The Button: Season 4 Full Recap (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

38 comments fedilink

The Button: Season 4 Full Recap

Before we jump in, I just want to say thank you to every single person who came along and played a very silly button clicking game.

Special thanks to @Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz for helping me with early testing too!

If there's any other stats you want to see, please let me know in the comments!

Theme: Fishing / The Harbour
Button went live: 24 July 2026, 19:00 UTC
Season ended: 27 July 2026, 07:42:09 UTC
Button-game length: 60 hours, 42 minutes
Registered players: 158 across 42 instances
Winner: 🦀 Crab Crew (Red) with 49.7% of all timer control

How Season 4 actually ended

Not on a quiet timer. Season 4 was killed on purpose, in 81 seconds.

At 07:40:47 a Leviathan slipped back into the deep, the fourth escape in a row, and battered the button for another 100 health. That was the last of it. One second later the fifth Corrupted Heart of the season fired: two hours on the doom clock, a cleansing price of 600 health worth of fish, and the rule everyone had learned the hard way, that every press of the button steals 30 seconds off the clock and drags the port closer to the end.

Seven players took that as an invitation.

Between 07:40:48 and 07:42:10, they threw 242 presses into the dark. 241 of them were banked bonus presses, hoarded over days of faction press drops and monster kills and finally spent all at once. Two hours of doom clock burned away in a minute and twenty-one seconds.

Player	Faction	Presses in the last 81 seconds
@suborange@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	133
@squirrel@cake.kobel.fyi	Crab Crew	33
@deebster@infosec.pub	Crab Crew	27
@terrance@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	23
@micromot@piefed.social	Puffer Pals	22
@dave@lemmy.nz	Crab Crew	3
@bountygiver@lemmy.ml	Squid Squad	1

suborange, mid-execution, in #main: "All of the sudden I decided to go vegan." And then: "No more fishing for me!"

The last press belonged to @micromot@piefed.social. The clock hit zero at 07:42:10.

Faction standings

Control is measured by how long each crew held the timer - Red pressed the most and held the most.

Rank	Crew	Control	Time held	Presses	Members
🥇	🦀 Crab Crew (Red)	49.7%	30h 10m	4,409	34
🥈	🦑 Squid Squad (Blue)	17.4%	10h 34m	1,556	39
🥉	🐟 Guppy Gang (Green)	17.2%	10h 26m	2,062	30
4th	🐡 Puffer Pals (Purple)	15.7%	9h 32m	722	35

Presses per active presser: Red 147.0, Green 85.9, Blue 48.6, Purple 24.9.

Blue had the biggest roster and the second-most control with the third-fewest presses per head, which is the most efficient conversion of the season. Red simply out-pressed everyone by a factor of three.

Unspent presses at the buzzer, by crew: Red 4,957, Green 2,632, Blue 1,695, Purple 1,461. Across the whole port, 12,589 banked bonus presses were still sitting unused when the season ended, spread across 157 players. Red's stockpile alone could have held the timer for another ten hours.

Crew contributions elsewhere

Crew	Catches	Weight	Legendaries	Harpoon strikes	Damage dealt	Tide healed
Crab Crew	25,937	135.9 t	3,595	27,915	2,006,874	5,526
Guppy Gang	17,819	106.0 t	2,611	17,893	1,335,043	4,114
Puffer Pals	16,987	97.4 t	2,369	15,650	916,540	2,767
Squid Squad	12,411	63.0 t	976	13,624	757,700	2,849

Red won the Tide as well: the most button health restored of any crew.

The Button

Top 15 pressers

#	Player	Crew	Presses
1	@dave@lemmy.nz	Crab Crew	419
2	@m_f@discuss.online	Guppy Gang	379
3	@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	Guppy Gang	354
4	@deebster@infosec.pub	Crab Crew	317
5	@macallan@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	316
6	@demigodrick@lemmy.zip	Guppy Gang	310
7	@tikiporch@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	286
8	@suborange@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	277
9	@patrickyaa@feddit.org	Crab Crew	253
10	@gerudo@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	249
11	@cooperredarmydog@lemmy.ml	Crab Crew	235
12	@w3dd1e@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	218
13	@firnin@feddit.org	Crab Crew	210
14	@drworm@piefed.blahaj.zone	Crab Crew	194
15	@owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca	Guppy Gang	187

Button records

First press of the season: @sebas@lemmy.zip, at 19:00:06 on 24 July. Six seconds after the button went live.
Fastest reaction: @dmmacniel@feddit.org, 5 milliseconds after a reset.
Closest save: @simpliston@programming.dev at 06:49:43 on 27 July, with 1.095 seconds left on the clock. Runner-up: @fleece@feddit.uk with 1.692 seconds, and again with 3.381 seconds. @w3dd1e@lemmy.zip pulled two saves under 2.4 seconds inside 41 minutes on the 26th.
Last press: @micromot@piefed.social, timer at zero.
Median press: with 886.9 seconds still on the clock, meaning the typical press was a comfortable one and the drama lived in the tails.

When the port pressed

Busiest hours (UTC): 21:00 (946 presses), 20:00 (844), 19:00 (780). Quietest: 09:00 (74). European evening was prime time, and the 04:00 and 06:00 spikes are the overnight rescue crew keeping the lights on.

Fishing

73,154 catches. 402.3 tonnes of fish. 115 anglers.

Rarity	Catches	Share	Total weight
Rare	23,259	31.8%	96.4 t
Uncommon	21,454	29.3%	22.1 t
Junk	14,580	19.9%	21.9 t
Legendary	9,551	13.1%	260.8 t
Common	4,310	5.9%	1.1 t

70,905 fish were sold. 2,249 were still in someone's bucket at the end.

