The interface

BROODZ is played standing up, one hand, on a phone. Here is every screen in the order you will meet it, and what to look at on each.

The home

Four doors, always open: the Quests, Multiplayer, the Grimoire and the Settings. None of them is locked, not even on the very first login.

• Quests: the six page tutorial.
• Multiplayer: the room list and room creation.
• Grimoire: this guide, on the public site.
• Settings: avatar, language, world, music and account.

The Quest list

The six pages stack into one illustrated column, in order. The next page opens once the previous one is finished; a finished page can be replayed as often as you like.

• One band per page, in reading order.
• The state of each page: to play, finished, or not open yet.

A page sheet

Every band opens its sheet before anything starts. The sheet states the page objective, how to go about it, and the cosmetic it pays. It stays readable even while the page is not open yet.

• The objective, spelled out.
• The cosmetic promised on success.
• The start seal, live as soon as the page is open.

The rooms

The list of open rooms, with the seats taken. Join whichever you like, watch one without sitting down, or create your own. The Hall Of Fame sits on the same screen.

• Join: you take a seat.
• Watch: you follow the match without playing.
• Create room: you become its host.

Creating a room

A name, a game type, a duration and the three music tracks. There is no size picker: every room seats up to six players.

• Game type: score sprint or target race.
• Duration: from 1 to 10 minutes.
• Music: lobby, match and ending, picked separately.

The lobby

This is where you wait for the others. There is no Start button: once everyone is ready, a short countdown triggers the hatching. The host can add bots and adjust the settings.

• Ready: the only action in the lobby.
• Bots: up to five, in four difficulties.
• The host can kick a player or remove a bot.

The match

The game screen, in one column: the clock and your score on top, your nest in the middle, your cards just below, the live standings at the bottom. Swipe to move the whole brood at once.

• Your hand holds up to three cards; a tap plays one at once.
• The standings re-sort on every merge.
• A wild egg drops in now and then: block it to hatch it and win a card.

The final standings

At the buzzer the table drops: everyone's rank, score and highest creature. From there you go for a rematch or head back to the lobby.

• Rank, score and best creature for every seat.
• Rematch, or back to the lobby.

The settings

Your name, your avatar, your language, your world and your music, plus account management. The skins won in the Quests are picked here.

• Avatar and display name.
• World and music, including the ones the Quests paid for.
• Linked accounts, logout and account deletion.