Docs

Gridlock

You cross the traffic — chat decides whether to help or flatten you

Category: Co-op · Players: hot seat — you play, chat shapes the run · Status: Beta

You’re the one crossing. Hop lane by lane to the far side, stage after stage, while chat throws traffic at you or clears a path — every vehicle and every bit of help wears the avatar of the viewer who sent it.

Which one a gift does depends on what it cost. Cheap gifts spawn traffic; premium gifts protect you. Nobody picks a side at the start — the room’s intentions show up in what’s on the road.

Gameplay

1
Start the run

You get three lives and a run of stages to clear. Each stage is a set number of lanes between you and the far side.

2
Chat sends traffic — or help

Every gift lands as something on the road, tagged with its sender:

  • Car — the cheapest send, one lane of trouble.
  • Truck — a bigger obstacle, harder to time.
  • Freeze — stops one lane dead, long enough to walk through.
  • Raft — absorbs one hit, so the next crash costs you nothing.
3
Cross, or lose a life

Clear every lane in the stage to advance. Get hit with no raft and you lose a life; lose all three and the run is over wherever you stand.

4
Chat votes the next stage

Between stages the room votes on a modifier for the next crossing — rush hour, fast lanes, fog, or a coin dash. Type the number or the name.

Configuration

OptionValuesDefault
StagesA number5
Lanes per stageA number8

More lanes make each crossing longer and each mistake more expensive, since a life lost costs you the whole stage. More stages make the run longer without changing how hard any single crossing is.

Layout

Labeled layout of the Gridlock play surface
Gridlock — play surface
  1. Marquee — game title and how chat joins in.
  2. Stage progress — which stage you’re on and how many lanes are left.
  3. Lives — three, and what’s left of them.
  4. The road — lanes of traffic, each vehicle carrying its sender’s avatar.
  5. Effect stream — who just sent what, help and sabotage alike.
  6. Vote panel — the modifier options between stages.

The game moves through Lobby → Playing → Game over. The browser stage runs the hop and reports each crossed lane and each hit; everything that counts — progress, lives, who sent what — is held server-side.

Scoring

  • Clearing every stage wins the run. Running out of lives ends it where you are.
  • Viewers score for shaping the run, not for winning it — help and sabotage both count, and both earn achievements.
  • Because every effect is attributed, the post-game record shows who paved the road and who filled it with trucks.