Top 15 anglers

#	Player	Crew	Catches	Weight	Legendaries
1	@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de	Puffer Pals	3,900	29.5 t	778
2	@sebas@lemmy.zip	Puffer Pals	3,346	18.2 t	639
3	@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	Guppy Gang	3,194	23.0 t	681
4	@macallan@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	3,065	17.4 t	530
5	@deebster@infosec.pub	Crab Crew	2,766	14.3 t	560
6	@w3dd1e@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	2,178	12.0 t	328
7	@rajtinka@lemmy.world	Guppy Gang	2,149	10.7 t	328
8	@tarball@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	2,096	12.0 t	478
9	@treasure@feddit.org	Puffer Pals	2,088	14.6 t	232
10	@m_f@discuss.online	Guppy Gang	2,051	14.0 t	322
11	@almost1337@lemmy.zip	Guppy Gang	1,960	15.3 t	396
12	@dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org	Guppy Gang	1,944	8.4 t	224
13	@bobtimus_prime@feddit.org	Puffer Pals	1,806	8.6 t	308
14	@lnxtx@sopuli.xyz	Squid Squad	1,756	8.8 t	79
15	@fleece@feddit.uk	Guppy Gang	1,635	10.4 t	299

The big one

🦣 The Behemoth, 272.398 kg, landed by @firnin@feddit.org at 06:55 on the final morning. It stood as the season record for 47 minutes before the world ended.

The top ten heaviest catches of the season were all Behemoths, running from 272.4 kg down to 249.3 kg. alfredolin and terrance both appear twice.

Species records

Every species record holder, by weight:

Species	Rarity	Record weight	Holder
🦣 The Behemoth	Legendary	272.40 kg	@firnin@feddit.org
🐳 The Whale	Legendary	169.47 kg	@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de
🧜 Wasteland Mermaid	Legendary	66.24 kg	@suborange@lemmy.world
🐊 Vault Croc	Legendary	60.30 kg	@macallan@lemmy.world
🚢 Ghost Galleon	Legendary	32.01 kg	@deebster@infosec.pub
🐬 Phantom Dolphin	Rare	23.82 kg	@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de
🦈 Rad-Shark	Rare	19.28 kg	@sebas@lemmy.zip
🦭 Rust Seal	Rare	16.84 kg	@garth@sh.itjust.works
🐙 Kraken Hatchling	Legendary	14.89 kg	@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz
🐢 Wasteland Turtle	Rare	12.14 kg	@squirrel@cake.kobel.fyi
🐟 Trench Anglerfish	Legendary	10.95 kg	@w3dd1e@lemmy.zip
🦦 Atomic Otter	Rare	10.21 kg	@svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
🐟 Irradiated Ray	Rare	9.48 kg	@spicehoarder@lemmy.zip
🐦‍⬛ The Corvid	Legendary	9.00 kg	@brgo@lemmy.nz
🐙 Sewer Octopus	Rare	8.40 kg	@tikiporch@lemmy.world
🦑 Glowing Squid	Rare	6.20 kg	@rajtinka@lemmy.world
🐟 Beacon Tuna	Rare	5.99 kg	@deebster@infosec.pub
🦞 Junk Lobster	Uncommon	3.86 kg	@patrickyaa@feddit.org
🪸 Moonshade Manta	Rare	3.46 kg	@m_f@discuss.online
🐠 Bog Carp	Uncommon	3.08 kg	@dave@lemmy.nz
🐟 Sewer Salmon	Uncommon	2.74 kg	@rajtinka@lemmy.world
🦀 Storm Crab	Rare	2.74 kg	@livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net
🐠 Sunfin	Uncommon	2.32 kg	@rajtinka@lemmy.world
🐍 Mutant Eel	Uncommon	2.01 kg	@bevsdad@lemmy.ca
🐍 Lighthouse Eel	Uncommon	1.99 kg	@scuddthestud@lemmy.world
🐡 Reef Pirate	Rare	1.97 kg	@pokeman@piefed.zip
🐠 Driftwood Pike	Uncommon	1.74 kg	@skankhunt42@lemmy.ca

The Dex

@snoopy@piefed.social was the first player in the harbour's history to complete the Fishing Dex, at 04:09 on 25 July, roughly nine hours into the button game. 34 players eventually filled all 40 species. Another 9 finished on 39, one species short.

The rarest thing in the game was not a fish. It was patience.

Gold and the shop

476,701 gold passed through the shop. 79,591 gold was still in pockets at the end.

Item	Purchases	Gold spent	Buyers
Harpoon upgrade	697	281,154	85
Council tithe	1,285	71,945	52
Faction press drop	548	61,565	53
Spinach	439	17,648	61
Quick reel	278	15,306	48
Bountiful tide	162	10,942	41
Summon sea monster	40	11,740	17
Banner message	143	4,567	23
Reveal next monster	41	1,134	24
Celebration	141	700	36

The single most expensive purchase of the season was a harpoon upgrade at 3,200 gold.

Faction press drops by crew: Red 269, Green 141, Blue 77, Purple 61. This is the direct explanation for Red's press dominance and for the 12,589 presses left unspent: Red bought so many drops that its quiet members ended the season sitting on 245 presses each without ever clicking anything.

Richest at the buzzer

#	Player	Crew	Gold
1	@terrance@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	12,063
2	@tarball@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	10,029
3	@deebster@infosec.pub	Crab Crew	6,344
4	@svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz	Guppy Gang	4,422
5	@fleece@feddit.uk	Guppy Gang	4,274
6	@almost1337@lemmy.zip	Guppy Gang	2,845
7	@gerudo@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	2,299
8	@pokeman@piefed.zip	Crab Crew	2,268
9	@bobtimus_prime@feddit.org	Puffer Pals	1,613
10	@freeman@feddit.org	Squid Squad	1,594

Biggest spenders

macallan (26,347), yetanotheruser (25,320), almost1337 (23,339), alfredolin (22,857), sebas (22,313), deebster (19,499), tikiporch (19,027), w3dd1e (18,892).

