# STAKEWAR — Full Reference

> Web3 pixel capture game on Base Sepolia testnet. Players claim cells on a 10×10 grid using USDC, capture each other's cells for 125% of locked value, and compete for 3-day epoch prize pools. Domain: stakewar.com

This is the extended LLM reference. It contains the full game mechanics, the
complete "How It Works" walkthrough, and the entire FAQ in plain text. For the
short version see https://stakewar.com/llms.txt.

STAKEWAR is currently in its testnet phase on Base Sepolia and uses testnet
USDC, not real money. A Base mainnet launch (real USDC) is planned but has no
fixed date — it ships only after the testnet proves the system works at scale
(target: hundreds of test users, several weeks without critical bugs, and a
completed smart-contract audit). Quality over speed.

## Contract addresses (Base Sepolia testnet)

- TheGrid: 0xdaE5901Dfc36e2EC513D3Bc346BE22a856cB6C89
- USDC (Circle native testnet): 0x036CbD53842c5426634e7929541eC2318f3dCF7e
- Chain ID: 84532
- Always verify the current address shown in the site footer before interacting.

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HOW IT WORKS
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## 01 — The basics

It's a 10×10 grid. 100 cells. Each cell is a pixel of digital territory on the
Base blockchain. Cells start empty. You claim one by locking USDC into a smart
contract. Once a cell is yours, you upload an image — your logo, your meme, your
face. The image lives on IPFS, your ownership lives on-chain. Then the game
starts.

## 02 — How claiming works

To claim an empty cell:
- Click any empty cell on the grid.
- Lock USDC (minimum 1 USDC, no maximum).
- Upload an image (optional but recommended).
- Sign two transactions: approve, then claim.

Where your money goes:
- 96% stays locked in the cell — your stake.
- 4% goes to the protocol treasury.

The more you lock, the more expensive it is for someone to take you.

## 03 — The capture mechanic (the core)

Anyone can take any cell for 125% of its locked value. Example: a cell with
$10.00 locked costs $12.50 to capture. The smart contract splits that payment:
- 80% ($10.00) → previous owner (their full stake back).
- 16% ($2.00) → epoch prize pool (redistributed to top holders).
- 4% ($0.50) → protocol (development + treasures).

You got back exactly what you had locked: 80% of a 125% capture price always
equals 100% of your stake — credited to your pending winnings, claimable anytime
from your profile (pull payment, not pushed automatically). You never lose
principal on a capture — you just exit the cell.

After capture, the cell's locked value resets to what the attacker paid
($12.50). The next capture costs 125% of that ($15.63). Every capture raises the
bar. The new owner can upload their image; your image is gone, but your
ownership history is on-chain forever — anyone can see who held the cell, what
they paid, and what image they showed.

## 04 — Epochs & rewards

Every 3 days, an epoch ends. When it does, if the reward pool holds at least 50
USDC, the top 5 cell holders split the entire pool: 40% / 25% / 20% / 10% / 5%.

Ranking is by CELL COUNT, not USD locked — five small cells beat one expensive
one. When the epoch ends, anyone can trigger settlement; the triggering wallet
gets a 1% bounty as thanks for paying gas. If the pool is under 50 USDC, the
epoch auto-extends — no tiny payouts.

## 05 — Treasures

Every claim and capture has a 2.5% chance to trigger a treasure drop. Six
possible rewards:
- 💰 USDC — $1–$20 credited to your pending winnings (claim from your profile).
- 🛡️ SHIELD — cell immune from capture 1–12h.
- 👑 CROWN — permanent badge on your wallet.
- 👻 ECHO — your image ghosts onto a random cell for 24h.
- ❄️ FREEZE — 4 neighbouring cells immune for 1h.
- 🎰 STREAK — next 3 claims get 3× treasure chance (7.5%).

Treasures are funded by the protocol — free bonuses, no risk to you, no cost to
take them. Randomness comes from Chainlink VRF v2.5 (a verifiable random
function), so rolls are unpredictable and manipulation-resistant.

## 06 — Why this works

Most "stake to rank" projects are just collection schemes. STAKEWAR is different
because the money keeps moving:
- Cell owners always recover 80% of the price on capture — their full stake.
- The 16% pool fee gets redistributed to top holders.
- The 4% protocol fee funds development and treasures.

No Ponzi math. No promised returns. Just a game where holding pays off and
trying to take it costs something.

## 07 — What's at stake

Right now, STAKEWAR runs on Base Sepolia testnet. USDC is fake, bonuses are
simulated — this is a public preview to test the system. Mainnet launch on Base
is next.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Q: Will I lose my money?
A: No, not without choosing to. Your stake stays locked in the cell. If
captured, 80% of the capture price — always 100% of what you locked — is
credited to your pending winnings; claim it anytime from your profile (no race,
no MEV). The only way to spend money is the 25% premium you pay to attack
someone else's cell.

