HamsterArcade

No. There's no money anywhere in the arcade: you play for points and places.

Classes, from gentle to sharpest: Hapless Hamsters in Nibbler, Rowdy Rollers in Roller and Ruthless Rodents in Big Cheese. In Practice your class sets how sharp the arcade's hamsters roll, and every class is open from the start. In the League (Seed Scramble) you pick one class a day, and a harder class multiplies your points by more, so the top of the standings needs Big Cheese.

In Practice, each match shares its points its own way: part by what you pick up (seeds, points on the cookie, jam spread, tubes or knockouts) and part by where you finish; in Ball Brawl, by how far you get in the knockout. A fair share is about 100 points. In the League, each run scores from 0 to 100: the share of the arcade's hamsters you beat on the same layout. Your three runs are added up and multiplied by your class.

Each League day runs from midnight to midnight UTC, the same moment everywhere. You can enter the League until 23:30 UTC, which leaves time for all 3 runs. A run you start before midnight still counts if you finish it after. Standings are settled just after midnight, then a new day opens.

Practice results stay in this browser, on this device. Your League runs are kept by the arcade and tied to this device: clear your browser data or switch device and you start a new League record.

In Seed Scramble, King of the Cookie, Paint the Table and Tube Rush you finish last with no points. In Last Hamster Rolling and Pass the Chilli you drop out in your current place and keep the points you've already scored. In Ball Brawl you lose your current bout and finish where that puts you. Closing the page mid-match counts as leaving. In the League, a run you leave still counts, with what you had scored.

For now, the arcade plays them. A small robot on a hamster's label marks it. Each one is named for how it rolls: a Chomper or a Wrecking Ball bonks hard, a Zippy or a Rocket zooms about, a Peanut or a Crumpet plays it safe. Read the names and you'll know who to watch.

Yes, and they adapt to you. In each game and class they adjust to your results: finish well and they roll sharper next time, struggle and they ease off. Each class also starts tougher than the one below: Roller hamsters never play worse than the standard line-up, and Big Cheese hamsters are sharper still. Under the class picker in every game you can see how strong they are for you, from much weaker to much stronger.

In every match, yes: the better you finish, the bigger your share. Each game's card shows how much skill pays, from two seeds up to five. Over time the other hamsters adapt to your results, so staying ahead means getting better; the strength line under the class picker shows how far you've come.

On a computer: arrow keys or WASD to roll and steer, Space to dash and bonk, or hold the mouse button to steer towards the pointer. On a phone: put a thumb down anywhere and slide it to steer, and tap Dash. Turn the phone sideways for a wider view.