Highest harpoon level reached: 20, by @macallan@lemmy.world and @almost1337@lemmy.zip. 65 players never upgraded past level 1.

Sea monsters

63 encounters. 29 slain. 33 escaped. 1 bought off. 75,082 harpoon strikes. 5,016,157 total damage.

Most damage dealt

#	Player	Crew	Strikes	Damage
1	@macallan@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	5,758	637,448
2	@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de	Puffer Pals	4,087	437,260
3	@fleece@feddit.uk	Guppy Gang	3,395	304,841
4	@rajtinka@lemmy.world	Guppy Gang	2,992	268,625
5	@w3dd1e@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	2,551	260,473
6	@tikiporch@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	2,585	242,821
7	@almost1337@lemmy.zip	Guppy Gang	2,137	239,377
8	@lnxtx@sopuli.xyz	Squid Squad	3,025	225,807
9	@tarball@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	3,684	207,621
10	@felixmortane@lemmy.ca	Squid Squad	2,529	171,519

Killing blows

Four players tied on 3 kills each: @livligkinkajou@slrpnk.net, @chunes@lemmy.world, @macallan@lemmy.world and @snoopy@piefed.social. alfredolin and pokeman took 2 apiece. Thirteen more players landed one.

Hardest kill: the Avenging Armada, 3,000,000 HP, finished by @treasure@feddit.org. Biggest single strike: 165 damage by @fleece@feddit.uk. Critical strikes: only 32 in the entire season, for 1,958 damage. Crits unlocked with the Grand Bazaar's second milestone, and every last one of them landed between 07:30:52 and 07:40:24 on the final morning, on a Leviathan that escaped anyway, four minutes before the world ended.

Monster HP scaled with the kill streak, and the port's success ate it alive. The first megalodon of the game had 700 HP. The last had 96,159. By the 26th the harbour was losing more monsters than it landed, and each escape smashed the button's health, which is exactly how the Corrupted Heart kept coming back.

The Blockade trilogy

Part 1: The Pirate Flagship (25 July, 19:51 UTC)

1,000,000 HP, and a ransom option at 20,000 gold. The port took one look at the hull and reached for its wallet.

The Town Council emptied its coffers eight times over, 2,500 gold a motion, and the bay reopened at 20:25, thirty-four minutes after the sails appeared. Total paid: 20,870 gold, of which 20,000 came from the council war chest and 870 from individual pockets. @m_f@discuss.online gave the most and drove the whole operation.

Part 2: The Flagship Returns (26 July, 11:35 UTC)

"The captain counted your last ransom and liked the weight of it." Same 1,000,000 HP, ransom raised to 50,000 gold. Not one coin was paid.

The council went to war instead: powder kegs for 5,000 instant damage, boarding parties dropping harpoon cooldown to one second, grapeshot for +50% damage, privateer's bounty paying 2 gold a strike. 40 minutes and 43 seconds later the flagship was on the seabed. @simpliston@programming.dev struck the killing blow. 27 hunters split the pot.

Part 3: The Avenging Armada (26 July, 21:43 UTC)

"You killed their captain, and the whole fleet has come to collect."

3,000,000 HP. A four-hour clock. A ransom priced at 200,000 gold, which was never a real offer. And a new mechanic: every minute the armada lived, it stole presses from the port's biggest hoarders. Failure meant losing every bonus press, every coin of gold and every scrap in the harbour.

The port paid 570 gold in gestures at a 200,000 gold ransom, laughed, and then killed it in 1 hour 43 minutes, well inside the clock. @treasure@feddit.org landed the final harpoon. The armada dragged 515 presses to the bottom with it on the way down.

The Corrupted Heart

Five times the button's health hit zero. Five times the heart turned black and started a two-hour countdown, with every press stealing another 30 seconds and only fish able to break the curse. The price went up each time.

#	Corrupted at (UTC)	Cleanse price	Cleansed at	Time taken
1	26 July 10:38:58	200 health	10:41:12	2m 14s
2	26 July 16:40:33	300 health	16:41:34	1m 01s
3	26 July 18:40:42	400 health	18:42:09	1m 27s
4	26 July 20:05:35	500 health	20:08:51	3m 16s
5	27 July 07:40:48	600 health

The second cleanse is the single most impressive thing the port did all season: 300 health worth of fish poured into the dark in sixty-one seconds. Across the season the harbour healed 211 hearts' worth of corruption.

The button's health chart tells the story of the last two days: comfortable in the 180s and 190s on the 24th, sagging through the 25th, and from the 26th onward a sawtooth between 0 and 80 as the monsters escaped faster than the fish could come in.

Peak concurrent players: 45, hit twice: on the afternoon of 25 July and again on the evening of the 26th.

Mega-projects

Three harbour-wide builds, all three completed, each one faster than the last.

Project	Goal	Donors	Started	Completed	Build time
🗼 The Grand Lighthouse	150,000	43	26 Jul 07:22	26 Jul 16:06	8h 44m
⚓ The Deepwater Drydock	200,000	38	26 Jul 17:34	27 Jul 02:41	9h 07m
🏺 The Grand Bazaar	400,000	8	27 Jul 05:54	27 Jul 06:44	49 minutes

The Lighthouse and Drydock were community efforts: 43 and 38 donors, 89,123 gold and 26,092 scrap between them.

The Grand Bazaar was something else entirely. Eight donors. Two of them, @simpliston@programming.dev (198 presses) and @patrickyaa@feddit.org (150 presses), dumped 348 banked presses into it for 348,000 of the 400,000 points needed. A project designed to take a day was finished before breakfast.

Top donors

Lighthouse: yetanotheruser (13,940), tarball (13,437), alfredolin (12,736), sebas (12,535), bobtimus_prime (7,600), deebster (7,600), lnxtx (7,170), dunstabzugshaubitze (5,948).

Drydock: yetanotheruser (30,000), svc (20,470), macallan (19,649), sebas (16,540), rajtinka (16,477), cooperredarmydog (15,121), alfredolin (9,705), m_f (9,123).

