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The Cup
A free 1v1 creature card battler in your browser or on your desktop. Every contestant is a real North American animal, entered under its true natural history. Play cards, roll dice, hold the center. There is no skip button, because the animations are the interface.

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Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔ ✔ ✔
Ratings
E10+ - Everyone (10+)
Age rating for: ESRB

Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“The Cup is already playable and complete as a game. The rules, the dice, the booth and the natural history are finished and live right now.

What is not finished is the art. Cards currently use emoji placeholders while we commission original illustrations of every creature. Early access means you get the whole game today and get to watch it grow into its pictures, and it means the people playing have a say in the order that happens.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“We plan to be in early access until the roster is illustrated. That is months rather than years, but it depends on how quickly commissioned art lands, so we would rather not name a date we cannot keep.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“The main difference we plan is the art: original commissioned illustrations replacing the emoji placeholders on all 68 contestants and survivors.

Alongside that we plan to keep deepening the building side of the game, more ways to put a line together, and to act on what players tell us while we are in early access.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Fully playable, and free.

59 contestants and 9 survivors across the US, Canada and Mexico delegations. Live 1v1 by invite link, single-elimination gauntlets with medals, draft mode, and the House. The two-voice booth calls every match live. Every match is written to tape and every highlight links its replay.

Every natural-history fact on a card is checkable, and we encourage checking. The card art is emoji placeholder, and we would rather say so plainly than have you find out.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“No. The Cup is free, and we plan to keep it free during early access and after it. There are no in-game purchases.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“This game has been built in public from the start: devlogs, a Discord, and a subreddit where balance and design get argued out in the open. Every regional creature is checked with people from that region before it ships, which is why the Canada and Mexico delegations read the way they do.

During early access we plan to keep publishing devlogs, keep the Discord open, and let players help decide which creatures get illustrated first.”
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About This Game

The Cup is a free 1v1 creature card battler. Field a survivor and a line of three creatures, play cards, roll dice, and hold the center. Every contestant is a mutated version of a real North American animal, entered under its true natural history, and every natural-history fact on a card is checkable.

Variance is a choice. Every creature is tagged Safe, Swingy, or Jackpot, so the gamble is always one you opted into, and everyone watches the die land. There is no skip button, because the animations are the interface.

The booth calls your match live. BroadcASH calls the play. BOBcast adds the color. The action waits while the booth talks, and the feed is recorded.

TONIGHT'S CARD

  • 59 contestants and 9 survivors from the US, Canada and Mexico delegations, every one a real animal

  • Live 1v1 by invite link, single-elimination gauntlets with medals, or the House

  • Draft mode: build your line from the pool, nobody gets the same night twice

  • Seeded dice: same seed, same game - every match is written to tape, and every highlight links its replay

  • Streaks, medals, the dice ledger, and a shelf of mugs with your name on it

  • An owned score, composed in-house - no rented songs anywhere on the broadcast

THE STATE OF THE BROADCAST

Early access, and honestly labeled: the rules, the dice, the booth and the natural history are all real. The card art is currently emoji placeholder while we commission real illustrations of every creature, one at a time. The animals earned more than a picker glyph, and they are getting it.

Free. No account required - play first, sign up after, and your record follows you.

A broadcast of the Galactic Athletics Commission. The feed is recorded.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

The two announcer voices, BroadcASH and BOBcast, are generated with ElevenLabs from scripts we write and edit ourselves. Every line is approved, levelled and listened to by hand before it ships.

Nothing else in the game is AI generated. The card art is emoji placeholder today, and is being replaced with original illustrations commissioned from human artists. The music is composed in-house by our own procedural scripts, and every track has a written provenance log. The rules, the design and the natural history research are ours.

Some marketing and store copy is drafted with AI assistance and edited before use.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
    • Processor: dual-core 2.0 GHz
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: integrated graphics with WebGL2
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 11 64-bit
    • Processor: quad-core
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: any discrete GPU from the last decade
    • Network: Broadband Internet connection
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
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