the handicap curve so it should be more sensible now. Let me know how you get on?

OK, now I struggle against +49. I would have zero chances even with intermediate level human player, but as the Medium CPU does not wipe me out at the start, I can prevail.

[Chancellor]

Latest versions of the game are highly intolerant for longer ping times. Then, it often happens that my connection is routed via crappy "tinet.net" skeleton network, managed by some GTT. See what happens when I try to traceroute the thing:

10  ae6.fra61.ip4.tinet.net (141.136.103.213)  39 ms  55 ms  40 ms
11  xe-2-1-0.lon21.ip4.tinet.net (89.149.183.29)  3947 ms  4293 ms  3866 ms

Hop 16 is blockchain-reaction. This is an extreme example, usually this router delays by 1.0 to 1.5 second. I've tried to bypass this crappy tinet.net skeleton by using some HTTP proxies, but they sometimes introduce even higher delays.

From my observations it seems that even one outlier ping above 500 msec may cause the game to lock unrecoverrably. Of course in this case stakes are not returned. Then, playing higher stakes is just a roulette (with rather high house edge, if you ask me...).

It seems to me that the game code design was not done with high network delays in mind. Probably design phase tests were only conducted on a LAN. I've played different games online on different platforms and had not encounter similar problems.

[monsterer]

It seems to me that the game code design was not done with high network delays in mind. Probably design phase tests were only conducted on a LAN. I've played different games online on different platforms and had not encounter similar problems.

The problem is related to either browser specific or network driver specific handling of long polling HTTP packets as best I can determine. The game has a streaming system for incoming messages which control the behaviour of the game, so that it can update whenever a player makes a move, or a chat message arrives etc etc. The client sends a subscribe POST to the server which just sits there with no response generated until there is data to deliver.

It is my suspicion that these type of requests fall foul of driver management of outstanding HTTP requests - either they get put on a low priority queue, or are internally discarded in some implementations.

In order to get around this problem I will have to look at a websockets implementation to handle the streaming instead, which is my next priority because the game needs to be 100% stable. Please bare with me while these changes get implemented

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

Server is undergoing some maintenance, ETA for back online is late tomorrow, thanks for you patience!

[Chancellor]

Server is undergoing some maintenance, ETA for back online is late tomorrow, thanks for you patience!

Let's hope our deposited hundreds of BTC are safe .

[spookycloud]

Website is under construction?
ETA when going back online?
Are my 57 bitcoins safe?

[monsterer]

All coins are safe (as usual), ETA late tomorrow to resume operations. Thanks for your patience.

[monsterer]

Ok, we're back up and running! Sorry for the delay.

[monsterer]

Update:

• 17,410 games played
• 0.60640739 BTC won
• Best player is steelin, with 0.19518676 BTC won and a 71% win ratio

Come join the fun!

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

New build has been uploaded:

• Skill points are now exchanged in PvP matches
• Handicap moves will get allocated to you when playing a more skilled CPU player
• HTTP server has been rewritten for less play interruptions

Let me know how you get on!

Cheers, Paul.

[monsterer]

New build:

• Added 'Expert' mode CPU player, play to win 0.01 BTC per game
• 'Medium' and 'Hard' mode have been reworked, and handicap moves in their favour have been reset to zero

Enjoy!

[Chancellor]

Server is down again?

[Massimo80]

Nice game, but could it be possible to add free matches with easy/medium CPU?
Thus at least a player could know what he's going to face when starting to play for money... very easy CPU is, quite frankly, really TOO easy to get a good grip on the game.

[SZZT]

 
ha, this is fun, i just played a few freebies though.
i'll practice some and go for some coins

thanx man, it's a cool little game!

[Massimo80]

Been hooked there for a couple of hours, nice game indeed 

Too bad there doesn't seem anyone to play with... CPU is fun, but after having beaten each level a couple of times, the handicap makes the game effectively unwinnable and your only choice is to go up a level after another.

Where are all the players?!? 

[Massimo80]

I've been forced to play against the CPU due to the lack of human players, and I have to say, the handicap really needs more tuning.

After you beat the CPU at the same level 3-4 times, the game becomes effectively unwinnable at that level; but the real problem is, handicap seems to go up really fast when you win games... but it doesn't seem to do anything even remotely similar when you lose them.

