0.4, CHECKSUM
There's a sixth game in Crash The Stack! CHECKSUM is Pyramid, the solitaire where you clear a pyramid of cards by pairing them up, rebuilt as a sealed archive of packets you have to verify.
CHECKSUM
The archive is a pyramid of 28 packets in seven rows, and a packet is free once nothing covers it from below. Pick two free packets whose values add up to 13 and they check out: both leave the archive. A ROOT is worth 13 on its own, so it clears by itself. Clear the whole pyramid and the archive is verified.
When you run out of pairs, PULL turns the next packet from the feed onto the buffer. Pair the top of the buffer with a free packet in the pyramid, or select it and PULL to pair it with the next packet from the feed. You get three passes through the feed, including the first, so watch what's coming before you use up your last one.
Every archive starts with a proven solution: before a deal ever reaches you, the game has already solved it. You can still lose it through the choices you make, so RESTART gives you the same archive to try another route, and NEW ARCHIVE deals you a fresh one. Because the deals are solved ahead of time, there's no waiting for a new board to be generated.
There are two versions. In CLASSIC, the clock runs but there's no time limit. In HACKER, the trace fills while you play, and getting TRACED brings counter-hacks and a countdown: clear the archive before the link is severed.
On a phone, tap two packets to pair them, or tap a ROOT to clear it. With a mouse it's two clicks. On a keyboard the arrows (or h, j, k and l) move a cursor, Space or Enter selects, P pulls from the feed, U undoes and Escape pauses.
CHECKSUM is in FREE PLAY now, with its own tile next to the other five games. It'll join the campaign later, once the hub learns about the newer games.
Smaller things
When a game ends, the end panel now puts a new board first after a win and the retry choice first after a loss. In CHECKSUM those are NEW ARCHIVE and RESTART; the other tables keep their own labels.
Song parsing and player setup are now spread across a few frames, to reduce hitches when a table opens.
The site picked up some polish too. The navigation has a DOWNLOAD link to the itch.io page and fits on a phone without running off the edge, and the landing has a screenshot carousel showing the other five games and the JACK IN hub.
I hope you enjoy verifying some archives!