How Kontests work

A knockout: you play one person at a time, win and you go through, lose and you’re out. Entry is free. Sign up any time before the start; the bracket is drawn at the start time.

The bracket is the next power of two: 63 players make a round of 64. The empty places are byes, spread through the bracket, and a player with a bye goes straight through.

A Kontest holds up to 8,192 players: thirteen rounds, from the Round of 8192 to the Final.

Every round starts at the same time for everyone, on a schedule worked out at the start, so you always know when your next match is.

The bracket zooms and pans, so even 8,192 players stay easy to follow: pinch or scroll to zoom, drag to move, fit it to the screen, or jump straight to your own match.

Every match is one against one. Early rounds and quarter-finals are best of 3, semi-finals best of 5 and the final best of 7 (a community Kontest may choose its own). Rock paper scissors is never shorter than best of 5.

Clocks are fast so rounds fit their slots. Press Start between games as in any series. If the round’s time runs out, whoever is ahead goes through; if it’s level, or nobody played, it’s a draw of lots.

Koins for the last round you reach, paid the moment your run ends. Nobody leaves with nothing.

Every run earns a badge for your page: its metal or gem says how rare the Kontest is, its stars and ribbon how far you went.

Played

Top 8

Top 4

2nd

1st

Official Kontests run themselves at the times most people can play: every evening, KRAAZY Saturday, KOOL Sunday, every month and once a year, through every game in turn. The rarer, the bigger the prizes. Times can move; each Kontest shows when it starts.

Anyone can run their own for a fee: your game, your clock, your start, up to 8,192 players, public or by link only. Kontest pays the prizes, and if fewer than 4 people enter, it’s cancelled and the fee comes back in what paid it.

Branded Kontests are run by verified brands only, for a fee. A brand applies from its You page and Kontest checks it; a verified brand has a ✓ by its name. Its Kontests are featured at the top of the Kontest tab and on Kontest TV, carry its colour, logo, banner and a link, and can add sponsor prizes: extra Koins for the top places, paid on top of Kontest’s, which the brand puts up when it makes the Kontest and gets back if it’s called off or a place goes unplayed. A brand may also offer a prize of its own, such as a jersey; that prize is the brand’s to give, not Kontest’s.

Official and community Kontests alike take up to 8,192 players, under the same rules.

Every Kontest has a chat for its players. Entering adds you to it and leaving the Kontest takes you out (you can also leave just the chat). It’s for talking: text, voice notes and stickers, no games.

A recurring official Kontest, such as KOOL Sunday, keeps one chat that carries on from week to week. Official chats have no admin; in a branded or community Kontest the organiser runs the chat and can remove people and messages. Kontest chats are never deleted, and keep their last 2,000 messages.

The chat rules apply there as everywhere.