Getting started
What Pixel Reign is, what you need to play, and your first five minutes: connect, sign in, get past the playtest gate, and build.
Pixel Reign is a pixel-art base-builder on Robinhood. You raise a Keep, mine Shards, train an army, and raid other players' bases; land ownership and the game's KEEP token live on-chain, while every rule, cost, and battle is decided by the game server. The game is in playtest on Robinhood devnet, which means the ETH and KEEP you see are test-net tokens with no real value, and you need an invite to get in.
Quick facts
- Where: play.pixelreign.dev in a browser, desktop or mobile.
- You need: a Robinhood wallet (Phantom, Solflare, or Backpack recommended) or, where offered, a Google / X / email login that creates a wallet for you.
- Signing in is free: one signature, no transaction, no fees.
- It is invite-only right now: invite code, Seeker Genesis Token, or a friend's referral code.
- On Robinhood Seeker, install Pixel Reign from Robinhood — it opens the same game in an app shell, and a Seeker wallet is admitted automatically.
- Your first base is free: Keep level 1, 5,000 Shards, one builder, and terrain to clear.
- Free, and stays free: building, mining Shards, training, heroes, quests, and the campaign.
- Buying land costs 0.2 devnet ETH and unlocks the Gold Forge, the market, raiding landowners, and withdrawals.
What kind of game this is
Three things shape everything else:
- The server is authoritative. Your browser draws the base and sends orders; the server validates every build, timer, cost, and raid. Every number on your HUD comes from the server, not from the client.
- Land and KEEP are on-chain. Buying land mints a Land Deed NFT for one cell of the globe, and KEEP is an SPL token. Shards, the everyday building currency, stay inside the game and are never withdrawable.
- It is a playtest on devnet. Everything works with devnet ETH and devnet KEEP. Treat all of it as test money. See Smart contracts and on-chain for the details.
Your wallet is funded for you (devnet)
Everything on-chain in the playtest runs on Robinhood devnet, so the ETH involved is free test ETH. You never need to hunt for a faucet: once your first Keep stands, the game funds your wallet automatically with 0.5 devnet ETH, and the in-game faucet tops you up again whenever you run low — up to 3.0 ETH per wallet during the playtest, with 6 hours between grants. A small banner tells you when the ETH has arrived. When you need more, the land screen shows a CLAIM 0.5 DEVNET ETH button; it reads NEXT GRANT IN … while you wait, and IN-GAME FAUCET LIFETIME 3.0/3.0 ETH USED once you have had the full amount. The public faucet at faucet.solana.com is not required — it may ask for a small mainnet ETH balance on the same wallet.
Your welcome mail also carries 5,000 KEEP as a claimable reward — open MAIL and tap CLAIM. It is enough to try the shop, elite troops and the Gold Forge without grinding first.
What you need
A Robinhood wallet. The game recommends Phantom, Solflare, or Backpack, in that order; the Jupiter Extension is also recognised on desktop, listed after those three. On desktop you install a browser extension (Chrome, Brave, Edge, or Firefox; Safari cannot host wallet extensions). On mobile you open the game inside your wallet app's browser, or on Android use CONNECT WALLET APP.
No wallet yet? When the build offers it, CONTINUE WITH GOOGLE / X / EMAIL creates an embedded Robinhood wallet for you with no seed phrase. It then signs in exactly like an external wallet.
Tip: On iPhone and iPad, Apple gives wallet apps no way back to Safari or Chrome, so your wallet opens the game in its own browser. That is normal. If you have installed the game to your Home Screen, the social login option is moved to the top so you can stay inside the installed app.
For every connect path, error message, and platform quirk, see Wallets and sign-in.
Your first five minutes
1. Connect
Open the game and tap CONNECT WALLET on the title screen.
The connect sheet adapts to your device: on desktop it lists wallets it detects in your browser first, then store links under NO WALLET YET?; on mobile it offers OPEN IN PHANTOM / SOLFLARE / BACKPACK links that reopen the game inside that wallet, plus CONNECT WALLET APP on Android.
2. Sign the sign-in message
Once connected, the title button changes to PLAY AS <your short wallet address>. Tap it and your wallet asks you to sign a message that reads, in part: "Sign to authenticate with Pixel Reign. This request will not trigger a blockchain transaction or cost any fees." That is exactly what it does: it proves you hold the wallet, nothing more.
