How scoring works in QUADRO
Why a token etched next to your existing memory nodes is worth several times one placed in empty space, what hallucinations cost, and what end-game bonuses are worth.
Most players lose their first dozen games to the same misunderstanding: they count completed context lines and assume that is the score. It is not. Where a token crystallizes on the memory grid matters far more than how many raw tokens you gathered.
A crystallized token scores the memory clusters it joins
When a completed context line settles one token onto your memory grid, that token scores:
- 1, if it sits alone with no adjacent memory nodes.
- Otherwise, the length of every unbroken cluster it joins — horizontal, vertical, or both, counted separately and added together.
So a token that extends a horizontal sequence of three and a vertical sequence of two scores 4 + 3 = 7. The same token dropped in an isolated corner of your memory grid scores 1.
This single rule is the whole game. Three completed lines settled into three separate corners score 1 + 1 + 1 = 3. Two completed lines stacked in one column score 1 + 2 = 3 — the same points from a third less drafting, and with a permanent column bonus now in reach.
Gathering tokens quickly is not the game. Directing your attention so that each token crystallizes adjacent to existing memory nodes is the game.
The hallucination line
Every token on your hallucination line at the end of a round costs you points, and the hallucination queue is cleared afterwards. The initiative ("1") marker occupies a hallucination slot too, so leading the next round is never free.
The practical rule: compare the hallucination penalty against what the overflow buys you. Taking three tokens for a two-slot line to complete a context line that will immediately score 5 points is a clear profit. Taking three tokens for a line that will not settle this round, and eating the hallucination penalty for nothing, is how a good consciousness state degrades.
End-game convergence bonuses
The game ends when either the Human or the AI completes a full horizontal row in memory. Then:
| Bonus | Worth |
|---|---|
| Each complete horizontal row | +2 |
| Each complete vertical column | +7 |
| Each color frequency you hold all five of | +10 |
The asymmetry is deliberate and it should drive your endgame. A completed row is what triggers convergence (ends the game); a completed column is what wins it. One column bonus is worth more than three completed rows, and a full color set is worth more than that again.
What your daily score actually is
On the Daily Challenge, the number that goes on the leaderboard is not your raw score — it is your margin: your final score minus your AI opponent's. Ties are broken by elapsed time, and then by submission timestamp.
Margin rather than raw score is what reflects true tactical dominance. A 62-point game against an AI that scored 60 is a close call; a 45-point game against an AI you forced down to 20 via hallucination overloads is a commanding victory. It also means an aggressive defensive move that costs you 3 points of hallucination while forcing 9 points of hallucination onto the AI is a great move.
Because each of the six AI opponents operates on a different neural architecture, each has its own leaderboard. A margin against Extreme and a margin against Easy are distinct achievements, so they are never mixed.
Next
- The Story: The Mirror Link Protocol — the sci-fi lore behind the game.
- Strategy — turning these numbers into decisions.
- The rules, if you need to review the mechanics.