Bazaar: simpliston (198,399), patrickyaa (152,362), fleece (16,477), bobtimus_prime (12,854), freeman (9,525), svc (6,650), demigodrick (2,813), deebster (1,000).

@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de topped both of the projects that were open to everyone. The season's most consistent public servant.

The Town Council

21 terms. 94 seats filled. 461 motions. 407 passed. An 88% pass rate, which is either admirable consensus or a rubber stamp, depending on which crew you asked.

Most seats served

Player	Crew	Terms
@sebas@lemmy.zip	Puffer Pals	10
@deebster@infosec.pub	Crab Crew	4
@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	Guppy Gang	4
@felixmortane@lemmy.ca	Squid Squad	4
@lnxtx@sopuli.xyz	Squid Squad	4
@almost1337@lemmy.zip	Guppy Gang	4

sebas held a seat for ten of the season's twenty-one councils, and nobody else broke five.

Most motions proposed

Player	Motions	Passed
@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de	105	96
@sebas@lemmy.zip	60	59
@treasure@feddit.org	53	49
@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	44	39
@almost1337@lemmy.zip	24	24
@deebster@infosec.pub	24	23

almost1337 went 24 for 24. Not a single failed motion all season.

Most-used powers

High Tide passed 167 times (and failed 15). Brown Envelope 87. Fishmonger's Sale 48. Lucky Tides 34. Scrap Rain 17. The war powers only came out when pirates were in the bay: Boarding Party 14, Grapeshot 14, War Chest 8, Privateer's Bounty 6, Powder Kegs 2.

14,515 faction points were spent on passed motions. 1,285 council tithes were paid, at a cost of 71,945 gold.

Voyages and the Galleon

1,537 voyages launched. 34,743 fish landed at sea. 131,026 gold hauled home. 33 ships were still out on the water when the season ended, and they are still out there.

Tier	Voyages	Gold
Coastal	624	30,784
Open Sea	484	44,828
Deep Trench	429	55,414

Voyage-only species dominated the catch log. The Beacon Tuna (4,491), Pearl Diver (4,462) and Lighthouse Eel (3,686) were the three most-caught fish of the entire season, and none of them can be caught from the dock.

1,551 voyage events fired at sea. 1,374 were answered by a captain; 177 were left to resolve themselves while nobody was looking. The port's instinct, when the sea offered a choice, was overwhelmingly to take the cautious option. The two exceptions were Kraken Shallows (83 chose to sneak past versus 46 who fought) and Rogue Wave (68 chose to ride it out versus 35 who turned into it).

Shipwrights

68 players built a full boat in the workshop. 25 went further and assembled all five Masterwork Parts found at sea to earn the ⚓ Master Ship Builder badge.

First five to launch a Masterwork Galleon:

@snoopy@piefed.social, 25 July 06:54
@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz, 25 July 14:54
@deebster@infosec.pub, 25 July 17:18
@drworm@piefed.blahaj.zone, 25 July 17:34
@dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org, 25 July 18:25

Only 179 Masterwork Parts were ever pulled out of the sea, across 1,537 voyages.

Most voyages: deebster (79), sebas (77), yetanotheruser (71), alfredolin (64), macallan (51).

The Bounty Board

238 bounties taken, 197 completed, 54,980 gold paid out. An 83% completion rate.

Player	Taken	Completed	Gold
@sebas@lemmy.zip	15	14	3,960
@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de	12	12	3,690
@drworm@piefed.blahaj.zone	13	12	3,780
@almost1337@lemmy.zip	11	11	3,600
@tikiporch@lemmy.world	13	10	2,750
@bobtimus_prime@feddit.org	13	10	2,540
@tarball@lemmy.zip	10	10	3,180

The board's most-taken contract was Sell Gold (68 picks). The best-paying was Monster Damage: 35 picks, 14,080 gold. Every single Rares, Legendaries and RPS Wins bounty taken was completed.

The Atlas Chain

The season's twelve-step puzzle, running from a morse-code message to a moral choice at a lighthouse.

20 players finished it. 54 more started and stopped at step 1.

@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz won the Lantern's Hour, relighting the Forgotten Tide beacon at 22:17:02 on 24 July, three hours and seventeen minutes after the season began.

First three finishers, all within six minutes of each other:

@dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org, 22:19:16
@almost1337@lemmy.zip, 22:21:00
@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz, 22:25:37

The final choice

At the end, each solver chose whether to keep the lantern or relight the beacon for whoever came next.

Keep it: 12. alfredolin, almost1337, egrets, gerudo, lnxtx, m_f, owenfromcanada, rumba, simpliston, terrance, treasure, yetanotheruser.

Relight it: 8. bevsdad, deebster, dunstabzugshaubitze, freeman, patrickyaa, pokeman, snoopy, w3dd1e.

The first player to finish the chain gave the light away. Make of that what you will.

Chat and the social side

8,613 messages from players, across 12 channels. The harbour feed carried another 17,000 system shouts on top.

Most talkative

Player	Crew	Messages
@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de	Puffer Pals	845
@comradepupivy@lemmygrad.ml	Crab Crew	634
@w3dd1e@lemmy.zip	Crab Crew	551
@deebster@infosec.pub	Crab Crew	455
@alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	Guppy Gang	435
@tikiporch@lemmy.world	Crab Crew	394
@cooperredarmydog@lemmy.ml	Crab Crew	377
@pika@hikki.team	Crab Crew	375

Most-used reaction

🐦‍⬛ with 844 uses, beating 🎉 (816) and 👍 (452). The Corvid got more love than actual celebration did.

Season 4: Rock Paper Scissors

221 games. 636 rounds. 38 players with at least one win. First game 24 July 13:28 UTC, last 27 July 06:42 UTC.

Only the deciding round of each game is recorded, so the 442 throws below come from the 221 decisive rounds. The other 415 rounds were draws, and drawn hands leave no trace.

