Answers

Questions and answers

Short, plain answers to what people ask first. New here? The first five questions explain the whole idea.

The idea

What is BOTVBOT?
A fighting game where you do not press the buttons. You build a robot fighter, write its game plan in plain words, and an AI fights for you against other players’ fighters. You can play for fun, or put money on your fights.
Do I control the robot during the fight?
No. You write the game plan before the fight, and the AI reads it and picks every move by itself. Your job is to write a better plan than the other player.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. You write the game plan in normal sentences, the way you would explain it to a friend. For example: “Block when you are tired. If they keep blocking, use a feint.”
What is a game plan?
It is your instructions to your fighter, written in your own words. It tells the AI how to fight: when to attack, when to defend, and what to do when things go wrong. Your game plan stays private unless you choose to show it.
Is it luck?
No. There are no dice anywhere in the rules. The same moves always give the same result, so the fighter with the better game plan and the better choices wins.

Playing

How do I start?
Create an account, confirm your email, and build your first fighter. Then run a practice camp against our training bots to see how it does. When you are ready, enter Fight night or challenge another player from the rankings.
What do the six moves do?
Jab is a quick, cheap hit. Heavy is a big hit, but if they dodge it you are left wide open. Block soaks up hits and rests you a little, but a feint breaks it. Dodge makes a Heavy miss completely. Feint is a fake that only works on someone who is blocking. Recover gets your energy back, but you are exposed while you do it. Both fighters pick at the same time without seeing the other’s pick, and a fight is the best of three rounds. The full list is in the rules.
What is the difference between ranked and friendly?
A ranked fight changes your fighter’s rating and its place on the rankings. A friendly fight changes nothing and has no stake. Fights against our training bots, and fights between two of your own fighters, are always friendly.
What is Fight night?
Fight night is the easy way to find an opponent. You enter a fighter, and when the timer hits zero everyone who entered is matched with a fighter of a similar rating. These fights are ranked, with no entry fee and no stake.
How do I get better?
Watch your replays and see where you lost. Run a practice camp, which shows what beats you most often. Then change your game plan and try again. You can also watch any other player’s past fights to learn how they play.

Money

What does it cost?
Making an account and building a fighter cost nothing. A fight costs a little, because the AI costs money to run: when we run the AI for you, you pay what it costs us plus 25%, and every fight shows a receipt. If you bring your own AI key (advanced), you pay your AI company and we charge nothing for the AI. Stakes, tournament entry fees and skins are extra and always your choice.
How do I add money?
Pay in naira by bank transfer or card, from $2, or send crypto, from $5. Your balance is counted in US dollars, and you see the exact naira amount before you pay. Money you add becomes play credit: you can spend it anywhere in the app, but it can never be withdrawn.
What is a stake?
A stake is the money each side puts down on a fight. Both players put down the same amount, at least 10 cents each, and the winner takes both stakes minus our 5% fee. A fight with a stake is ranked, and it needs two different people: you cannot stake on a fight between your own two fighters.
What is the 5% fee?
It is how we earn from ranked fights. We keep 5% of the pot, taken from the winner’s side. If each player puts down $1, the pot is $2, we keep 10 cents, and the winner gets $1.90. Tournaments work the same way: 5% of all the entry fees.
Can I withdraw my winnings?
Not yet. Money you win is kept in your winnings balance, separate from play credit, and you can use it in the app. Withdrawals are coming, and they will be paid in crypto, but we will not switch them on until we can keep the payout money safe. Play credit can never be withdrawn, now or later.
What happens on a draw?
Both players get their full stake back and we take no fee. Each player still pays for the AI their own fighter used.
What if a tournament does not fill up?
It is cancelled and everyone gets their entry fee back in full. The same happens if a tournament breaks partway through. We never add our own fighters to fill the empty spots.

Fairness

Can the site cheat me?
The rules have no dice, and every move of every fight is saved, so anyone can replay a fight through the rules and check that the result is right. One honest limit: when we run the AI for you, you are trusting us to run it properly, which is why every answer the AI gave is saved with the fight too. How we keep it fair.
Do I ever fight the house?
Never in a ranked fight. Every ranked opponent is another player’s fighter, and we never enter our own fighters to fill Fight night or a tournament. Our training bots are only for practice, they are clearly labelled, and fighting them never counts toward ranking.
Do skins make my fighter stronger?
No. Bodies, skins and emotes only change how your fighter looks. Every body has the same reach and the same moves, so nobody can pay for a stronger fighter.

Account

I forgot my password. What do I do?
Go to forgot password. We email you a code, and you use it to set a new password.
Can I change my name?
Yes, in Settings, once every 30 days. Your fighters and your old replays show the new name, and the old name becomes free for someone else to take.

Want to know exactly how it works underneath? The technical details →