Arcade
The Arcade is the home for the various games Ratel offers. Here you convert your Ratel Points into Chips and play with them.
/arcade
When you first open the page you'll see a wallet card up top. The balance starts at 0 chips. Below it is a row of game cards. There's only one game in v1 — Fact or Fold — and new games will be added to the same row over time.
What a session looks like
Every game in the Arcade follows the same rhythm.
- Top up your chip wallet. Convert some RP into chips. You only need to do this again when the balance runs low.
- Pick a game. Click whichever card catches your eye on the arcade landing page.
- Hit Play and the game begins. For multiplayer games you'll be sent to a lobby to wait for the other players.
- Play the game. Just follow the stages the game walks you through.
- The settle screen shows the result. Your chip balance moves and the same screen asks whether you'd like to register the writing you produced into your Essence. You decide what to keep.
You can do this once a day or three times a day. A casual player who runs a few rounds a week will see their balance grow round by round.
Your chip wallet
The Arcade plays in chips rather than RP directly. Think of it the way you'd think about converting cash into chips at a casino. You convert once and the chips stay in your account without expiring. The wallet lives at:
/arcade/wallet
A few things worth knowing.
- The smallest conversion is 100 RP. Small enough to top up right before a session without thinking about it.
- Chip-to-RP conversion isn't open yet. Chips you win stay in your balance for the next round.
- The buy-in locks the moment you hit Play. Not when the round actually starts — when you queue up. If you change your mind in a lobby that hasn't started yet, just hit Leave. The chips come right back.
You don't have to think about chips while a round is running. Top up the wallet once and play whenever you feel like it. The settle screen credits you back automatically — no separate claim button to press.
What's in the Arcade today
| Game | What it is | Time per round |
|---|---|---|
| Fact or Fold | A 4-player game where you read one news headline together and decide whether it's real or fake. | About 3 minutes |
| More games | On the way. They'll share the same chip wallet. | — |
If you're new, the Fact or Fold page is the place to start. It walks you through exactly what a round feels like from start to finish.
Where to go next
- Fact or Fold — the only game you can play today. It walks you through what you'll see, how you'll bet, what you'll write, and what you take home.
- Reward Points — the RP you'll convert into chips before your first session.
- Essence — where the writing you produced in the round ends up, and how a connected AI can read it later.
A second game and the chip-to-RP redemption flow are on the roadmap. Until redemption ships, treat chips as one-way and convert your RP accordingly.