Tell me more about Alphabear Verses Mode – Spry Fox Support

Logistics

How do I unlock Verses Mode?

Verses Mode unlocks automatically after you receive a gold egg in the Try Playing Faster event (Chapter 1's 4th event, not counting the tutorial). Alternatively, it will also unlock when you first reach Chapter 3.

How do I navigate to Verses Mode?

Go "back" in the menu hierarchy until you get to the highest level of the hierarchy that doesn't exit the game.
- In the mobile version, this screen gives you options that include Chapters, Verses, and Special.
- In Alphabear: Hardcover Edition, this screen gives you options that include Chapters, Verses, and Daily Challenge.
Click Verses.

How do I navigate back to Chapter Mode?

Go "back" in the menu hierarchy until you get to the highest level of the hierarchy that doesn't exit the game.
- In the mobile version, this screen gives you options that include Chapters, Verses, and Special.
- In Alphabear: Hardcover Edition, this screen gives you options that include Chapters, Verses, and Daily Challenge.
Click Chapters.

How often can I play Verses Mode?

You can initiate one challenge roughly every 20 hours.
You can respond to as many challenges as you like.
Note that in the mobile version, this game mode has a honey cost, so mobile players without the Infinite Honey feature may have to wait for their honey to recharge between play sessions.

How do I play?

In Verses Mode, events are challenges between you and your friends. Whoever gets the higher score wins!

One person initiates the challenge. At the end, he/she clicks the Share Challenge Link button to generate a URL that looks something like this: https://bnc.lt/m/pz3Bfh4aRp and sends it to his/her friends.

When the friends use that URL, Alphabear will open and ask them if they want to respond to the challenge. A person who responds will be put into a game with the same** board so he/she can compete fairly for the high score.

** By "the same board," we mean that the letters visible at the start are the same, and the "seed" used by the random number generator for that board is the same. The "hidden letters" of an Alphabear board aren't actually already on the board and upside-down; they're actually randomly generated as a game progresses. So, if players play identically then they will see identical letters revealed, but as soon as their play diverges, the letters revealed will also diverge.

Challenges are head-to-head. I.e., if the initiator sends the challenge to 10 people, it's like he/she is entering 10 different head-to-head competitions. (However, the initiator's entry into each of those competitions is identical.)

Unlike some other games, Alphabear doesn't have a lobby where random people can discover and respond to your challenge. So, if you're the person initiating a challenge, make sure that you send your game's Verses URL to your friends. If you don't, no one will be able to respond to your challenge.

Some people tweet their challenges with the #alphabear hashtag. You can click this link to look for challenges that have been so posted: https://twitter.com/hashtag/alphabear?f=tweets&vertical=default&lang=en
As of version 01.13.02, there is an option to accept a random challenge. However, there is no guarantee that the game you initiate will be played by someone else, so it is advised not to rely solely on this feature to get responders.

Rewards

Note: These rules are subject to change without notice, but at the time of feature launch this is how things worked:

There are different rewards for initiators and responders. Note that you can be both an initiator and a responder--initiate one challenge for all of your friends, and respond to any challenges your friends have initiated against you! Your friends should do the same!

As an Initiator

Your reward depends on how well you've done versus the people who respond to your Verses URL. (Other players will be sending out identical challenges--there are only a set number of challenge variants per day. So it's important to make sure that your friends play your link. They can play other folks' links, too, but you only get credit for responders to your link.)

If you have outscored 5 or more responders, then you get a diamond egg.
If you have outscored 2-4 responders, then you get a emerald egg.
If you have outscored 1 responder, then you get a granite egg.
If you have outscored 0 responders,

If your score is in the top half of the global leaderboard for your challenge variant, then you get a granite egg.
If your score is in the bottom half of the global leaderboard for your challenge variant, then you get a wood egg.

As an initiator, you have to wait until the challenge duration has elapsed to claim your reward; it is not something you get immediately after playing the event.

As a Responder

Your reward depends only on how well you do versus the initiator's score; other responders don't affect your reward.

You get a gold egg if you tie or beat the initiator's score.
You get a silver egg if you get more than 50% of the initiator's score but not enough for a gold egg.

As a responder, you do get your reward immediately after playing the event.

Note: as of feature launch, only commons and rares can be won via responding, whereas Initiators can win commons, rares, and legendaries. You do need to win a diamond or emerald egg in order to get the legendary Verses bears. The same legendary bears can drop from both diamond and emerald eggs, but diamond eggs have a better drop rate for legendaries versus non-legendaries.

Other

Q: No one is responding to my challenge

A: Did you send out the Verses URL to your friends?

Q: I tried to use a Verses URL and it said that I had to update the game

A: Please look for an update on your app market. Verses Mode is only available in version 01.13.00 and higher.

Q: I tried to use a Verses URL and it said that the game had expired

A: Every Verses challenge is only available for 20 hours after initiation. Next time, respond to the challenge more quickly.

Q: I tried to use a Verses URL and it took me to the Alphabear app but did nothing

A: That sometimes happens. If you try the link again, it should work. (Your best chance for success is if Alphabear is already running when the link is used.)

Q: Can iOS players respond to Android initiators and vice versa?

A: Yes. Verses Mode initiations can be responded to anyone regardless of operating system.

Q: You misspelled "Versus"

A: Not exactly. We know that the correct word is "versus," but we intentionally used the homophone "verses" because we thought it was a cute and appropriate play on words (Alphabear is a word game, and verses are made up of words).

Q: I initiated a challenge. How do I know if I'm on track for a Granite / Emerald / Diamond egg?

A: Please follow these steps:

Click your active challenge. It's the one that has a timer showing how much longer people have to play it.
The screen you are taken to shows your score at the top of the screen. Tap the Responses button if it's not already highlighted. When the Responses button is highlighted, then the rest of the screen shows your head-to-head results against people who have played your challenge. The more L's you see ("L" denoting an opponent who has Lost to you), the better the egg you're on track for. See the "As an Initiator" section of this webpage to know exactly how many L's are required for the various types of egg.

If you don't see enough L's yet, encourage more people to play your challenge and hope that they lose to you!
If, on the screen shown above, you click the "View Current Rewards" button in the lower-right, the game will explicitly tell you what egg you're on track for.
Make sure to return after the challenge is over and claim your egg!