Playing on Tesoro
Games and Matches
Block Puzzle, Hold'em and Trading Duel, entries, Queue, Challenge.
Block Puzzle- Same pieces for both
- 90 second run
- Play when you like
Hold'em- Heads-up, real time
- 1,500 Chips each
- 30 s per action
Trading Duel- 5 minutes, live price
- 1x to 20x
- SOL, ETH or HYPE
A Match
A Match is a head-to-head contest between two Players with equal Gema entries: 500, 1,000 or 2,500 (at issuance prices, $5, $10 or $25). The two entries form the Pot, held in escrow until the Match is settled, and a Match is settled exactly once.
| Result | What happens |
|---|---|
| A Player wins | The winner gets their own entry back plus the loser's Gemas, minus Fees (see Fees). Fees come out of the loser's Gemas, so a winner always gets their own entry back whole. |
| Draw | Both entries go back to the Players unchanged. |
| No-show or abandoned Match | Both entries are refunded. A Match that nobody joins can be cancelled by its opener at any time, and anyone can refund it after an hour. |
Only the Game's own program can settle its Matches. Tesoro never decides a result by hand. See Fairness and privacy.
Finding an opponent
- Queue. The waiting line for one game at one entry size. You are paired with the next entrant. In Block Puzzle you can play before an opponent is paired.
- Challenge. Open a Match for a specific opponent and send them a link. The link is the only way a Challenge reaches them: Tesoro does not deliver it for you.
- Practice. Each game has a practice mode against a local bot that costs nothing and has no stakes.
Block Puzzle
An asynchronous puzzle. You and your opponent get the same pieces, so your scores are directly comparable, but you do not have to play at the same time. Each run lasts 90 seconds. The higher score wins; equal scores are a draw.
- The pieces are generated for the Match, and nobody, including you, can see them before your own run begins.
- Your score is not something you report. It is what the game program calculates by replaying your moves, and an illegal move is rejected.
- Your moves stay private until both runs are closed, so the second Player cannot copy the first.
- If you are first, you have a one-hour Queue window for an opponent to join. After someone joins, they have 24 hours to play their run; if they never begin, you win by forfeit.
Hold'em
Heads-up no-limit Texas Hold'em, played in real time, as one sit-and-go per Match. Both Players start with 1,500 Chips. Hands repeat with rising blinds until one Player holds every Chip.
- Chips are only the scorekeeping inside a Match and have no value outside it. Your entry leaves your balance once, at the start, and the Pot is settled once, at the end.
- You have 30 seconds for each action. Three missed turns in a row forfeit the Match.
- The deck is shuffled with randomness from both Players and a random-number service; nobody can see the deck, and your hole cards are visible only to you. Cards are revealed only at a showdown.
Trading Duel
A real-time, five-minute trading contest. You and your opponent trade the same live price from the same stack of 10,000 Chips, on one asset chosen for the Match: SOL, ETH or HYPE.
- You hold one position at a time, long or short, with leverage from 1x to 20x, and can close or flip it at will.
- Fills happen at a live price feed. To keep a fast connection from gaining an edge, every fill carries a 0.05% spread, and prices older than two seconds are refused.
- A position that falls to its maintenance margin is liquidated, and the loss is capped at the margin you put in.
- At the end, positions are marked at the final price and the higher total wins. Equal totals, including neither Player trading, are a draw and both entries are refunded.
- Each Player's position stays hidden while the Match runs. Afterwards both full trade histories are public on the Match page.
Chips are not Gemas
In Hold'em and Trading Duel, Chips are the in-match score units. They never become Gemas or leave the Match. Gemas enter a Match once and leave once; Chips are only the scorekeeping in between.