How to play Duskcourt

A visual guide · Start with your first capture

The goal

Leave just one idol.

Move one idol onto another to capture it. All the idols are yours to use. Take your time. There is no timer.

3 idols

1 idol · Court clear

Your first capture

The board is called a court. Let’s use this small example. Your starting court may look different.

1. Choose the cobra

Tap or click the cobra at the bottom left. Its square glows. The ring marks the jackal it can capture.

2. Choose the ringed jackal

The cobra moves onto the jackal’s square. The jackal disappears. The cobra stays a cobra.

Every move is a capture. You cannot move onto an empty square. Selecting an idol just to look costs nothing.

Now leave one standing

3. Capture the beetle

Choose the cobra again, then the ringed beetle above it.

4. Court clear!

Only the cobra remains. Choose Continue to climb to the next court.

Meet the six idols

The small round badge beside each idol shows how it captures. For example, L means the camel’s jump, and X means the vulture’s diagonals. The dots below show its reach on an empty board. In the game, it can land only on another idol.

Jackal

Eight dots · One square in any direction

One square in any direction.

Cobra

+ · Rows and columns

Along a row or column. Stop at the first idol or pillar.

Vulture

X · Diagonal captures

Along a diagonal. Stop at the first idol or pillar.

Scorpion

Star · Rows, columns, and diagonals

Along a row, column, or diagonal. Stop at the first idol or pillar.

Camel

L · A jump shaped like the letter L

Two squares in one direction, then one to the side. Jump over anything in between.

2 squares ↑then 1 →

Beetle

Upward chevron · Diagonally toward the top

↑ TOP OF THE BOARD

One square diagonally toward the top. Never sideways or backwards. A beetle on the top row cannot capture, but another idol can still capture it.

The order makes the puzzle

A ring means a capture is allowed. It does not promise a clear. Look for your next capture before you choose.

Same court. Two choices.

↓ Capture down first

Another capture available

Move the top cobra onto the bottom cobra. It can then capture the camel to its left. One idol remains!

↑ Capture up first

No captures left · Lose one moon

Move the bottom cobra onto the top cobra. The remaining idols cannot reach each other. The court is stuck.

One idol having no target is fine. You are stuck only when more than one remains and none can capture. Every newly dealt court has a solution.

A fresh try, or a fresh court

Reset · Try this court again

Reset restores the starting arrangement once per court. Use it after a capture, before you become stuck. It cannot undo a lost moon.

Three moons · Three chances

Stuck? You lose one moon. Choose Continue for a fresh court at the same rung. Losing the last moon ends the run. Your earned points stay yours.

A little further up the ladder

Gold ring · This jackal stays

On special courts, the gold-ringed jackal cannot be captured. It must make the final capture and stand last. An ordinary jackal has no such protection.

Fallen pillars · A blocked path

A pillar cannot be captured. It blocks the cobra, vulture, and scorpion. Other idols block their paths too. A camel can jump over them.

The gold ring means “must stay”. The bright target ring means “can be captured”. Courts grow from 4 × 4 to 5 × 5 and 6 × 6 as you climb.

Keep climbing. Keep your score.

Captures and cleared courts earn points. Higher rungs are worth more.
Clear courts without losing a moon to build a streak.
Clear without Reset for a clean clear bonus. Reset keeps your moons and streak, but removes that court’s clean clear bonus.
Replaying earlier captures after Reset does not earn their points again.

At a break, choose Continue to keep playing or End Run to finish with your current score. There is no final rung.

Play Duskcourt