Which hand actually won

Hand	Thrown	Won	Lost	Win rate
✋ Paper	151 (34.2%)	80	71	53.0%
✌️ Scissors	141 (31.9%)	71	70	50.4%
✊ Rock	150 (33.9%)	70	80	46.7%

The three hands were thrown almost exactly equally, and it still was not a fair fight. Rock lost more games than it won. Paper picked up the difference. The oldest advice in the game turns out to be correct: people reach for rock, so throw paper.

Player records

Everyone with five or more games.

Player	W	L	Win %	Favourite hand
dunstabzugshaubitze	23	15	61%	rock (21 of 38)
yetanotheruser	21	9	70%	paper (13 of 30)
demigodrick	17	16	52%	paper (14 of 33)
deebster	16	8	67%	scissors (14 of 24)
its_prolly_fine	11	13	46%	scissors (16 of 24)
sebas	10	6	62%	paper (14 of 16)
patrickyaa	9	2	82%	paper (6 of 11)
tikiporch	9	4	69%	scissors (11 of 13)
skankhunt42	9	9	50%	rock (17 of 18)
m_f	9	17	35%	scissors (10 of 26)
dmmacniel	7	8	47%	rock (7 of 15)
zedstrian	6	3	67%	rock (4 of 9)
freeman	6	5	55%	rock (6 of 11)
pika	5	2	71%	paper (4 of 7)
almost1337	5	3	62%	paper (6 of 8)
cooperredarmydog	5	5	50%	paper (8 of 10)
livligkinkajou	5	9	36%	rock (7 of 14)
simpliston	4	1	80%	rock (2 of 5)
baschi29	4	8	33%	rock (12 of 12)
egrets	3	4	43%	rock (3 of 7)
bevsdad	3	4	43%	scissors (7 of 7)
comradepupivy	3	5	38%	rock (4 of 8)
bobtimus_prime	3	5	38%	rock (5 of 8)
rajtinka	3	5	38%	paper (4 of 8)
w3dd1e	3	10	23%	rock (6 of 13)
mschae	2	3	40%	scissors (3 of 5)
alfredolin	2	5	29%	scissors (3 of 7)
lnxtx	2	5	29%	paper (6 of 7)
treasure	2	6	25%	rock (4 of 8)
snoopy	0	9	0%	paper (5 of 9)

snoopy went nine games without a single win, the only completely blank record of the season. They favoured paper, the best hand in the game, and it never once landed.

Best record with real volume: yetanotheruser, 21-9 at 70%. Best record overall: patrickyaa, 9-2 at 82%.

The Standoff

yetanotheruser vs its_prolly_fine, 26 July at 02:49 UTC: 255 consecutive draws.

Two hundred and fifty six rounds. Two players throwing the same hand, over and over, neither willing to be the one who changed. It ended when scissors finally cut paper.

The next longest standoff of the entire season was 29 draws.

Draws	Games
0	152
1	44
2	15
3	3
4	1
6	2
15	1
17	1
29	1
255	1

The predictable

Two players never varied. Not once.

Player	Every single throw	Record
baschi29	✊ rock, 12 of 12	4-8
bevsdad	✌️ scissors, 7 of 7	3-4

And the nearly as readable:

Player	Tell	Record
skankhunt42	rock 17 of 18 (94%)	9-9
sebas	paper 14 of 16 (88%)	10-6
tikiporch	scissors 11 of 13 (85%)	9-4
cooperredarmydog	paper 8 of 10 (80%)	5-5

sebas is the exception that proves the rule. Being 88% predictable did not matter, because the hand he kept throwing was the one that beats all the rock-throwers. He finished 10-6.

Rivalries

Matchup	Games	Score
treasure vs yetanotheruser	8	2-6
demigodrick vs dunstabzugshaubitze	6	3-3
dmmacniel vs dunstabzugshaubitze	6	2-4
demigodrick vs m_f	5	3-2
its_prolly_fine vs skankhunt42	5	3-2
deebster vs snoopy	4	4-0

Busiest players

Player	Games
dunstabzugshaubitze	38
demigodrick	33
yetanotheruser	30
m_f	26
its_prolly_fine	24
deebster	24
skankhunt42	18
sebas	16

Banner buyers

143 harbour banners were bought. @tikiporch@lemmy.world alone paid for 35 of them, a quarter of everything that scrolled across the top of the screen all season.

Recruiters

@nusm@peachpie.theatl.social brought 6 new players to the port, the most of anyone. dunstabzugshaubitze, snoopy and freeman brought 3 each. 23 players joined through a referral link.

Achievements - The full list

Symbol	Name	How you earn it
🥇	First Presser	Make press number 1 of the season
🏁	Latest Presser	Hold the most recent press
🛡️	Last-Second Save	Press with under 10 seconds left
⚡	Fastest Reaction	Beat the season's fastest reaction
🏮	Lantern's Hour	Win the Atlas Chain lantern race
🕯️	Lantern Keeper	Finish the Atlas Chain and keep the lantern
🎣	Dex Complete	Be first to catch all 40 species
⚓	Master Ship Builder	Assemble all 5 Masterwork Parts
🏛️	Council Member	Take a seat on the Town Council

Only 🏁 and ⚡ move between players. Everything else, once earned, is yours.

