How to play Verse Duel

Verse Duel is the minstrels' contest: two poets answer each other in verse, in the same form and on the same rhyme, until one of them can't. Here it's played in the browser over a link: the game draws the rhyme, keeps the time, counts the lines and keeps each verse hidden until its turn is over.

How a duel goes

1. One of you opens a duel and sends the link to the other; the duel starts once you are both in. The game draws who opens, and the rhyme the whole duel is played on.
2. You take turns, 3, 5 or 8 verses each, as chosen when the duel was opened, with 60, 90 or 120 seconds a verse. While one of you writes, the other sees only that a verse is being written, never a word of it.
3. Every verse answers the one before it: once a turn is over, its verse shows on both screens, and the other player writes the answer. Your verse saves itself as you type; press Done and the turn passes at once.
4. After the last verse, you read the whole duel together for a minute, or until you both press Ready, and then come the badges.

The form

Every verse is four lines, lines 1, 2 and 4 ending on the duel's rhyme and line 3 free. As you type, the game shows each line's syllables, counted roughly, and checks the rhyme by spelling: the last word from its last vowel on.

A word that ended a rhyming line once can't end one again, whoever used it: the rhyme dries up as the duel goes on, and the words used so far show above your box.

Peaceful or competitive

The peaceful mode keeps no score. Give a heart to your opponent's verses you love, and a reaction if you wish (😂 made me laugh, 🥹 moved me, 🔥 on fire, 🤯 blew my mind), any time after their turn is over. The first verse to win a heart becomes the Verse of the Duel, and each of you gets at least one badge.

The competitive mode plays by the minstrels' own rule: every verse on the form is worth 10 points, and a turn left blank or off the form is a stumble. 3 stumbles end the duel early, once you have both had as many turns, and whoever has more points wins. Reactions are there in both modes.

Badges

At the end, badges go to the duel's habits: The Laugh for the most 😂 over all one's verses, The Heartstring for the most 🥹, The Spark for the most 🔥, The Surprise for the most 🤯, and Keeper of the Rhyme for every verse on the rhyme with a fresh word each time. In the peaceful mode the Verse of the Duel has a badge too, and a player still without one gets the Good Sport.

After the last verse

The final page keeps the whole duel: read it aloud, or share its last exchange, a verse and its answer, as an image. Clone opens a new duel with the same settings and a new rhyme, for the rematch.