- The sign-in request expires after 5 minutes; if you wait longer, just tap PLAY AS again.
- Your session lasts 7 days on that browser. Signing out or revoking the session ends it immediately.
- Signing in creates only a player record. Your base is not created yet.
Why: A signed message is the standard "Sign in with Robinhood" proof. It costs nothing and moves nothing, which is why the game can ask every player to do it before showing them anything.
3. Get through the playtest gate
Until your wallet has been admitted, you land on the JOIN THE PLAYTEST screen: "Pixel Reign is in an invite playtest on Robinhood devnet — free to play, nothing in it is real money. Enter the one-time invite code from your approval email (or a friend's KEEP- code) to unlock this account."
There are three ways in, and one text field handles two of them:
| Way in | What to do |
|---|---|
| Invite code | Apply at pixelreign.dev (the gate links to the form). When approved, you get a one-time 26-character code by email. Paste it into the gate. |
| Seeker Genesis Token | If the wallet you signed in with holds a Robinhood Mobile Seeker Genesis Token, the gate checks automatically and admits you with SEEKER VERIFIED — WELCOME TO THE PLAYTEST. No code needed. |
| Friend's referral code | Any admitted player can share a KEEP-XXXXX code. Type it into the same field, or open play.pixelreign.dev/?ref=KEEP-XXXXX and the gate redeems it for you after sign-in. |
Rules worth knowing:
- Admission sticks to the wallet. Once in, you stay in.
- Invite codes are single-use. A used code and a wrong code produce the same "invalid or already-used invite code" answer.
- One referral code can admit at most 25 wallets, and you cannot refer yourself.
- One Seeker Genesis Token admits at most one game account, ever. If your SGT sits in a different wallet than the one you signed in with, the gate lets you link it.
- You do not need any ETH to redeem a code.
More on invites, applying, and the tester program in Playtest and tester program.
4. Meet your free first base
The first time an admitted player opens the base screen, the server creates it: a Keep at level 1 in the center of your claim, 5,000 Shards to spend, one builder, and a plot scattered with trees, rocks, and stumps. Your plot is 30x30 tiles, and the buildable claim in the middle starts at 14x14; the empty ring outside it is where attackers will later drop troops.
Nothing else is pre-placed, so your first job is to build.
5. Follow the tutorial
Three short cards appear on your first visit to the base — WELCOME, KEEPER, LOOK AROUND (drag to pan, pinch or scroll to zoom, FIT to frame the claim) and YOUR ORDERS LIVE HERE — and then hand you to the Quest Board, where a five-quest onboarding chain teaches the game by having you play it: BUILD AN ARMY CAMP, BUILD A MINE, BUILD A BARRACKS, CLAIM YOUR LAND, WIN YOUR FIRST RAID (15 / 15 / 15 / 30 / 20 Shards). Each step names the next thing to do, takes you there, and pays when it is done. Tap NEXT to advance (OPEN QUESTS on the last card) or SKIP TUTORIAL to dismiss the cards; you can replay them any time from PROFILE → SETTINGS → REPLAY TUTORIAL.
Around the HUD
The base screen is one layout that folds to fit the device (some top-bar chips move into an overflow panel on a narrow phone):
- Top bar: your name plate, SHARDS, KEEP, the trophy chip (opens RANKED LEAGUES), ETH, raid energy and the shield chip. When you have unread defences the shield chip turns into RAIDED ×N and opens the raid log.
- Task rail: QUESTS, CACHE (the Daily Cache), MAIL, BAG (your inventory) and ARMY (your ready troop count; opens the army screen).
- Navigation: SHOP, BUILD, MAP, MARKET and RAID. BUILD opens the build menu with its DEFENSES, BUILDINGS and HEROES tabs.
- Base dock: BUILDERS, LAYOUT, EXPAND and FIT — builders and their jobs, the HOME / BASE layout editor, land expansions, and a one-tap camera fit of the whole claim.
Every number on it comes from the server; the HUD never invents one.