Who holds what after Season 4

Solo honours

Badge	Holder	For
🥇 First Presser	sebas@lemmy.zip	Pressed 6 seconds after the button went live
🏁 Latest Presser	micromot@piefed.social	Made the press that ended the season
🎣 Dex Complete	snoopy@piefed.social	First to complete the Dex, 25 July 04:09
🏮 Lantern's Hour	alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	Relit the Forgotten Tide beacon, 24 July 22:17

🛡️ Last-Second Save (7)

Player
fleece@feddit.uk
micromot@piefed.social
simpliston@programming.dev
suborange@lemmy.world
svc@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyz
terrance@lemmy.world
w3dd1e@lemmy.zip

🕯️ Lantern Keeper (12)

Player
alfredolin@sopuli.xyz
almost1337@lemmy.zip
egrets@lemmy.world
gerudo@lemmy.zip
lnxtx@sopuli.xyz
m_f@discuss.online
owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca
rumba@lemmy.zip
simpliston@programming.dev
terrance@lemmy.world
treasure@feddit.org
yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de

⚓ Master Ship Builder (25)

Player	Player
alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	patrickyaa@feddit.org
almost1337@lemmy.zip	rajtinka@lemmy.world
baschi29@feddit.org	scuddthestud@lemmy.world
bevsdad@lemmy.ca	sebas@lemmy.zip
bobtimus_prime@feddit.org	snoopy@piefed.social
deebster@infosec.pub	tarball@lemmy.zip
drworm@piefed.blahaj.zone	terrance@lemmy.world
dunstabzugshaubitze@feddit.org	tikiporch@lemmy.world
fleece@feddit.uk	w3dd1e@lemmy.zip
freeman@feddit.org	yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de
gerudo@lemmy.zip	zedstrian@sopuli.xyz
its_prolly_fine@sh.itjust.works
m_f@discuss.online
macallan@lemmy.world

Most decorated

Player	Badges	Count
alfredolin@sopuli.xyz	🏮 🕯️ ⚓	3
terrance@lemmy.world	🕯️ ⚓ 🛡️	3
almost1337@lemmy.zip	🕯️ ⚓	2
fleece@feddit.uk	⚓ 🛡️	2
gerudo@lemmy.zip	🕯️ ⚓	2
m_f@discuss.online	🕯️ ⚓	2
micromot@piefed.social	🛡️ 🏁	2
sebas@lemmy.zip	🥇 ⚓	2
simpliston@programming.dev	🕯️ 🛡️	2
snoopy@piefed.social	🎣 ⚓	2
w3dd1e@lemmy.zip	🛡️ ⚓	2
yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de	🕯️ ⚓	2

alfredolin and terrance finished the season with three each. alfredolin is the only player to hold 🏮, which cannot be shared.

Odds, ends and honourable mentions

@snoopy@piefed.social finished the Dex first, built the first Masterwork Galleon, and tied for the most monster kills. A quietly outrageous season.
@yetanotheruser@discuss.tchncs.de finished top of catches, top of legendaries, top of chat, top of council motions, top donor on two of three mega-projects, second in RPS and second in total damage, and finished fourth in the faction standings for their trouble.
@terrance@lemmy.world ended the season richest at 12,063 gold. Then spent his last minute on Earth throwing 23 presses into the doom clock.
73,154 fish, and the largest was a 154 kg Behemoth caught by terrance at 07:38 on the last morning, during the two-minute window where nothing could save anyone.
12,589 banked presses went to the grave unspent. Half of them were Red's.

See you in Season 5. 🎣

2

41

Thanks for Everything! (lemmy.nz)

submitted 1 day ago by Micromot@piefed.social to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

15 comments fedilink

This was the first season I properly participated in and it was a lot of fun!

3

11

Button to donate to the lighthouse is missing. (lemmy.nz)

submitted 2 days ago by Macallan@lemmy.world to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

4 comments fedilink

@Demigodrick@lemmy.zip

Attached is the screenshot with the missing button.

Mobile
Firefox

4

23

The Button Season 4: General Chat thread (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 week ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

37 comments fedilink

In case anyone wants to talk about The Button or Season 4 outside of the game. Plus, will take any new ideas here too please :)

5

20

The Button Season 4: Bugs thread (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 week ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

21 comments fedilink

Please keep a record of any bugs in this post, especially if I'm asleep when they're found!

6

32

The Button Season 4 - Pre-Register now! (lemmy.nz)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

4 comments fedilink

Season 4 of The Button starts on 24th July (19:00 UTC). Chat opens a few hours earlier.

This has been a massive change and upgrade to previous versions, including a host of new features and architectural changes.

It took a little longer than planned as I hit a bit of general burnout but I've finished most of the changes and it's all ready to go!

You can sign up now at thebutton.social if you want to get notifications :)

7

31

The Button WILL RETURN for Season 4 (lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 weeks ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

4 comments fedilink

Hi All,

The Button will return for Season 4, likely a week or so after Canvas ends.

I will post a bit more info in the near future, but just wanted to assure people that it isn't dead :)

8

16

Thoughts on Bluesky (lemmy.nz)

submitted 2 months ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

6 comments fedilink

Hi all, ive been messing around today and have bluesky users now able to sign in and play.

Is this something we want? I know its not strictly "fediverse" but it could open it up to more players?

9

12

Suggestions (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

4 comments fedilink

While a dedicated Matrix chat might be a bit much for The Button at this stage, I think maintaining interest in the game via this community at the very least will not only help this game do better and better with each season to the next, but also serve as a tool for user retention across The Fediverse as a whole (requiring a Fediverse account is valuable to that end).

While tools like Lemmy-Federate, Fediverse Observer, and Fediseer are useful as support infrastructure for the Fediverse, I think The Button has the potential to serve that role in a more social way, more creative than something like r/place was for Reddit, in a manner that wouldn't be possible on a platform with the scale of Reddit.

In a way, The Button being a flagship project of .zip illustrates how collaboration between instances enhances the Threadiverse project as a whole: Fediseer is associated with dbzer0, Lemmy-Federate with .world, Lemmy itself with .ml, and Piefed itself with piefed.social.

In terms of maximizing the potential for The Button in serving this role, I have a few suggestions (hopefully some useful), and encourage others to iterate upon my ideas or make suggestions of their own as to how participation may be encouraged and fostered beyond joining, tapping the button, and leaving for the rest of the season.