I've been playing lots of CPU games from the "very easy" level up to the "medium" level, until I got my CPU skill (that I guess is some sort of score / skill level) up to above 100; then I started losing due to having too much handicap; I couldn't move to "hard" due to not enough balance, thus I just kept losing... but the handicap Always stayed there. After losing and losing again, I tried playing again at the "easy" level... but I still had the same handicap as before! My skill level went down to 30, and yet I still have the same handicap when I start a game.

The only time handicap seems to actually work like it should is when I start a game at the "very easy" level: then I can get as much as 10 red squares. But from the "easy" level onwards, I always start with so much handicap against me I can't win anymore.

Can you please explain the actual algorithm for computing handicap? It just seems quite random, or at least quite erratic...

[Massimo80]

Update: I played some games at the "hard" level, and that erratic behavior of the handicap system doesn't cease to amaze me. Just some minutes ago, I started a game at the "very easy" level and I got almost half the board full of red squares. Of course I won quite easily, but then I started another game at the "easy" level... and I got more than half the board full of green squares! How does this make any sense?!?  

[Chancellor]

How does this make any sense?

It seems to me that every CPU level keeps a separate track of your skill points. Anyway I've grabbed so many skill points against CPU, so I cannot win with it on any level anymore. Then I usually hang on for hours waiting on human players, but they are rare.

[FPCN]

How does this make any sense?

It seems to me that every CPU level keeps a separate track of your skill points. Anyway I've grabbed so many skill points against CPU, so I cannot win with it on any level anymore. Then I usually hang on for hours waiting on human players, but they are rare.

Are you steelin?

[Chancellor]

Are you steelin?

Yep. Reading my posts here it is not difficult to guess, anyway it is official now ;-).

[Massimo80]

Then I usually hang on for hours waiting on human players, but they are rare.

Yep. What this game definitely needs are more human players.

[Massimo80]

Suggestion: when joining a game, there should be a message saying how much handicap (for or against) you're going to get.

Otherwise, there's no way to tell what you're getting into until it's too late... which is definitely not fun if you're playing for stakes.

[monsterer]

Suggestion: when joining a game, there should be a message saying how much handicap (for or against) you're going to get.

Otherwise, there's no way to tell what you're getting into until it's too late... which is definitely not fun if you're playing for stakes.

Thanks Massimo, that's a good one.

You can get around the problem as it stands by joining any stakes game and not making any moves - your money will be refunded because each player must make at least one move in a stakes game before their money is committed

Cheers, Paul.

[Massimo80]

Is it possible to add play for free vs. CPU at higher levels than "very easy"? Also, this could be implemented with/without handicap...

Otherwise playing a good game can be a real pain. The only human player who's often online is the current champion

Come on, let us play

Am I the only one who's becoming addicted to this game?

[Massimo80]

At the moment the site isn't working, I'm getting a 403 error...

[monsterer]

At the moment the site isn't working, I'm getting a 403 error...

Odd... It's ok for me. However, the DNS providers did mess up yesterday with some settings because they're a bunch of incompetent ass hats.

Is it still broken for you?

[Massimo80]

Odd... It's ok for me. However, the DNS providers did mess up yesterday with some settings because they're a bunch of incompetent ass hats.

Is it still broken for you?

Now it works and I can see your chat message about a new update... maybe it was just you working on it 

[monsterer]

Blockchain-reaction.com now features a built in faucet! Claim 100 free satoshis whenever your balance is less than this amount.

BTClockchain-reaction.com | 100% Skill based | Win bitcoins | Multiplayer | 25% Referral bonus

Cheers, Paul.

[Massimo80]

What about free play against a more skilled CPU than "very easy"? Any plan to add it?

[monsterer]

What about free play against a more skilled CPU than "very easy"? Any plan to add it?

That I can't really do because it opens the door to bot designers :|

[surfer43]

What about free play against a more skilled CPU than "very easy"? Any plan to add it?

That I can't really do because it opens the door to bot designers :|

Before you added "very easy", etc. it was possible to win on "easy" every single time, and almost immediately, with a simple algorithm in my brain, so yeah very vulnerable.

[Massimo80]

What about free play against a more skilled CPU than "very easy"? Any plan to add it?

That I can't really do because it opens the door to bot designers :|

Any CAPTCHA could easily avoid this...