Your first builds
Nearly every building costs Shards and, except walls, ties up your single builder for its build time — 60 seconds for every level-1 building. One builder means one job at a time, so order matters. A sensible opening with 5,000 Shards:
| Building | Cost | Build time | Why first |
|---|---|---|---|
| MINE (your first) | 400 Shards | 60 s | It is your income. A level-1 Mine next to a level-1 Keep makes 500 Shards per day. |
| ARMY CAMP | 1,000 Shards | 60 s | Holds your army. |
| BARRACKS | 300 Shards | 60 s | Trains troops. |
| CANNON or ARCHER TWR | 200 / 250 Shards | 60 s | Your first defense. |
| VAULT | 800 Shards | 60 s | Protects part of your Shards from raiders. |
| WALL | 150 Shards each | instant | Never uses a builder; drag to place a run. |
A few rules that catch new players:
- You can own 2 Mines at Keep level 1 (8 from Keep level 7). Only the first Mine costs Shards; the 2nd through 8th cost KEEP.
- Buildings still under construction exist on the map but do not count for defense, troop capacity, or mining until the job finishes.
- Clearing a tree or rock costs 10–60 Shards and a bit of builder time, and pays back 15 Shards when it finishes. Only obstacles inside your claim can be cleared.
- Moving a building is free and instant. There is no way to sell or demolish one, so place with care.
- The Keep gates everything: no building can be upgraded past your Keep level, new building types unlock at set Keep levels, and how many of each you can place grows with it. Upgrading the Keep from level 1 to 2 costs 182 Shards and takes 12 minutes.
Tip: Level-1 builds take a minute and the first Keep upgrade only 12 minutes, but the upgrade ladder climbs quickly from there (10 minutes for a first upgrade, 72 hours for the last — see Base building). Start the long upgrades before you log off and run the quick builds while you are watching.
Full costs, timers, caps, and the defense roster are in Base building and Defenses, traps, and walls.
Collecting
Mines produce around the clock into a buffer that holds at most one day of output. When the buffer is full, production pauses (nothing is lost) until you collect, so check in at least daily.
Once you have a finished Mine, a free Daily Cache also becomes available once per UTC day. In your first week it pays 100 Shards times your streak day (100 on day 1 up to 700 on day 7); after that it pays 500 a day while your streak is 7 or more, and a 7-day streak also multiplies your mining by 1.4. Miss a day and the streak resets to 1. Daily quests add a little more, paid in Shards.
Details in Mining and daily cache and Economy: Shards and KEEP.
Pick a name
Until you choose one, other players see you as your short wallet address. Set a name in PROFILE → SETTINGS: 3–16 characters, letters, digits, _ and -, unique across the game. You can rename once every 30 days, so choose one you like. Verified Seekers can adopt their .skr domain as their name.
What buying land unlocks later
You can play for free indefinitely: build, mine, train, level heroes, do quests, and fight the campaign. While you own no land, your base is not on the globe, nobody can find or raid it, and your PvP matches are only against other landless keeps. The HUD reminds you with NO LAND YET — FORGE, MARKET & RAIDS LOCKED.
When you are ready, BUY YOUR LAND · 0.2 ETH (devnet ETH; the land screen's CLAIM DEVNET ETH button gets you some if you are short). You pick a cell on the globe or take a random one, the server freezes that exact cell and price before your wallet is asked to pay, and confirmation on-chain takes about 30 seconds. That single payment gives you:
- Your parcel on the globe and a Land Deed NFT.
- The GOLD FORGE, the only way to turn Shards into KEEP (needs Keep level 3 as well).
- Buying and selling on the market.
- Raiding landowners. (PvE is the Campaign, and it is free for everyone — see Campaign and PvE.)
- Withdrawals of KEEP to your wallet (devnet KEEP, no real value).
- A place in clans later: land is one of the requirements, but clan warfare is still marked COMING SOON in the game and clan creation is switched off.
- The ability to buy extra builders and land expansions with ETH.
It also puts you on the map: once you own land, other landowners can raid you.
Why: "Free until you buy land" is deliberate. The free game earns nothing withdrawable (quests, for example, pay Shards and never KEEP), and the money-facing features (Forge, market, withdrawals) are tied to a Land Deed, so they move with the land rather than with a throwaway account.
See Land, deeds, and the globe for the full purchase flow and Deposits, withdrawals, and 2FA for cashing out.