Races
Races and conditions
Lanes, race cards, weather, hazards, hawks, distractors.
On this page
Lane races
The main event is the lane race: four flies, one per lane, run down four straight, walled lanes side by side. There is one fly of each breed (Direct, Cautious, Erratic and Bold), always in the same lane order. Every lane has an identical layout: the same hazards in the same places, the same lures, the same gusts of wind and the same hawk swoops at the same moments. So no lane is luckier than another. Differences in the result come from the flies' brains and their random neural noise.
Everything about the course that is not fixed by the race card (exact positions and timing of hazards, gusts and swoops) is generated from the race seed, which nobody can know until betting has closed.
The race card
Every race publishes a race card before betting opens. It is stored on-chain with the race and shown on the stream and in the bet panel as a row of four chips, for example SPRINT · GALE · HAZARDS · HAWKS. Like a form guide at the dog track, it lets you weigh the conditions against each breed's strengths before you bet.
| Dimension | Levels |
|---|---|
| Distance | Sprint, Mile, Marathon (lane length 100, 160 or 240 units) |
| Weather | Calm, Breezy, Gale (wind gusts and their strength) |
| Track | Clear, Lures, Hazards (hurdles and debris, or food and light lures) |
| Hawks | Quiet, Swooping (predators that swoop over the lanes) |
That gives 3 × 3 × 3 × 2 = 54 possible cards. The card says how many hazards, lures, gusts and swoops there will be. It never says where they are or who they will affect, and it is the same for all four lanes.
What each level changes
| Dimension | Level | What the course gets |
|---|---|---|
| Distance | Sprint / Mile / Marathon | Lane length 100 / 160 / 240 units. Longer lanes reward stamina; short ones reward a fast start. |
| Weather | Calm | No wind gusts. |
| Weather | Breezy | 1 to 3 gusts of moderate strength. |
| Weather | Gale | 2 to 3 stronger gusts, angled head-on or across the lane, never a lucky tailwind. |
| Track | Clear | A few hazards (2 to 4 per lane), no lures. |
| Track | Lures | The same few hazards plus 6 to 9 food and light lures per lane. |
| Track | Hazards | A hazard-heavy lane, as many as fit with enough room to get through (roughly 3 to 9 depending on distance). |
| Hawks | Quiet | No predator swoops. |
| Hawks | Swooping | 4 to 5 swoops across the race. |
Hazards and distractors
Hazards
Hurdles and debris on the lane. A fly senses them with eight feeler rays and steers away. If it still hits one, it takes a short collision stun that cuts its forward speed for a moment. A cautious breed shrugs that off faster. Brushing the lane walls is routine and does not stun.
Distractors
- Food and light lures sit off the racing line and pull flies toward them. A fly that is pulled into one loses time. Distractible breeds (Erratic most of all) are drawn in and stop to feed; focused breeds (Direct, Bold) mostly ignore them.
- Sugar spills appear mid-race and act like extra food: a fly that touches one stops to feed, so distractible breeds lose the most time.
- Hawks swoop across the lanes. A fly senses the looming shape, turns away and bursts forward. Flies that react strongly to hawks recover better; flies that react little can freeze.
- Wind gusts push flies sideways or against them. Wind-resistant breeds are barely moved; others get shoved around and lose speed.
Surges and photo finishes
In the last fifth of the lane every fly gets a late sprint cue. All flies tire a little by then, and the breed's finishing kick decides how well it fights that. The commentary also calls out overtakes, hazard hits and photo finishes as they happen. All of this is recorded in the race trace, so it replays the same way every time.
Reading a card
- Sprint, calm, clear: Bold's kind of day. A fast start counts for a lot and nothing stands in its way.
- Marathon or gale: look at Cautious. High stamina and wind resistance matter most when races run long and rough.
- Lures: Erratic is in trouble. Direct and Bold are barely affected.
- Hazards: Direct, with the lowest caution, pays the most. Erratic copes best.
- Hawks: a high-variance condition. Erratic reacts hardest; Bold is the one most likely to be rattled.
These are tendencies, not guarantees. The multipliers already reflect what everyone else thinks of the card, so a fly that suits the conditions may already be priced in. Browse each breed's numbers in The four breeds, and the live results on the Stats page.