BOULDER · CHALLENGE OF 2026-10-13

HOW THE DAY WENT

Tuesday, October 13 brought BOULDER, at level 5, and 7 people played.

ELVIS TECK won with 450 points, just 25 ahead of POLINOMIOS: a day settled by a hair. ELI rounds out the podium with 400.

Among the top 7, the average was 329 points, and one finished on zero.

THE SCREEN

It started on screen 2 of the 4 that BOULDER has; clearing it leads on to the rest, in an order that depends on the day. It was played at level 5, with the same seed for everyone: the same enemies and the same pieces in the same order.

THE MUSIC

Peacherine Rag, Scott Joplin, 1901.

Joplin published it in 1901, two years after the success of Maple Leaf Rag.

It is in the public domain, transcribed to chiptune with square and triangle waves, the way it would sound on an Atari 2600.

ABOUT TODAY'S GAME

Dig through a cave's earth, collect the gems the level asks for and leave through the door before time runs out. The door doesn't appear until the gem count is complete.

Boulders and gems don't hold themselves up: they fall when you take the earth from under them, roll aside when resting on another boulder, and kill you if they catch you falling. A boulder can be pushed sideways, and only with space behind it.

Some caves hold creatures that patrol the open spaces along the walls and kill on contact. A boulder dropped on one blows it up and clears everything around it: a firefly leaves empty space, a butterfly leaves gems.

· Before digging upward, look at what is over your head. Most deaths are boulders that spent the whole run waiting for you to remove their floor.

HOW TO PLAY BOULDER →