⚔️ Joust · Rules & How to Play

Hold your orb flat in an open palm and keep it dead still. Any real movement — a jostle, a flinch, a step, a drop — puts you out. Last still player wins.

Living doc — deployed continuously for quick reference. Details may change as the orbs get built and tuned.

How to play

It's a keep-still game. You carry a glowing orb and try not to move it.

Wait for the calm breathing blue “+”. You're in — now hold perfectly still.
Jostle, nudge, bump, and tackle everyone else to make their orb move. Few other rules.
Guard your own hand. Even a small real acceleration counts — the orb tracks movement, not tilt.
When your face flashes a hard strobing X, you're out. Hold the button to accept it.

Orientation is free. Gravity is tracked out, so any angle is fine as long as you stay steady. Movement is what gets you — the orb trips at about 2g of real acceleration by default, and a drop (free-fall) always counts, even before it lands.

The four LED states

Every state is readable without color — by shape, motion, and brightness — so it works in bright sun and for colorblind players. The X always means out.

State	Looks like	What to do
IN PLAY	Breathing blue “+”, slow gentle pulse.	You're alive and armed. Hold dead still.
CLOSE	Rising bar, green→amber→red as you move.	You're on the edge. Freeze — let the bar fall back to green.
ELIMINATED	Bold white / vermillion X, hard strobe.	You're out. Hold the button ~1.2s to acknowledge.
OUT	Dim steady X, no flashing.	Acknowledged. Step aside and wait for the next round.

Button gestures

There's one button — the whole LED face. Press it in.

Gesture	Who	Does
Single tap	player	Status blink — a safe check that shows your current state.
Hold ~1.2s	player	Acknowledge an elimination, then start the next round.
Double-tap, then hold 10s	admin	Secret: mark this unit OUT mid-round. No LED feedback during the hold, so players can't stumble onto it.

Running a round

For whoever's hosting:

Start / reset: from the OUT state, each player holds the button ~1.2s to arm a fresh round.
Grace period: the first 5 seconds of a round ignore all movement — it lets the sensor settle and gives players time to get set. No one can be eliminated during grace.
Call it clean: the last orb still showing the breathing blue “+” is the winner. If two go at once, run it back.
Escalation (optional, off by default): turn it on and the movement threshold slowly ramps down over the round, so everyone gets touchier the longer it drags on. Keeps rounds from stalling. Toggle with E1 / E0.

Want to watch or tune the game live? Open the console at joust.nyc/console in desktop Chrome or Edge, plug an orb in over USB, and click Connect. You'll see the movement meter in real time and can drag the threshold. Serial commands: a arm, r reset, k acknowledge, o mark out, f inject a test strike, t self-test, S2.0 set threshold (g), J0 jerk gate (0 = off), E1 escalation on.

Quick reference

Goal: keep your orb dead still. Move it and you're out. Last one standing wins.

🔵 “+” breathing = in play 🟢→🟠→🔴 bar = you're close ✖ strobing = out ✖ dim steady = acknowledged
Tap = status Hold 1.2s = accept / next round 5s grace at start Any angle OK — don't move

Players only ever need the tap and the 1.2s hold. Everything else is for the host. See also the player guide and admin & dev reference.