How to play Byeongpan

How one round goes

1. Look at the enemy lineup. You can see what stands in each slot.
2. Buy soldiers. You start with 10 gold, and prices rise as the rounds go on.
3. Place them in slots. You can field up to 6.
4. Fight. Slots with the same number face each other, and the side that wins more slots takes the round.

Repeat that 5 times and the day is over.

Matchups are everything

With the same soldiers, changing the slots changes the result. If the enemy has Cavalry in slot 3, put a Spear in your slot 3. That one move decides the round.

Merging and synergy

Collect three of the same type and star and they merge into one a star higher. It happens on its own, so you cannot miss it.

Fewer soldiers after a merge is not a loss. Even with empty slots you do not just give up the round. You can go strong with few, or wide with many.

Two or more of the same type give a synergy bonus, and four give more. The four types are Spear, Bow, Shield, Cavalry.

Why there is no luck

In most games like this, both the shop draw and the battle are luck. Then you get I built it well but got unlucky and there is nothing to learn for the next round.

Here the shop and the enemy are fixed by the date, and battles have no dice. You cannot refresh for a new draw, so a lost round means you built it wrong. And since everyone gets the same board on the same day, you can compare notes with other people.

Each slot fights on its own

Battles are not added up in one lump. Slot one meets slot one, slot two meets slot two, and the side with more slot wins takes the round.

So you can lose even with more total strength. One strong soldier winning big in one slot is still one slot. Where you put units matters more than what you buy.

A matchup is worth a lot

Spear beats Cavalry, Cavalry beats Bow, Bow beats Shield, and Shield beats Spear. A good matchup adds four. Base strength runs from four to six, so one matchup is worth about one soldier.

You see the enemy lineup before you place. So look at what the enemy has in each slot and choose who to put there. That is the only thing in this game worth calling skill.

Collecting and merging

Two or more of the same type give one bonus, and four or more give three to every unit of that type. Collecting the same type is worth something by itself.

Collecting three of the same star raises them one star. A raised soldier's strength is multiplied by its star, so 2-star is double and 3-star is triple. But three become one, so you also use one slot instead of three. Whether collecting or merging is better depends on that day's enemy.

Only six go on the board

Buying a lot does not mean they all fight. Only six go up.

When we built it and ran it without this limit, the game died. If you use everything you bought, buying a lot becomes the only way and there is nothing to choose. There were days when placing at random did better than placing with thought. Cutting the slots reversed that gap.

You can win with fewer

The number of slots that fight is set by the smaller side. If you have four and the enemy has six, only four slots are contested, and the enemy's extra two help a little as reserves.

There is a reason for this. When we gave away empty slots for free, merging became a loss. Three merge into one and slots go empty, and giving those away meant there was no reason to reach 3-star. Merging should make you stronger.

There is no luck

Battles have no random numbers. The same lineup always gives the same result. What the shop offers is also fixed by that day's date, so everyone who comes in on the same day picks from the same things.

So a lost round is not a bad draw, it is a wrong lineup. You can compare how you got through the five rounds. Everything runs inside your browser.