Q*BERT · CHALLENGE OF 2026-10-29

HOW THE DAY WENT

Thursday, October 29 brought Q*BERT, at level 5, and 6 people played.

ELVIS TECK won with 450 points, just 25 ahead of BIT CUERVO #3: a day settled by a hair. POLINOMIOS rounds out the podium with 350.

Among the top 6, the average was 325 points.

THE SCREEN

Clearing the first screen leads on to the rest, in an order that depends on the day. The same seed for everyone: the same enemies and pieces in the same order.

THE MUSIC

The dance with which Anitra tries to seduce Peer Gynt in the desert. Grieg scored it for muted strings and a triangle.

Public domain, as square- and triangle-wave chiptune.

ABOUT TODAY'S GAME

A pyramid of 28 cubes. Q*bert hops diagonally from cube to cube and every cube he lands on changes colour; once all 28 show the GOAL colour (the little cube at the top right of the scoreboard) the round is over. Hopping off the pyramid means falling, unless a disc floats in that gap: the disc carries you up to the top, and nothing can touch you while you ride it.

• The disc is your only defence against Coily. Wait for him near the edge and hop on when he is one or two hops away: he goes where you went, jumps into the void after you and pays 500. Used without Coily on your tail it only saves you: you lose those 500 and the 50 an unused disc is worth at the end of the round.

HOW TO PLAY Q*BERT →