HIDDEN POSITIONING
Each round begins in secret. Pick any active arena tile within 20 seconds. Opponents choose simultaneously in the blind!
HOW TO PLAY GRIDMANIAC
COMBAT OBJECTIVE & BLIND SIMULTANEOUS TURNS
GRIDMANIAC is a turn-based, simultaneous blind-positioning tactical arena game. All combatants plan their tile movement and weapon deployment in complete secrecy.
1. SECRET POSITIONING
Click any active arena tile within 20 seconds. Your coordinates stay 100% hidden from opponents until the simultaneous reveal.
2. SIMULTANEOUS REVEAL
Once all combatants lock in, soldiers drop or dash to their positions at the exact same instant, executing their attacks together!
20-SECOND PRE-GAME DRAFT & THE 9-WEAPON ARSENAL
Before combat begins, you have 20 seconds to draft 3 starting weapons from the 9-weapon tactical arsenal (or click SELECT RANDOM). All weapons are strictly consumable—once fired, they are removed from your inventory until you step onto your team-colored holographic weapon spawn tile!
1. LASER GUN
KEY 1Unslings the heavy rifle in a tactical crouch and fires a continuous high-energy beam from your position across an entire row or column. Press R to toggle Row / Column.
2. NEON GRENADE MINE DEFUSER
KEY 2Lobs a grenade in a parabolic arc that detonates in a 5-tile cross (+) (center + 4 adjacent squares) with a neon/smoke burst. Automatically defuses any enemy mines in its blast zone!
3. MINES (1–4 TRAPS)
KEY 3Soldier visibly darts around the grid to plant up to 4 pulsing octagonal proximity traps. Deployed mines are invisible to enemies and stay active for 2 consecutive moves before expiring.
4. SMOKE SCREEN
KEY 4Deploys a high-density tactical smoke canister that spreads thick smoke across the entire 15×15 grid. For the next 1 move, your opponents cannot see mines or where their weapon holograms have spawned! Only impacts opponent visibility.
5. SMART DISC
KEY 5Throws a spinning razor chakram down a targeted row or column; upon striking the arena edge, it boomerangs back up the adjacent row or column, sweeping two parallel lines in a single throw! Press R to flip Row / Column.
6. GRAV-PULSE
KEY 6Slams the ground to unleash a 3×3 kinetic distortion shockwave across the floor, immediately throwing any opponent in range 2 tiles backward away from you—launching them straight into the abyss, enemy mines, or corrosive sludge!
7. CORROSIVE SLUDGE
KEY 7Lobs a bio-acid vial that shatters on impact, coating a 2×2 area in bubbling, toxic-green corrosive pools for 3 full turns. Any enemy who steps onto or is pushed into the acid is dissolved!
8. EMP JAMMER
KEY 8Triggers a wrist-mounted electromagnetic pulse emitter; a spherical electric burst covers a 3×3 zone, scrambling affected opponents' HUDs and disabling all of their weapons for 1 full turn!
9. TORNADO
KEY 9Hurls a vortex grenade at a target block; a violent Tornado materializes and randomly roams across the surrounding 5×5 grid, immediately hurling any caught combatant 2 blocks away (potentially into the abyss, mines, or sludge)!
EPHEMERAL HOLOGRAM LOOT 1-MOVE DESPAWN
RESTOCKEach round, 2 random weapons per living player materialize on the grid as slowly rotating, low-neon translucent hologram tiles in your team color (Cyan-Blue, Red, Green, or Purple).
• Team-Locked: You can only collect holograms matching your own color.
• 1-Move Despawn: If you do not move onto your spawned hologram tile on the exact turn it appears, it permanently disappears at the end of the round!
• Restock: Moving onto your hologram adds +1 charge of that weapon to your inventory!
ELIMINATION & MINE COUNTERMEASURES
LETHAL COMBAT
Any soldier caught in a direct weapon strike, corrosive sludge pool, enemy mine, knockback into the void, or collapsing Stage 2 fracture block is eliminated immediately.
MINE VAPORIZATION & DEFUSAL
Grenades defuse enemy mines: Any mine caught in a grenade's 5-tile cross is instantly neutralized! Furthermore, if a player is eliminated, all of their placed mines instantly disappear.
MULTI-STAGE ARENA COLLAPSE & THE DROP (AT 5×5)
The battlefield evolves across two distinct vertical stages whenever rounds end without a final victor:
STAGE 1: OUTER RING SHRINK & THE DROP (5×5)
The match starts on an upper 15×15 grid. Every casualty-free round drops the outermost ring into the abyss. Once the arena shrinks down to 5×5, the next round triggers THE DROP: the entire remaining 5×5 floor gives way and all surviving soldiers plunge down to a brand-new lower 15×15 sector!
STAGE 2: INTERNAL FRACTURE & 1-TURN WARNING
On the lower 15×15 grid, outer rings no longer shrink. Instead, random interior blocks destabilize! Targeted blocks shake and glow with amber seismic cracks for 1 full turn as a warning before plunging into the abyss. The number of blocks collapsing per turn escalates rapidly each wave!
MODES & CONTROLS REFERENCE
GAME MODES (ONLINE)
• SOLO VS WARDEN: instant battle against the adaptive machine AI.
• RANDOM 1V1: global matchmaking. If nobody is found within 12 seconds, WARDEN takes the
slot.
• PRIVATE ROOM: create a 6-character code + invite link for 2–4 players
(free-for-all). The host can start once 2 have joined.
• JOIN ROOM: type a friend's code, or just open their invite link.
• Fair play: the server is the referee. Your opponent's tile and weapon are never sent to
your browser until the simultaneous reveal. If a player drops, they have 15 seconds to reconnect
before the match is forfeited.
KEYBOARD & MOUSE CONTROLS
• Left-Click: Select tile / aim weapon
• Right-Drag: Orbit 3D tactical camera
• Mouse Wheel: Zoom camera in/out
• Keys 1 / 2 / 3: Select Laser / Grenade / Mines
• Key R: Rotate laser axis (Row ↔ Col)
• Enter: Lock in secret turn
TACTICAL GRID DUEL · BLIND COMBAT ARENA
GRIDMANIAC
Left-click: select · Right-drag: orbit · Wheel: zoom · R: rotate laser axis · Enter: lock in
VICTORY
EXIT TO MAIN MENU?
Current match progress will be lost. Return to headquarters?
FINDING AN OPPONENT
Searching for opponent... 0:00
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ENTER ROOM CODE
CHOOSE PERMANENT CALLSIGN
Before proceeding into combat, select your permanent soldier callsign. This identity cannot be altered once confirmed on this device (maximum 10 letters).
TOP RANKERS
Elite combatants ranked by total arena battle victories
⚔️ AGAINST HUMANS
🤖 AGAINST WARDEN
SELECT 3 STARTING WEAPONS
Weapons are consumed upon use! Replenish by stepping onto your team-color hologram spawns during combat.
✦ YOUR WORLD RANK IS ✦
CLICK ANYWHERE ON SCREEN TO CONTINUE
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