Finding a match
Open Play Online from the main menu. The room list shows open rooms of your game version; join one, or create your own, public or private. A private room has a six-letter code: send it to a friend and they join with it. Classic 1v1 is the heart of online play; the room shows every match setting before the game starts.
No account is needed: the game signs you in as a guest with an anonymous player. You choose a display name, which a word filter checks. An optional account, with a username and password or Sign in with Apple, keeps your player and name on another phone; make it, or delete it, under More ways to play, Account.
Fair by design
Both phones play the same match from the same orders, step by step, and exchange only those orders, so a match plays out exactly alike for both players. Only copies of the same game version can meet; update the game if rooms of another version are listed.
When a connection drops
If a player's connection stops, both games wait a few seconds; then the missing player is marked away and the other plays on. After a few minutes the player still there can claim the win. If the game itself closed, Rejoin the match on the main menu brings you back into a 1v1 for a short while. If the two games ever disagree, both stop with no result and offer to send a report.
Each player may pause a match a few times, for up to a minute each. Leaving a match counts as a loss.
Chat, reports and blocks
Chat uses a set of fixed, numbered phrases, so there is nothing to type and nothing to filter. Tap the button beside another player's line to report it, or to mute or block the player. A mute lasts the match; a block lasts until you lift it and stays on your phone. A report sends us the room's recent lines to review.
Same Wi-Fi
Two phones on one network can also play each other without the internet, from More ways to play, by address or by QR code.