TheQueen's Tug

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Four hidden castles. One wandering queen. Every move is a secret battle.

Four castles are hidden in the fortress — one for each player. You can see yours. Nobody can see anyone else's. Lure the queen onto your castle. But you do not control her alone.

Pull the queen

Each round, tap the glowing squares beside her to drop coins there — up, down, left or right. Pile several on one side, split them, or place nothing. Everyone does this in secret, at the same time. Then press Lock in.

Coins are cells

When the round resolves, a golden rope grows out of the queen for every direction, as long as the coins pulled that way. Opposite ropes eat each other: Up 3 against Down 2 leaves Up 1. The strongest surviving rope reels her in, one square per coin. If the strongest are tied, she holds her ground. Coins are spent either way.

Land on your castle

She must finish her move on your castle. Walking over it does not count. Land there and you win.

Your secret treasure

A chest only you can see. It loses a coin for every square the queen travels, so the longer you wait the less it holds. Land exactly on it to claim what is left. Chase the castle, or chase the coins?

Cannonballs

You have nine cannonballs for the whole game, one per round, fired alongside your coins. Watch where the others keep pulling the queen — they want her there for a reason. Tap Fire in the bottom bar, then tap the square you suspect (or drag a ball onto it). Shots land before the queen moves, and nobody learns who fired.

• Hit a castle and it falls. Its owner is out — and you take all their remaining cannonballs.
• Hit a treasure and you take every coin left in it. Its owner loses it; nobody else learns what was there.
• If two players hit the same square in the same round, they share the spoils. If your own castle falls in that same round, you get nothing.
• Every struck square stays a crater for the rest of the game.

You cannot fire at your own castle or treasure, the queen, an old crater, or the outer ring of squares (nothing can stand there — the gold line marks the edge). When only one castle stands, the queen goes straight to it.

The walls

She cannot leave the fortress. Pulled too far, she hits the wall and the extra squares are lost.

Your view of the realm

• Tap a glowing square to stake a coin. Tap the opposite square to take one back. Long-press (or right-click) a stack, or use the undo arrow, to remove a coin.
• Press Lock in when you are done. With nothing staked, the button says Pass.
• Tap Fire, then a red square, to aim a cannonball. Tap the aimed ball to take it back.
• The ghost queen shows where your coins alone would take her.
• A tower's brazier lights when that player has locked in.
• Drag to turn the fortress, pinch or scroll to zoom, double-tap empty sky to reset.
• Keyboard: arrow keys stake, Backspace takes back, Enter locks.

You may know where the queen went. You will have to guess why.