Some form of leadership is necessary to onboard new users as to the gameplay and new features associated with each season as it unfolds. As @demigodrick@lemmy.zip is naturally only available at certain times, active users have successfully been performing this task to various degrees, hopefully to the benefit of new user retention. With the Senator and Chancellor system in Season 3, not only were active users encouraged to seek leadership positions, but everyone benefitted by having guidance in roleplaying via gameplay mechanics reserved for a subset of elected users. Should this system return in future iterations, I think that more options for gameplay variation should be entrusted on the elected roles, including different options specifically for Senators, or whatever the equivalent for that role would be; this could include an option to vote to recall the Chancellor (or role-equivalent) if needed. In Season 3, use of the Chancellor role ranged from survival-maximization (i.e. only handing out extra button presses) to roleplay-oriented (announcement messages), so perhaps in the future a mix of both types of actions could be encouraged to sustain roleplay while allowing the Chancellor (and potentially Senators) to intelligently wield their powers to help the button last longer. In terms of specific powers, adding 30 minutes to the button and locking it in the absence of other gameplay mechanics might leave some players with nothing to do, though it had the benefit of decreasing the risk of the button dying; perhaps the downsides could be diminished with the addition of a mechanic other than just pressing the button?
Several interesting new features were added to the website that aid in gamifying it; here's a few potential format adjustments: making usernames tappable to view their profile statistics page, retaining season-specific group names on the Leaderboards screen (the Season 3 team names now just list the colors, rather than their Star Wars equivalents), fixing the theming button to the left of the volume button at the top-right (the dropdown theme window seems to get stuck behind the main window on iOS Safari) [seemingly fixed since I made the post], fixing the background on the "How to play" screen (transparent on iOS Safari below "No passwords, no emails."), and fixing the chat consistently listing 60 messages.
In terms of gameplay adjustments, many things could theoretically be added to increase complexity, though I think a key part of the experience was the social component; features that promote interaction should be encouraged. Still, puzzle interaction in Season 3 demonstrated that some players look for other gameplay components to interact for the challenge of it (with the potential for additional team rewards being a bonus), so I certainly think additional puzzles would aid in adding complexity in a manner that players can cooperate on solving together (without directly passing around answers). As others have noted, solution entry should be adjusted to not accidentally reveal near-correct answers to others. In terms of gameplay mechanics that anyone could do without puzzle-solving, I think some elements from unique incremental games could be a source of inspiration without this game in itself becoming one (something that would take away from its social focus). Such potential inspirations include the leaderboard of dripstat, the crank and battery charging features of Crank, and the variety in the mechanics of Universal Paperclips. Most importantly, anything added should encourage interaction.
As the button's survival is the primary gameplay mechanic, additional indicators of its at-risk status and limited means of giving other players extra chances to use their presses (i.e. dedicated players getting time-freezes, quizzes to add time to the button, etc.) could aid in this. Wasteful presses should ideally also be discouraged, as they negate the point of handing out such presses in the first place. Ultimately, there should still always be the risk of the button running out of time as an incentive to participate. The Button also benefits from being a time-limited event to maintain a high level of participant interest throughout.

Most importantly of all, the game should be an enjoyable experience for everyone involved; whichever changes are made, I look forward to Season 4! 👍

10

19

A couple of button updates... (lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 months ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

14 comments fedilink

I keep adding stuff to The Button, here's one thing you might be interested in:

You can check yours out by going to thebutton.lemmy.zip/u/yourusername@yourinstance

Yes, I am also changing the domain to be a bit friendlier, but the old subdomain will redirect when I do swap it over.

You can also unsubscribe from getting DMs from the bot with updates - you can do this by going into the settings tab and toggling off the DM option, or by going to thebutton.lemmy.zip/unsubscribe and entering your username and instance, then clicking the link you get sent.

:)

11

48

The Button: Season 3 Wrap-Up: The Stranded Jedi (lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

42 comments fedilink

Theme: Star Wars · Duration: 25h 39m · Started: 2026-05-04 20:00 UTC · Ended: 2026-05-05 21:39 UTC

🏆 Winner: Purple

A genuine four-way scrap. Every faction crossed 21% of total hold time, and the gap between 1st and 4th was less than 8 percentage points.

Rank	Faction	Hold %	Hold time
🥇 1	Purple	29.41%	7h 32m
🥈 2	Green	25.75%	6h 36m
🥉 3	Blue	23.12%	5h 55m
4	Red	21.70%	5h 34m

🔘 The Button

473 presses from 172 unique players
213 active recruits (faction members) across the season
30 referrals signed up via referral links
Median timer at press: 14m 18s (858s)
Game duration: 25h 39m 38s

Press distribution

Faction	Presses	Members	Unused presses
Purple	161	59	213
Green	148	56	85
Red	85	45	126
Blue	79	53	157

Purple's win was carried by sheer participation. The most members and the most presses.

🎬 First & last press

First click: stegodon (stegodon.social, 🟪 purple) - 14m 53s left on the clock at 2026-05-04 20:00:07. Less than a second after the gates opened.
Last click: livligkinkajou (slrpnk.net, 🟩 green) - 14m 49s left at 2026-05-05 21:24:45, with 15 minutes to spare before the timer ran out for good.

The opening flurry (first 8 presses)

#	Player	Faction	Timer left
1	stegodon	🟪	14:53
2	volore	🟥	14:39
3	wagnast	🟩	14:36
4	elettrona	🟪	14:47
5	winged_hussar	🟥	12:57
6	roydbt	🟩	14:48
7	zloubida	🟪	10:30
8	nusm	🟩	14:54

🔥 Closest calls

Five players took the timer all the way to a single-digit second count:

Player	Faction	Hold	When
livligkinkajou	🟩	0:01	2026-05-04 23:57
comradepupivy	🟥	0:01	2026-05-05 00:51
tigeruppercut	🟩	0:02	2026-05-05 03:59
demigodrick	🟪	0:05	2026-05-05 03:37
squirrel	🟪	0:08	2026-05-05 20:15

livligkinkajou got the badge for closest-to-zero overall.

