The whole game in three lines
THE BASICS
Gain the most plates by the end to win. Whoever controls more plates when the grid is full takes the match.
Compare sides — the greater side wins. Place beside an enemy and your touching side meets theirs. Ties stay put.
A plate in your way? Flip its control three times — through placements and combos — to shatter it.
Where the duel happens
THE GRID
Two players duel on a 6×6 grid — 36 slots in all. You take turns placing one plate into any empty slot until the board is completely full. Each player brings 18 plates to the fight and holds a hand of up to 4: every time you place a plate, you draw another to top your hand back up while plates remain. When the last slot is filled, whoever controls more plates wins.
Read a plate, take a turn
PLATES & YOUR TURN
Every plate has four side values — Top, Right, Bottom and Left — each a single number from 2 to 8. Those four sides are all that matter in a fight. Each house leans on different sides, so the same plate is a wall on one edge and an opening on another.
How plates change hands
CAPTURING
When you place next to an enemy plate, your touching side is compared to their opposing side. If your value is greater, you capture it. Ties don't capture — you must be strictly greater to flip a plate.
MULTIPLE CAPTURES
Every adjacent enemy is checked independently. A single, well-placed plate can flip several neighbors at once — and each of those flips can keep the chain going (see below).
When one flip becomes many
HOUSE ADVANTAGE & CHAINS
Every plate belongs to a house, and houses have rivalries. When your house holds the advantage over the enemy's, each capture rechecks all of that plate's neighbors — potentially flipping them too, and theirs after that. This is how a single placement detonates into a board-wide chain reaction.
WHY POSITION IS EVERYTHING
There's no luck to fall back on. The value of a placement isn't just the plate you flip — it's every flip that flip sets off. Reading the chain before you commit, and lining up advantage matchups, is the heart of Gridhammer.
Nothing on the board is permanent
DURABILITY & SHATTERING
Every plate enters play with 3 lives. Each time it's flipped it loses one, and its frame steps down a rank so you can read its remaining lives at a glance:
Hero3 flips left
Rare2 flips left
Common1 flip leftShatterleaves the boardEach house wears its own frames — these are Embercrest's.
SHARED LIVES
On its third flip a plate shatters and leaves the board, freeing that slot. Lives are shared — the count carries with the plate no matter who controls it, so a plate worn down by trading hands shatters sooner. A plate in your way? Flip it three times, through placements and combos, to break it for good.
Five philosophies of war
THE FIVE HOUSES
There are 45 plates in all — nine tiers per house, sides ranging 2–8, with higher tiers carrying a bigger total budget across their four sides.
Stillforge
Anchor the left flank. Crush enemies by placing to their right. Protect your top against overhead threats.
Runeweaver
No peak, no gap — every side equal. Win through positioning, not raw power.
Embercrest
Pressure from above. Place below enemies to strike with your dominant top edge. Avoid exposing your right flank.
Stoneheart
Lock the right side. Place to the left of enemies to strike with your dominant right. Guard your exposed bottom.
Shadowmine
Crush from below. Place above enemies to strike with your dominant bottom edge. Keep your left protected.
Forge your name
STEAM LEADERBOARDS
Every match feeds six global, all-time Steam leaderboards. Your best run on each is ranked against every dwarf on Steam.
HIGH SCORE
Most plates captured in a single match against the AI.
STREAK
Longest unbroken win streak against the AI.
HIGH SCORE
Most plates captured in a single online match.
STREAK
Longest unbroken win streak in online play.
BIGGEST COMBO
The largest single chain reaction you've ever triggered.
TOTAL POINTS
Cumulative points earned across every match you play.