Star Duel
Stars appear between you and the person next to you, and each one is on a timer. Hold a pad on your side and the star in that column starts sliding your way. Hold too long and it burns in your hands. Most points in sixty seconds wins the round.
Controls
- Touch — press and hold one of the five pads on your side
- The star in that column starts sliding toward your edge and is yours the moment it arrives. A small star needs 0.8s from the middle, a medium one 1.6s, a large one 2.6s.
- Touch — lift your finger
- You stop this hold. If another pad on your side is still held, it takes over. With nobody pulling the star, it drifts back to the middle at 60% of pulling speed. If your opponent keeps holding, it moves toward them. Releasing itself costs no points.
- Touch — press a different pad on your side
- The newest pad takes over instantly. You can only ever pull one column at a time; if you kept the earlier pad held, releasing the new one hands the pull straight back to it. Sliding a held finger across the row does not switch columns; make a fresh press on the new pad.
- Keyboard — A S D F G
- Holds the five pads of the bottom player, one key per column. Holding the key is holding the pad; releasing it lets go.
- Keyboard — 1 2 3 4 5
- Holds the five pads of the top player, so one of you can play on keys while the other plays on the screen. Hold several of your own keys at once and only the newest one pulls.
- Mouse — hold the left button on a pad
- Hold to pull and release to stop. Moving the held mouse away keeps the original column selected; release and press another pad to switch. Right and middle buttons do nothing, and the pads do not open a right-click menu.
- Pause button in the shared bar between the two sides
- Freezes the round clock and all life rings. Resume, then release and press your pad or key again to pull. Sound, vibration, reduced motion and high contrast are in the same panel.
How to play
ObjectiveStars appear one at a time on the middle line between you and the player opposite. Hold a pad to drag the star in that column toward your own edge; every star that reaches your edge is worth 1, 3 or 7 points. The higher score after sixty seconds takes the round, and the first player to win two rounds takes the match.
Getting started
- Choose Duel for two people, Echo for a shadow opponent, or Practice for one round alone. On the next screen, press Start match; Daily Chart opens at level 3 and has its own start button.
- In Duel, place the phone between you and each press the middle pad on your own side to confirm you are ready. On your first match, follow or skip the short tutorial before the countdown.
- When the three-second countdown ends, watch the middle line. A star appears there about every 1.6 seconds in one of the five columns — 36 of them over the round, and the strip along the top counts the ones still to come.
- Hold the pad under the column you want. The star leaves the middle immediately, drags a trail toward you, and the band on your pad fills as it travels.
- Before you commit, read the ring drawn around the star. It is the star's remaining life, and the notch on it marks the time one player alone needs to bring that star home from the middle.
- Check the remaining distance as well as the ring. Below the notch, a full solo trip from the middle no longer fits, but a star already near you may still reach your edge. Release an unreachable star before it burns to avoid losing 0, 1 or 3 points and a 0.45-second dark pad row.
- The round ends when the sixty-second clock reaches zero. The result screen shows both scores, which of you pressed first more often, the stars nobody took, and the single miss that cost you the most.
- A match is up to three rounds. The first to win two takes it; if nobody wins two, the higher total across all three rounds decides it. Play again from the result screen starts a fresh match with no loading screen.
Tips
- Read distance and ring together. The notch marks the solo trip from the middle: a star near your edge needs less time, and one on the opponent's side needs more. Do not abandon a nearly claimed star just because its ring has passed below the notch.
- Start a medium star early. If you grab it at birth and the opponent joins half a second later, continued holding can bring it home before expiry. A late start leaves less life, so being first alone does not guarantee the points.
- Treat an early contest over a large star as a warning. A large star needs 2.6 seconds alone from the middle and lives only 3 seconds. If you start at birth and the opponent joins within 1.3 seconds, both holding until expiry burns you both. Release before expiry to avoid your penalty, but watch whether that lets them score.
- Switch away from a star stuck exactly in the middle if another star is available. With both players holding it cannot move, but its ring keeps draining. Each player can pull only one column, so look for a star they are leaving alone.
- Leave empty columns. After a burn, that column cannot spawn a star for 1.2 seconds. Press a pad with a visible star instead, and remember that sliding your held finger will not change columns.
- Watch the supply strip and the round clock. The final scheduled star appears at 57 seconds. With two seconds left, an uncontested medium star can still cross from the middle in 1.6 seconds; a large one needs 2.6. Stars already near your edge may need less time. Only a claim before the round ends scores.
