Season Zero / Competition protocol
The board is serious.The rules are clearer.
One place for the score, the cutoff, the anti-farming limits, and the conditions that must be met before any prize result becomes final.
Time control5+0
Counting tableQuick Match
Prize commitment9 SOL stated
Current statusPublic beta
01 / Status
What is active, and what is not
Public beta status
Email sign-in binds one Arena identity to a recoverable account; it still does not prove that one human owns only one account. The Season Zero ledger and organizer-funded prize commitment are announced, but every point, podium place, and payout remains provisional. Payout certification stays locked until identity and fair-play review and the fixed private appeal process have closed.
Season Zero is designed as a real-player, five-minute chess competition. Only completed online Quick Match games can enter the competition score. Practice boards and private invite tables are available for play, but they are unranked and never add tournament points.
A player's Glicko-2 rating is separate from tournament points. It is used only as a profile skill estimate and to find reasonably matched opponents. It does not decide the podium.
02 / Eligibility
Adult entry. One person, one account.
Season Zero is open only to a person who is at least 18 when they play and may lawfully enter and receive a prize where they reside. One person may use one signed-in FLORKE ID account. Playing through another person, sharing an account, or using multiple accounts is not permitted. The organizer may request reasonable private proof before certification; declining or failing verification makes that player ineligible for a certified prize, subject to appeal.
Before rated Quick Match, the signed-in player must accept the current versioned eligibility statement. No purchase, payment, token ownership, wallet connection, follow, repost, or referral is required to enter or play. Rated scoring opens 05 August 2026, 20:00 UTC; no earlier result counts.
03 / Scoring
Three for a win. One for a draw.
Tie order
- 01Total Quick Match points
The highest provisional point totals at the cutoff enter review first.
- 02More wins
If points are equal, the player with more counting wins ranks first.
- 03Fewer counted games
If wins are also equal, the more efficient score ranks first.
- 04Earlier last counted result
The earlier completion time of the final counting result breaks the remaining tie.
If all four published criteria are equal, the players share the same rank. The permanent Arena number keeps their display order stable, but it is not a sporting tie-break. If an exact tie touches any prize place, the tied players equally split the combined prizes for every affected podium position. A tie crossing third place includes every tied player. Because SOL transfers use whole lamports, the organizer adds any remainder of at most one fewer lamport than the number of tied players so every transfer is exactly equal; no Arena ID silently displaces a tied player.
04 / Match limits
Play widely. Score honestly.
Counting games per pair
The same pair can add points from no more than two games in any rolling 24-hour window.
Minute rematch pause
An immediate repeat pairing does not count. The same players must wait at least 30 minutes before another counting match.
Two-seat ready check
Quick Match clocks remain stopped until both visible players acknowledge the room. Both seats then share one five-second start.
Once both seats are ready, every server-completed result counts immediately, including a resignation or timeout at zero plies. If only one seat is ready when the 30-second window closes, the ready seat receives a recorded no-show win, but no rating or tournament points; if neither is ready, or a seat leaves before both are ready, the room closes unranked. Private tables remain unranked and never add points or prize eligibility.
When an active clock reaches zero, the interface shows a neutral verifying state while the server keeps a two-second arbitration window for a move received before the deadline. Move and timeout database windows do not overlap. A request stalled beyond that bounded window fails closed as a timeout; this is a disclosed service limit, not extra player clock time.
05 / Fair play
The move must be yours.
Open the full fair-play and review rules
Not permitted
- Chess engines, bots, opening books, or live move assistance
- Collusion, result fixing, score trading, or deliberate farming
- Exploit abuse, automation, or interference with the service
- Multiple accounts or participation under another person's identity
How results become final
A place shown at the cutoff is provisional. Identity checks, game data, and suspicious patterns may be reviewed by a human before certification. Players must have a fair opportunity to appeal an adverse decision.
No automated signal alone disqualifies a player. Preliminary review, appeal, final-result and payout dates are fixed in the timeline below.
06 / Prizes
A nine-SOL organizer commitment
The community organizer states that the Season Zero prize pool will be personally funded. This is a 9 SOL commitment, not a claim that funds are held in escrow. The published SOL amounts will not be reduced. Payout is conditional on verified age and eligibility, identity, human fair-play review, the appeal window, and organizer certification of the final result.
Open prize allocation and payout details
Winner payout
Each certified winner may receive the advertised SOL amount after identity and fair-play review, the appeal window, and publication of the final classification. The prize asset is SOL; there is no alternate network conversion formula. The stated 5/3/1 SOL awards apply only to certified unique first, second and third places; exact ties use the equal combined-position split above.
No purchase required
No token ownership, wallet connection, purchase, follow, repost or referral is required to use the community platform. A verified winner will be asked for a compatible Solana public address only after completing review.
Never send a private key or seed phrase. FLORKE Arena will never ask for one.07 / Timeline
Snapshot first. Review second.
Open the full review and payout timeline
- 01
Rated scoring opens
Accounts may register earlier, but no earlier Quick Match result counts.
- 02
Leaderboard cutoff
Quick Match results completed before this moment form the provisional snapshot.
- 03
Identity and fair-play review
01 September 2026, 20:00 UTC to 04 September 2026, 20:00 UTC
The organizer reviews eligibility, identity and fair-play evidence and privately notifies affected players.
- 04
Appeal window
04 September 2026, 20:00 UTC to 08 September 2026, 20:00 UTC
Signed-in affected players submit a documented private appeal through the Arena intake page.
- 05
Final result
By 11 September 2026, 20:00 UTC
Final placements are published only after review and timely appeals are resolved.
- 06
Payout deadline
By 18 September 2026, 20:00 UTC
Only certified winners are paid. The organizer performs and records the payout operation; it is not automatic.
Season Zero / Plain-language promise
No hidden route to the podium.
The visible score is simple. The checks behind a final result are careful. Any material rule change must be published before it can govern prize play.