[Massimo80]

BTW, I started using the signature you suggest on the site... but it doesn't fit into my 150-characters limit, so I had to cut some pieces from it. Stupid forum restrictions 

[monsterer]

BTW, I started using the signature you suggest on the site... but it doesn't fit into my 150-characters limit, so I had to cut some pieces from it. Stupid forum restrictions 

Thanks! I wish you many referral payments

[Massimo80]

Thanks! I wish you many referral payments

I just wish for more players  

Until now I've only been able to challenge a single human being... and the CPU really gets too much handicap once you have beaten it a couple of times per level.

[surfer43]

Thanks! I wish you many referral payments

I just wish for more players  

Until now I've only been able to challenge a single human being... and the CPU really gets too much handicap once you have beaten it a couple of times per level.

Yeah I would wear the signature if I thought people would bet that much. There isn't much to bet on...

[Massimo80]

Yeah I would wear the signature if I thought people would bet that much. There isn't much to bet on...

You can create a custom game and bet anything you like.

But yes, this is not immediately obvious. It would be better if the default games had lower values, I don't think anyone would realistically bet one full BTC on a game.

[Massimo80]

What about free play against a more skilled CPU than "very easy"? Any plan to add it?

That I can't really do because it opens the door to bot designers :|

Before you added "very easy", etc. it was possible to win on "easy" every single time, and almost immediately, with a simple algorithm in my brain, so yeah very vulnerable.

...at least until handicap kicks in.

And if you play at "easy" you have to win thirty times just to cover the withdrawal fee... more than enough for the handicap to make the game completely unwinnable.

[monsterer]

...at least until handicap kicks in.

And if you play at "easy" you have to win thirty times just to cover the withdrawal fee... more than enough for the handicap to make the game completely unwinnable.

There is nothing to stop you winning 11 times at very easy, then moving on to easy and so on.

[Massimo80]

What I fail to understand is how exactly adding a "free play with more skilled CPU" feature could damage the game in any way. Do you fear people being able to actually practice more and get good enough to beat the CPU on staked games?

If you fear bots, a CAPTCHA can easily stop them.

If you fear people... you shoulnd't be allowing play against CPU in the first place

[wang_yan]

What I fail to understand is how exactly adding a "free play with more skilled CPU" feature could damage the game in any way. Do you fear people being able to actually practice more and get good enough to beat the CPU on staked games?

If you fear bots, a CAPTCHA can easily stop them.

If you fear people... you shoulnd't be allowing play against CPU in the first place

You have to pay the tuition when playing against some professional：)

[Massimo80]

Another suggestion: a game should show the list of players already in, not only their number.

Otherwise, when hopefully the game will have more players, there's the risk of joining the wrong game

[Massimo80]

Ok, just got heavily punished by handicap and lost all balance. Luckily it was just a few mBTCs. But i'm not putting any money into this game unless the handicap system gets completely reworked.

Some points:

• Why does the handicap goes up much, much faster than it goes down?
• Why it's impossible to play CPU without handicap, even FOR FREE?
• And, since we're here: why it's impossible to play CPU for free at higher levels than "very easy"? Fear of bots is not a valid reason, if you can use CAPTCHAs for the faucet you can use it for joining a game, too.

The game is genuinely fun and addictive, but once you win a couple of times, it just starts throwing handicap after handicap at you until you are gone. And it's not enough to lose as many times as you have won to rebalance it: I've lost all the money I've put in it, and yet I can't start a game without handicap... at ANY level.

This could be a very, very good game, but as it is, its only use is throwing away money.

[monsterer]

Hi Massimo,

Thanks for the feedback, I take pride in listening to my users when they make suggestions.

Games of skill are incredibly hard to balance against human players of vastly different abilities; without proper care the CPU player suffers vast losses which are enough to put it out of business and with it, the game itself.

During the course of development many different experiments have been run trying to strike a balance between fairness and the longevity of the CPU, some of them are kept and some are discarded - it's an ongoing process.

The handicap system is designed to make every single game even odds - I will review the way in which the points are handed out against the CPU.

Cheers, Paul.

[Massimo80]

Games of skill are incredibly hard to balance against human players of vastly different abilities; without proper care the CPU player suffers vast losses which are enough to put it out of business and with it, the game itself.

This is something I acknowledge and respect; my suggestion is in fact to add free play against the CPU at different skill levels, with the option to enable/disable/customize handicap.

