Nobody can peek

Every round here is two people picking at the same time. The only way to cheat at that is to see the other pick first. Destonk is built so that can’t happen. Not for your opponent, and not for us.

1. 1

   You pick, your browser locks it

   Your browser makes a random 128-bit salt and hashes your pick with it: sha256(match : round : you : pick : salt). Only that hash is sent. The server can’t work out your pick from it.

2. 2

   Both locks in, then both reveal

   Once both hashes are in, the server asks for the picks. Each pick is checked against the hash sent earlier, so nobody can change their mind after seeing the other side.

3. 3

   Check it yourself

   Every finished match lists every hash, pick and salt, and your browser rehashes them all. The match id, round and player are in the hash, so a hash can’t be copied from your opponent or replayed from another round.

4. 4

   Cards nobody can stack

   In All-in or Fold and High Bid, the server picks a secret seed before the toss and publishes its hash. Every deck comes from that seed mixed with both players’ toss hashes, so the server can’t steer the cards and neither player can predict them. Your own cards are written where only you can read them. When the match ends the seed is published, and your browser checks its hash and re-deals every hand.

The rest of the rules

Running out of time

Each game has its own clock: 15 seconds a pick in most, longer to place a Blotto army. Miss it and the server picks for you, at random (a fold in poker). It only has your opponent’s hash at that point, so it can’t pick against them. 3 misses in a row forfeits the match.

The house cut

5% of each pot. The house never plays and never takes a side, so it makes the same whoever wins.

Draws

Both stakes come back in full, with no cut.

If someone vanishes

Searches whose tab goes quiet are refunded within a minute or two. In a match, the clock keeps running, and three missed picks in a row forfeits.

Your balance

Kept on a double-entry ledger that can’t go below zero. Withdrawals only ever go to the wallet you signed in with.

Bots and teaming up

Every game here is a guessing game with no winning formula: whatever you do can be beaten by a good guess, so a computer can’t calculate its way past someone who mixes it up. Games a computer solves, like chess, aren’t offered. The house never takes a seat, and pairs of accounts that keep playing each other with money flowing one way get flagged and reviewed.