Quick play, levels and ranks
Tap QUICK PLAY and ClapOut finds you a table of players near your level. Every game you finish earns XP, and XP climbs you through fifty levels and six ranks, from Paper to Storm.
The card at the top of the join screen is your rank card. It shows your level in a round seal, a line such as LEVEL 7 · BRASS, a bar with the XP you have into this level and how much the level holds, and your record: "your first game" until you have played one, then your games and wins. This guide explains where those numbers come from and how Quick play uses them.
How Quick play finds you a table
QUICK PLAY puts you in a queue with everyone else who tapped it. While you wait, the screen says LOOKING FOR PLAYERS, shows four seats filling as players are found ("2 of 4"), counts down to when bots will join, and shows the range of levels it is searching. You can cancel at any time.
Behind that screen, the queue works like this:
- Oldest first. The player who has waited longest anchors the next table.
- Near your level. The queue looks for other players within three levels of the anchor. Every five seconds of waiting widens that range by two levels, up to twenty levels either side, so a long wait never leaves you stranded.
- Four seats. A Quick play table seats four. As soon as four players are found, the game is made.
- Bots after 20 seconds. If the anchor has waited twenty seconds and fewer than four people have been found, the people who were found sit down together and bots fill the rest.
That is what the join screen means by "Real players first · bots after 20 s". Players always come before bots; bots only ever fill seats that no person was found for.
Which bots you meet
The bots that fill a Quick play table are chosen by the rank of the players at it (their average level), and a table never seats two of the same bot. The first ones on the list fill the first empty seats:
| Players' rank | Bots, in the order they are seated |
|---|---|
| Paper | Nana, then Chaos, then Rocket |
| Brass | Nana, then Rocket, then Chaos |
| Silver | Chaos, then Rocket, then Sly |
| Gold, Prism and Storm | Rocket, then Sly, then Chaos |
So a new player who needs one bot gets Nana, the gentlest, while experienced players meet Rocket, who never forgets to clap and pounces on anyone who does. Meet the bots explains how each one plays and how to beat it.
Quick play is for playing with whoever is around. To play with people you know, host a table and share its code instead: a hosted table can seat two to six, and the host chooses the house rules and which bots, if any, sit in. See Host a table and invite friends.
How a game earns XP
XP is not just for Quick play. Every game you play to the end earns it, at a hosted table as well as a matched one. When the game ends, the results show each line you earned, such as "+40 the win" or "+18 three claps", and your bar fills up in front of you.
| What you did | XP |
|---|---|
| Played the game to its end | +20 |
| Won the game | +40 |
| Each other person you beat (when you win) | +10 each |
| Each clap you made in time | +6 each |
| Each player you caught | +12 each |
| Each overpower you dealt | +5 each |
| Each Surge you landed | +8 each |
A few details matter:
- Beating people pays more than beating bots. The +10 is for each other person at the table, so winning a full table of friends earns more than winning against bots.
- A late clap pays nothing. A clap after your window has closed still saves you from a catch, but only a clap made in time earns the +6.
- A fizzle pays nothing. Only an overpower earns XP. The elements guide explains the difference.
- Leaving earns nothing. XP goes to every person still in their seat when the game ends. If you leave, or drop out long enough that the table is playing your seat for you when the game ends, that game earns you no XP.
- Bots do not earn XP. They have no rank card.
As an example, suppose you win a four-seat table with two friends and one bot, clapping in time twice, catching one player and dealing one overpower along the way. That game pays 20 for playing, 40 for the win, 20 for the two friends beaten, 12 for the two claps, 12 for the catch and 5 for the overpower: 109 XP in all.
Levels
There are fifty levels. Level 1 is 80 XP long, and each level after it is 40 XP longer than the one before: 120 for level 2, 160 for level 3, and so on. That keeps the early levels quick while the later ones take real commitment.
| Level | Total XP to reach it | XP in that level |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 80 | 120 |
| 3 | 200 | 160 |
| 5 | 560 | 240 |
| 10 | 2,160 | 440 |
| 20 | 8,360 | 840 |
| 35 | 25,160 | 1,440 |
| 50 | 50,960 | the top level |
When a game takes you past the end of a level, the results screen stamps LEVEL UP and the bar starts again for the next one. Level 50 is the top: XP you earn there still counts on your card, but the level stays at 50 and the bar reads full.
The six ranks
Levels are grouped into six ranks, named after the game's own materials and cards. Each has its own colour on your rank card, and reaching a new one stamps RANK UP on the results screen as the new colour sweeps the card.
| Rank | Levels |
|---|---|
| Paper | 1 to 4 |
| Brass | 5 to 9 |
| Silver | 10 to 19 |
| Gold | 20 to 34 |
| Prism | 35 to 49 |
| Storm | 50 |
Prism and Storm share their names with the game's two wild cards. Storm is a single level: the very top.
Levels and fairness
Your level is a record of how much you have played and how well, and that is all it is. A higher level does not change the cards you are dealt, the time on your clock or the rules at your table. It only changes who Quick play looks for first and which bots it seats. And because XP is earned only by playing, it cannot be bought.
Tips for climbing
- Finish your games. The +20 for playing to the end is the steadiest XP there is, and leaving throws away everything the game would have paid.
- Clap every time. Six XP for a clap in time adds up, and a clap you forget can cost you the game as well.
- Watch for catches. Twelve XP for a catch is worth more than two claps. A wrong catch costs you nothing, so if someone looks like they forgot, try it.
- Use the elements. Overpowers and Surges pay on top of the cards they shed. The strategy tips show how to set them up.
- Play people. A win over a full table of people pays the most of all.