> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://nimbo-9ed30387.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Play your first round

> Install a wallet, switch it to devnet, get free test SOL, and go from the demo to your first staked run.

<Warning>
  Everything below happens on **Solana devnet**. The SOL you use is a free test
  token with no monetary value.
</Warning>

## 1. Install Phantom

The arena client currently supports **Phantom only**. It talks to Phantom's
injected provider directly; multi-wallet discovery through the wallet-standard
registry is not wired into the game yet.

The portal at [nimboplay.dev](https://nimboplay.dev) is more permissive and works
with any wallet-standard wallet, but the portal is not where you stake. If you
want to play, you need Phantom.

## 2. Switch Phantom to devnet

<Warning>
  **Do not skip this.** Phantom is what actually broadcasts your deposit, and it
  broadcasts to whichever network it is currently set to. If Phantom is on
  mainnet, your transaction goes to mainnet, the arena never sees it, and your
  join times out with no useful error.
</Warning>

In Phantom: **Settings → Developer Settings → Testnet Mode**, then select
**Solana Devnet**.

## 3. Get devnet SOL

Devnet SOL is free and handed out by a faucet.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Web faucet">
    Go to [faucet.solana.com](https://faucet.solana.com), paste your Phantom
    address, and request an airdrop on **devnet**.
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Solana CLI">
    ```bash theme={null}
    solana airdrop 2 <YOUR_WALLET_ADDRESS> --url devnet
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

The lowest staked tier is **0.1 SOL**, and you need a little extra for
transaction fees. Two devnet SOL is plenty to learn on.

## 4. Learn in the demo first

The free demo is a **separate, fully off-chain arena**. It needs no wallet, holds
no value, and you will never meet a staking player in it — it is populated by
bots only. Nothing you eat there can be extracted, because there is nothing real
to extract.

Use it to get the controls and the feel of the map into your hands. The one thing
it cannot teach you is what it feels like to hold an extraction for 12 seconds
with something to lose.

## 5. Your first staked run

Go to [arena.nimboplay.dev](https://arena.nimboplay.dev).

<Steps>
  <Step title="Sign in with your wallet">
    You will be asked to sign a **Sign In With Solana** message. This is a
    signature, not a transaction: it costs nothing, moves nothing, and never
    touches the chain. Phantom will refuse to sign it if the domain in the
    message does not match the page you are on — that check is the point.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Pick a stake">
    The tiers are **0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 1 SOL**. Your stake sets your spawn size:
    stake more and you start bigger, which means more presence on the map and
    more to lose. It is not a difficulty setting, it is a risk setting.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Wait for a partner">
    A run needs **at least two players** to start. You are placed in a queue
    first, and queuing is free — no money moves while you wait. When a match is
    found you get a short window to accept, then a window to sign and confirm
    your deposit. Both players spawn together.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approve the deposit">
    This one **is** a real transaction. It sends your stake to the round's Vault
    on devnet. Phantom may warn that it cannot simulate the transaction reliably
    — that is a known devnet quirk, not a sign that something is wrong.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Play, then get out">
    Eat, grow, avoid heads. When an extraction point appears, decide whether you
    can hold it for 12 seconds. Everything you are carrying is only yours once
    that channel completes.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  If you accept a match and then never deposit, you leave the other player
  hanging after they have already paid their entry fee. The first time is free —
  a dropped connection and bad faith look identical once. After that, repeated
  desertions earn a short cooldown before you can queue again. It is tied to your
  wallet, it decays on its own, and playing an actual run clears it.
</Note>

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Game rules" icon="book-open" href="/game-rules">
    The full mechanics: growth, death, extraction, disconnects, rounds.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Trust model" icon="scale-balanced" href="/trust-model">
    Read this before you stake anything you would miss.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>


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