The problem with the handicap system is, when it gets high enough, it really doesn't matter how much the CPU (or the other player) is skilled; you're just going to lose anyway. A "very easy" CPU with high handicap is much, much tougher than any "expert" CPU with 0 handicap. So though, in fact, that once it gets above a certain level you can't possibly win (and if you manage to win anyway, it only gets higher). But you can't play with a more skilled CPU unless you put some money into it... and then, even if you win, the same thing repeats again: once you beat a level 4-5 times, handicap gets high enough to make the game unwinnable. You can lose on purpose to lower your handicap, but this actually means throwing money away, because you can't do it for free, and losing at a lower skill level doesn't influence a higher one. The end result is, after a few rounds of playing at each level, you're stuck and simply can't play anymore. Your only option is finding a human player willing to play for free, or risking money against an opponent which might very well defeat you (again, very often because of handicap, if you have a higher score than him). At least, with human players you can enable/disable handicap. With CPU you can't even do that.

Free play against the CPU shouldn't of course influence your score; or you could keep two separate scores for stakes and free games. But this really is a much needed feature if you want players to stay after a few games at "very easy" level.

You said you're concerned about bots; a simple CAPTCHA is enough to stop them. BTW, why should you be concerned about bots playing for free... but not about them playing for money? You are not actually risking anything when people play for free. If you are concerned about people TESTING bots using free games and then using them to win stakes games... well, it would actually be a lot easier for a hypothetical bot writer to test his bot himself instead of using your live site Howewer, again: CAPTCHA.

[monsterer]

Following feedback, the handicap points are now handed out equally for the CPU player (on win/lose) putting CPU mode in line with regular PvP play.

[boumalo]

A bit complicated for me today and if I entered the game now I will be slaughtered by experienced players

[TheAwer]

A bit complicated for me today and if I entered the game now I will be slaughtered by experienced players

I don't mean to thread-jack, but as there are other people who think this is too confusing I want to share something I found recently.  There's a new game that you can play with Bitcoin (or Litecoin, Dogecoin, Earthcoin, or just for free) called SatoshiGem.  It's a LOT easier to understand and play than Blockchain-Reaction(it's basically candy crush).

There's multiplayer pvp and tournaments, and the only problem with this site right now is that there aren't enough people.  Let's change that!

The website is www.satoshigem.com and the forum post is at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=555362.msg6062104#msg6062104

[monsterer]

It might be more complicated to understand than candy crush, but the game has deeper gameplay.

In addition, you can go from 100 satoshis (free from the faucet) to 0.01 BTC, which is a 10,000 x payout.

[wang_yan]

It might be more complicated to understand than candy crush, but the game has deeper gameplay.

In addition, you can go from 100 satoshis (free from the faucet) to 0.01 BTC, which is a 10,000 x payout.

In a single game?

[monsterer]

In a single game?

Over the course of several games.

[Massimo80]

In a single game?

Over the course of several games.

...and over the course of several unbeatable handicaps

[Chancellor]

Well, I've tried SatoshiGems and don't like it. Why? For one single reason. Unlike Blockchain-Reaction, SatoshiGems is not pure skill based, but has significant luck factor. In case of B-C current configuration on the playfield depends only on moves of players done so far. In case of SG, playfield configuration obviously depends (sometimes in a critical way) on order of randomly selected gems falling from the above. Then, saying it short, been there, was not impressed.

[Massimo80]

Where has the faucet gone? Looks loike it isn't there anymore...

BTW, this thread has been dead for a while, and the game chat looks quite dead too. Is still anyone out there?

[Buziss]

BTW, this thread has been dead for a while, and the game chat looks quite dead too. Is still anyone out there?

It seems even OP has given up on this project as well.
IMO, the site provides an unique skill-based game and is fun, but maybe most people prefer the more straight-forward dice and blackjack games...

[Massimo80]

It seems even OP has given up on this project as well.
IMO, the site provides an unique skill-based game and is fun, but maybe most people prefer the more straight-forward dice and blackjack games...

Same thought here. And it's quite a sad one.
The game actually *is* fun... 

[Chancellor]

Hoho, I can see I'm still the number one in the Top 25. Too bad hanging there for hours and waiting for a game was extremely boring, I've also found BTC daytrading much more profitable...

[m5j0r]

Interesting idea.
The "handicap" against the AI sucks big time though. It's extremely unfair - a little bit too much..
There are basically no human players anyway.

[fulanomengano]

Great fun game, but handicap sux, withdrawal limitations and fees are too high. I regret putting any money on it. Basically a smart covered scam.

FM

[CosmicDust777]

It is indeed very unfortunate. Almost a year later. Its good to see the site is still running. Its a very fun concept. Although I wonder if they are even paying withdraws...