The four-beat loop
4 beats, at 90 beats per minute. Devise your strategy on the go, or risk losing all the charges you spent so long to build up.
- 1Tap. A preparation beat. Traditionally a clap.
- 2Tap. The second clap. Still nothing committed.
- 3 Action. Both players commit an action at the same moment.
- 4 Resolve. Both actions play out. If nobody is defeated, we loop back again.
Miss the window on beat three and you hesitate, which is the worst outcome available: you gain nothing and you are defenceless.
Charge is the currency
You start with nothing. Playing Charge adds one charge but leaves you vulnerable. Every attack is bought with charges, and higher charged attacks beat lower ones.
The actions
These are the actions in Counter S, the ruleset the game currently ships with. Defences are free. Attacks are not.
| Action | Cost | What it does | Stopped by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charge | Free | Gain 1 charge. | Any attack |
| Gun | ½ | The cheap shot. Almost free, and almost everyone sees it coming. | Block, Jump |
| Grenade | 2 | Rolls under your opponent's Block to blow them up. | Jump |
| Machine Gun | 3 | Spray it everywhere, even upwards! | Block |
| Airstrike | 5 | Your opponent and everything around them is obliterated. | Nothing |
| Block | Free | Stops Gun and Machine Gun. | Grenade, Airstrike |
| Jump | Free | Avoids Gun and Grenade. | Machine Gun, Airstrike |
What beats what
A higher charged attack always beats a lower charged one. But all attacks except the Airstrike can be negated by one of the defences. Attacks with the same charge cancel each other out, and an attack against someone who chose Charge always lands.
- Block stops Gun and Machine Gun, and is beaten by Grenade.
- Jump avoids Gun and Grenade, and is beaten by Machine Gun.
- Airstrike ignores both. But can you get through five turns of charging?
Note that an attack is spent whether or not it works. Throwing a Grenade into a Jump costs you two charge and buys you nothing, and your rival now knows you had two charge to spend.
How a match ends
In a duel, both players have one hit point. The first clean hit ends the match — the same sudden-death finish the playground version had.
Need to get tuned in to the rhythm? Try Practice mode, where you can learn the loop at your own pace.
The part that actually decides matches
Your rival has 1 charge. Are they going to charge again next, or are they going to throw a Gun? Now they have 2. Are they going to Gun 4 times in a row, or throw a Grenade?
You only have a second to decide.
All while grooving to the beat.
Play it
Charge runs in the browser, free, on a phone or a laptop. Play a bot to learn the loop, or send a link to someone and duel them directly.
This is one interpretation of a game that never had a rulebook. If you grew up playing a different version, share your version with us!