Slither rules & fees

Two ways to play

Matchmaking

• Pick a buy-in and press Find match. Waiting in the queue is free.
• When a match is ready you hear a sound (and get a notification if the tab is in the background). Press Ready within 15 seconds. That's when the buy-in is taken; not answering just takes you out of the queue.
• A match starts once at least 2 players are ready, after a 5-second countdown. Up to 30 players per match; when one is full, another starts alongside it.
• You can join a match that's already running while the circle is still open and there's a seat. Otherwise you wait for the next one.
• Before the start you can leave at any time and get the whole buy-in back, fee included. If not enough players join, the match is called off and everyone is refunded in full.

The closing circle

• Each match lasts 5 minutes. For the first 1:30 the whole map is open.
• Then the circle closes steadily, down to a small ring in the middle (shown as a dashed outline) at 5:00. Touching its edge is a crash, like hitting any wall.
• Gold coins never get left outside: anything the circle passes is moved back inside it.
• When the circle has closed, every snake still alive is cashed out automatically at its value. Gold coins left on the floor carry over to the next match of that buy-in.

Cash games

• Every match has one fixed entry. Your snake starts worth the entry minus the 5% fee: 0.0095 SOL in a 0.01 match.
• Every snake carries a gold tag showing what it's worth in SOL, yours and everyone else's.
• Length and value are separate. Food and boosting only change length. Value changes only when a snake dies.
• When a snake dies (running into another snake's body, or into the wall), 100% of its value spills out as gold coins along its body. Anyone can collect them. The snake it crashed into gets nothing automatically; you have to go and collect them.
• Gold coins never expire and the house never collects them. Coins left when a match ends go to the next match of that buy-in.
• To cash out, hold the cash-out button (or the C key) for 3 seconds. While it charges your snake flies straight: steering and boost are locked, so pick a clear line first. Letting go cancels it and gives you control back, and dying cancels it. When it completes, your snake's current value goes straight to your balance.
• You can only have one money snake at a time.

Disconnects, restarts and frozen rooms

• Disconnected: your snake keeps going straight for 5 seconds, showing the same cash-out signal as a held cash-out so everyone can see it. If it survives, it's cashed out automatically. Reconnect within 5 seconds and you're back in control. You can't dodge a death by pulling the plug.
• Planned server restart: every snake in a money room is refunded at its current value first, the same amount a cash-out would pay.
• Unexpected server stop: snakes are refunded at their last checkpoint, taken every 2 seconds. Any value that moved in those last seconds is settled by the house.
• Frozen room: if staff freeze a room, or its internal accounting check ever fails, everyone in it is refunded at their current value immediately.
• Paid but never joined: if you press Ready but never make it into the match, the whole entry is refunded, fee included.

Tournaments (paused for now)

• Scheduled every 30 minutes for each tier. Register any time before the start.
• Each match lasts 5 minutes. Dying isn't the end: you respawn after 3 seconds.
• Your score is your length at the final whistle. Kills break ties.
• The pool is every buy-in. After the 10% fee, the top 3 are paid 50% / 30% / 20%. Players tied on both score and kills share the prizes for the places they cover equally.
• You must actually play: entrants who score 0 can't place. If fewer than 3 players score, the prizes are rescaled so the whole prize pool is still paid out.
• Fewer than 4 entrants when it's due to start, nobody scoring, or a server restart mid-match: the tournament is cancelled and every buy-in is refunded in full, fee included.

Fair play

• The server runs the game. Your device only sends which way you're steering and whether you're boosting; it can't move your snake faster, teleport it, or change its size or value.
• Each player only receives what's near them on screen, so there's nothing to reveal from the rest of the map.
• Scripts and bots are banned. Automated play is detected and flagged for review, as are two accounts from one address in the same money room and one account repeatedly feeding another.
• Every death is logged with who was involved and how much value dropped, so disputes can be checked.

Questions