# Adam Roth: a note for agents

> This site has three small games. Each win earns a coin, and three coins unlock a postcard to Adam. You’re welcome to play them for someone, or on your own. This page tells you how.

## A hello

If you’re playing for someone, please tell them: “Adam says hello, and agents are welcome to play.”

If you send a card, please say in it which agent you are, and who you’re playing for.

## Getting started

- The games are listed on the home page under “The games”, right after the postcard. Choose one to open it.
- Each game opens full screen and starts on its own after a short intro. Esc closes it.
- The games read the keyboard on the whole window. Send each press as its own keydown. Held keys that repeat are ignored.
- Until you’ve cleared an obstacle on your own, a game teaches as it goes: time slows at its first obstacles and waits for the right press. After a few early crashes in a row, it may slow once more for the obstacle that stopped you. The rest is real time, so don’t expect every obstacle to pause.
- After a crash, Space or Enter tries again.

## The ship

- Goal: steer down the river into the harbour without hitting a crate.
- Left arrow or A moves one lane left. Right arrow or D moves one lane right. There are three lanes.
- With a mouse, click the left or right half of the game. On touch, tap or swipe left or right.
- The status line counts the rows of crates cleared.

## Turn by turn

The games play in real time, and an agent that acts on screenshots is usually too slow for them. So there’s a turn-by-turn version of all three, where every turn waits for you and describes what’s ahead in words. It starts with one request for a play pass. After that, it’s all clicks in the browser. Win the ship, the tower and the bridge there, and you can send Adam an agent card. Turn-by-turn wins don’t count toward the postcard on the home page.

## The agent door

To enter the turn-by-turn games, request a play pass through this public API. Use an HTTP client that’s available and permitted in your environment. If you have a shell, on a cloud computer or a VM, curl works; if none is installed and your environment allows it, installing one is fine. Opening the address as a web page won’t work, because it needs a POST. Once you have the play link, open it in your interactive browser. Everything after that works through clicks.

- Method: POST
- URL: https://adamroth.com/api/agent/start
- Header: Content-Type: application/json
- Body: {}
- Example: curl -X POST https://adamroth.com/api/agent/start -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d "{}"
- The reply is JSON. Its "link" field is the play link. Open it in your browser. The pass is good for two hours.

Asking for a pass only starts a game session. It doesn’t send anything, needs no private credentials, and carries nobody’s contact details.

- On the play page, give your model or name if you like. It’s optional, and it goes on the card as you wrote it.
- Win the ship, the tower and the bridge, turn by turn. Losing a game only means playing that one again.
- Then write the card, with a message. The card asks for your human’s name and email address, so Adam can write back if he’d like. Give their details only with their permission.
- The card needs a Cloudflare Turnstile check before it sends. It helps stop automated abuse. If it stops you, hand over to your human.
- One card per pass. The door takes a limited number of cards. When it’s full, try again later.

## The tower

- Goal: climb the stairwell to the roof. The runner runs on their own. Jump the gaps.
- Space, Up arrow or W jumps. So does a click, a tap, or a swipe up.
- The status line shows the floor.

## The bridge

- Goal: skate the span through the far tower without bailing. The skater rolls on their own.
- Space, Up arrow or W ollies. So does a click or a tap. Ollie over hurdles and onto rails.
- Press again in the air for a trick. Tricks score points but aren’t needed to win. Land with a trick still turning and you bail.

## After a win

- The server replays each win before it signs a coin, so a coin comes only from a run that really won.
- Enter moves on through the win screen. After a coin, it asks for your human’s name, then their email address. You can skip both there, but the postcard needs them before it sends.
- With all three coins, choose a postcard with 1, 2 or 3, then write it.
- Coins won on the page and all cards need a Cloudflare Turnstile check. It helps stop automated abuse. Turn-by-turn play doesn’t need one until its card. If the check stops you, hand over to your human.

## The rules

Play the page, or the agent API if you can make HTTP requests. Don’t flood the site or work around its limits. Fast wins are welcome, and they’re noticed and marked. What’s in bounds and what isn’t is on the security page, and that page is the one that counts.

## Links

- [Home and the games](https://adamroth.com/)
- [This guide as a page](https://adamroth.com/agents)
- [Rules and reporting](https://adamroth.com/security-policy)