FAQ
How do two people play Star Duel on one phone?
Lay the phone flat on a table between you, or hold one side each. The five pads at the bottom of the screen belong to whoever sits at the bottom and the five at the top belong to the other player, and the stars appear in the strip between you. Before a match, each player presses the middle pad on their own side so nobody starts on the wrong half. One of you can also play on the keyboard while the other uses the screen.
Can I play Star Duel on my own?
Yes. Echo gives you a shadow opponent with five difficulty steps: E1 is slow and only goes for small stars, E3 knows when to let go of a star it cannot reach, and E5 is fastest and will hold your column purely to stop you. Practice is a single sixty-second round with no opponent, which is the easiest way to learn how long each star takes to pull. Both are on the first screen, so you never have to find a second person before you can start.
How is the keyboard split between the two players?
Hold A S D F G for the bottom player and 1 2 3 4 5 for the top player, in pad order from left to right in portrait. Release a key to stop that hold. The newest held key on your side pulls; releasing it returns to an older key if still held. One player can use keys while the other uses touch or the left mouse button. Mirror reverses which column each pad controls.
Why isn't the star moving while I am holding the pad?
If both players hold a star exactly on the middle line, it stays still while its ring drains. Switch to a free column or release before it burns. If that is not the cause, check for a dark pad row, an empty column or a paused game. After pausing, switching apps or rotating the phone, release and press again. In Mirror, the pads control the columns in reverse order.
Why did I lose points in Star Duel?
A star burned while you were still holding it. That costs half its value — 0 for a small star, 1 for a medium one and 3 for a large one — and darkens your entire pad row for 0.45 seconds, during which the other player can keep scoring. Only holders are charged: if nobody is pulling a star when its ring empties, it simply leaves and nobody pays. Your score never drops below zero.
What is the notch on a star's ring?
The notch marks the life needed for one player to pull a star from the middle to their edge. Below it, that full trip no longer fits. It is a reference for the middle, not an instruction to release every star: one already near you needs less time, and one on the opponent's side needs more. A contest slows the pull further, so check distance, ring and the other player together.
When should I give up on a large star?
Release before expiry when its remaining life cannot cover the remaining pull, or switch to another star you can claim. A large star needs 2.6 seconds alone from the middle but lives only 3 seconds. An early contest can make it unreachable; a late contest near your edge can still finish. Releasing avoids your burn penalty, but may let the opponent finish the star, so compare that risk with the points available elsewhere.
Neither of us won two rounds. Who takes the match?
Whoever scored more across all three rounds added together, and the results table highlights that total row so you can see where it was decided. This comes up because a round can end level and a level round is won by nobody. If the three-round totals are identical as well, one sudden star appears: a single large star with a long life and no burn penalty, and the first player to pull it in wins the match. If it expires without being claimed, the match is a draw.
My pads went dark, and later a shield appeared. What are those?
The dark row is the 0.45-second penalty for letting a star burn while you were still holding it, and during it none of your five pads will pull. The shield is the catch-up help: if you miss three stars in a row while at least 8 points behind, you are handed one. The next star that burns on you still costs the points, but your pads stay lit so you can keep playing through it, and the shield shatters as it is used.
What is the Daily Chart, and does it need a connection?
Daily Chart is a single sixty-second round based on your device's local calendar date, unlocked at level 3. You need a connection to open or reload the game; once loaded, the round runs locally. It keeps your best score for that date in this browser. Use the same star field when comparing repeated attempts, since fields change how stars behave. There is no online leaderboard.
Where is my progress saved, and can I move it to another device?
Stardust, levels, unlocks and records are saved in this browser on this device. There is no account or cloud transfer, so a different phone or browser starts fresh. Clearing this site's browser data removes the save. Keep using the same browser, and allow it to store site data if records are not being kept.
How do I turn sound or vibration off?
Open Settings on the title screen or Pause during a round, then switch Sound or Vibration off. The same panel offers reduced motion and high contrast. If sound is enabled but silent, press a pad once and check your device volume. Vibration also depends on whether your browser and device support it.
About the game
Stars appear between you and the person next to you, and each one is on a timer. Hold a pad on your side and the star in that column starts sliding your way. Hold too long and it burns in your hands. Most points in sixty seconds wins the round.