Q: Is this gambling?
A: No. There's no random payout from your deposits. You stake, you get most of
it back. Treasure drops are funded separately by the protocol, not from player
deposits.

Q: What if no one captures my cell?
A: Your USDC stays locked in the cell. You can keep it as a monument, or wait
for someone to take it.

Q: What stops one whale from taking all 100 cells?
A: Math. Taking everything means paying 125% of every cell's locked value, then
defending against everyone else trying to do the same. The economics make
monopoly expensive.

Q: What happens to my image when I'm captured?
A: It's replaced by the new owner's image. But your image history lives on-chain
in the events — anyone can view a cell's full history, including past owners and
what they showed.

Q: Why is there a "report" button?
A: We don't moderate normal content. But we don't allow illegal images, abuse,
or harassment. Reports go to admin review. Any cell can have its image reset —
the owner keeps their stake, just loses the picture.

Q: What chain is this on?
A: Right now: Base Sepolia (testnet, free). Soon: Base mainnet (real USDC).

Q: Why testnet first?
A: We test mechanics with real users before locking up real money. Everything
works the same as mainnet — just with simulated USDC.

Q: How do I get testnet USDC?
A: Get Base Sepolia ETH from https://www.alchemy.com/faucets/base-sepolia, then
USDC from https://faucet.circle.com. VPN may be required in restricted regions.

Q: I claimed a cell but didn't get a treasure — is something broken?
A: No. Treasures have a 2.5% chance per claim or capture. Most claims won't
trigger one — that's expected. Try a few more.

Q: My treasure didn't appear immediately — why?
A: Treasure randomness comes from Chainlink VRF. After you claim, the VRF oracle
needs ~30 seconds to respond with a random number. If a treasure dropped, you'll
see it in Recent Activity shortly after your claim transaction confirms.

Q: What's Chainlink VRF and why use it?
A: VRF stands for Verifiable Random Function. Instead of using predictable
on-chain values (like blockhash) for randomness, VRF gets a cryptographically
signed random number from an external oracle. This makes treasure rolls truly
unpredictable and manipulation-resistant.

Q: When is mainnet?
A: When testnet has proven the system works at scale. We're looking for at least
a few hundred test users, several weeks without critical bugs, and a smart
contract audit. No hard date — quality over speed.

Q: My USDC balance shows zero — what happened?
A: Make sure you're on the right network (Base Sepolia, not mainnet) and have
imported the correct USDC token contract:
0x036CbD53842c5426634e7929541eC2318f3dCF7e. Then check your balance again.

Q: I can't connect to Base Sepolia — why?
A: The default RPC (sepolia.base.org) is sometimes overloaded. Try adding a
backup RPC in your wallet: base-sepolia.publicnode.com or
base-sepolia-rpc.publicnode.com. Or get a free RPC URL from alchemy.com or
quicknode.com.

Q: MetaMask transaction failed but my USDC was spent. Why?
A: MetaMask's Smart Transactions feature is unreliable on Base Sepolia testnet.
Either disable Smart Transactions in MetaMask settings, or use Rabby wallet
(rabby.io) which works cleanly on testnets.

Q: How many cells should I claim to win an epoch?
A: Currently top 5 holders by cell count split the epoch pool. Even 2-3 cells
can put you in top 5 during the testnet phase when few players are active.
Mainnet competition will be tighter.

Q: How do achievements / badges work?
A: Every player earns badges for milestones — capturing cells, holding
territory, owning patterns like a 4×4 block, treasure luck, and more. See them
on the leaderboard and on any player's profile. During the testnet phase badges
are computed off-chain from the grid's public on-chain event history (claims,
captures, treasures) plus the live grid — so there's zero gas cost and nothing
extra to sign. They may move fully on-chain after the mainnet launch.

Q: How does referral work?
A: Grab your referral link from your profile (stakewar.com/?ref=yourAddress) and
share it. When a friend opens it, we remember who referred them — and they earn
the 🤝 JOINED VIA REF badge. It's purely social: there's no monetary reward, and
referrals are tracked off-chain in the browser, not on-chain. A "you brought N
friends" counter (RECRUITER / INFLUENCER / VIRAL badges) needs server-side
tracking and will arrive with our backend.

Q: Who built this?
A: A small team experimenting with on-chain games. Source code is on GitHub. The
smart contract is verifiable on Basescan.

Q: Can I get my stake back without being captured?
A: Not in the current version. Your stake stays locked while you own the cell.
We're considering an exit mechanic for future versions, but it would need
careful design to not break the game economics.

Q: What's the smart contract address?
A: The latest deployment is shown in the site footer. Always verify the address
before interacting.

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LINKS
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- Site: https://stakewar.com
- X / Twitter: https://x.com/StakeWarGame
- GitHub: https://github.com/seomarlboro/stakewar
- Security contact: stakewar@proton.me