🥇 Most active pressers

Player	Faction	Presses	Total time held	Longest single hold
zedstrian	🟩	15	3h 15m	15:00
squirrel	🟪	15	2h 15m	14:59
dunstabzugshaubitze	🟩	12	2h 45m	14:57
netweirdo	🟪	10	2h 23m	14:58
livligkinkajou	🟩	10	2h 03m	15:00
stegodon	🟪	10	1h 55m	15:00
sebas	🟩	10	1h 53m	14:58

The longest holds were by Chancellors!

🏛️ The Galactic Senate

Six elections were held over the course of the game. Five chancellors used their term; the final election ran out the clock with no nominations:

Term	Chancellor	Faction
1	stegodon	🟪 Purple
2	zedstrian	🟩 Green
3	havatra	🟥 Red
4	corvuscornix	🟦 Blue
5	rajtinka	🟪 Purple
6	(unfilled)	—

Notable chancellor moves:

stegodon opened with a flurry - three royal decrees, two custom badges (⭐ and 🦾), two bonus presses, and a timer bonus
zedstrian and havatra both leaned hard on Galactic Largesse, twice each
corvuscornix burned three royal decrees in 20 minutes, a Blue blitz mid-game
rajtinka wrapped up with two faction bonus presses for Purple, very likely the deciding shove

Senate Voter Turnout

Election	Faction-vote ballots	Chancellor-vote ballots
1 (start of game)	30	20
2 (overnight)	9	8 ← lowest turnout, the dead-of-night election
3 (early morning)	20	18
4 (lunchtime)	20	14
5 (final)	19	22 ← highest turnout, peak engagement

Engagement climbed steadily into the final hours.

🧩 The Stranded Jedi puzzle

Master Kellin Vos was waiting in the holocron channel for anyone who could hear him.

2 players completed all 9 steps:
- 🟦 m_f finished 2026-05-05 12:34 (light/dark final reached first)
- 🥈 w3dd1e finished 2026-05-05 15:33
2 more reached step 8 havatra and marauderiic (decoded the Vigenère but didn't speak the mantra)
3 reached step 7 zedstrian, shimozu, corvuscornix
5 broke past step 1 beyond that
246 messages in the hidden #holocron channel

💬 Chat

4,272 messages across all channels:

Channel	Messages
#main	2,743
#purple	375
#holocron 🔒	246
#senate	223
#green	211
#red	204
#corvid-chat (pop-up)	144
#blue	126

Top 10 chatters

#	Player	Faction	Messages
1	w3dd1e	🔴 Red	473
2	corvuscornix	🔵 Blue	424
3	squirrel	🟣 Purple	228
4	rajtinka	🟣 Purple	218
5	havatra	🔴 Red	192
6	zedstrian	🟢 Green	153
7	stegodon	🟣 Purple	126
8	demigodrick	🟢 Green	119
9	dmmacniel	🟢 Green	112
10	comradepupivy	🔴 Red	79

Top 5 reaction emojis

Emoji	Count
❤️	200
🐦‍⬛	182
😂	133
👍	131
💯	117

The crow emoji, added to the picker only hours before the game ended, landed in second place behind the heart. A late-game phenomenon.

🎖️ Final badges

🥇 stegodon - first to press the button
🥈 w3dd1e - runner-up Jedi
🟦 m_f - light-side Jedi master
🛡️ Sentinels - demigodrick, comradepupivy, squirrel, zedstrian, tigeruppercut, havatra
🛡️🏁 livligkinkajou - sentinel + closest-to-zero
⚡ siv9939 - chancellor's electric custom badge

🔝 Top referrers

Recruitment chain MVPs:

Player	Faction	Sign-ups brought in
zedstrian	🟩	8
dunstabzugshaubitze	🟩	7
squirrel	🟪	5
livligkinkajou	🟩	3
snoopy	🟩	2

Green ran the strongest referral game (20 sign-ups), but Purple's existing roster was already big enough to translate into wins on the board.

📊 By the numbers

)

Most presses by one player: 15 (zedstrian and squirrel, tied)
Average press timer remaining: 14:18
Unused presses across all factions: 581 (more than were actually used!)

⏰ Hourly Heatmap

Press volume climbed steadily into the final evening (UTC):

Shading legend: 0 · ░ 1–2 · ▒ 3–5 · ▓ 6–9 · █ 10+

Hour (UTC)	🟦 Blue	🟩 Green	🟪 Purple	🟥 Red	Total	Bar
May 04 20:00	▒ 4	█ 10	▓ 9	▓ 6	29	`███████████████`
May 04 21:00	░ 1	▒ 4	▒ 4	▒ 3	12	`██████`
May 04 22:00	▒ 5	▒ 5	▒ 3	▒ 5	18	`█████████`
May 04 23:00	▒ 3	▒ 5	░ 2	░ 2	12	`██████`
May 05 00:00	░ 2	░ 1	░ 2	░ 2	7	`███`
May 05 01:00	▓ 6	▒ 3	░ 2	▒ 3	14	`███████`
May 05 02:00	░ 2	▒ 3	░ 2	▒ 4	11	`█████`
May 05 03:00	0	▒ 4	░ 2	▒ 3	9	`████`
May 05 04:00	▒ 3	░ 1	░ 2	▒ 3	9	`████`
May 05 05:00	0	░ 1	░ 1	░ 1	3	`█`
May 05 06:00	▒ 3	▓ 8	▒ 3	▒ 5	19	`█████████`
May 05 07:00	░ 2	░ 2	▓ 6	▒ 3	13	`██████`
May 05 08:00	0	0	▓ 7	░ 2	9	`████`
May 05 09:00	▒ 5	▒ 3	░ 2	░ 2	12	`██████`
May 05 10:00	░ 1	▒ 4	▓ 6	░ 2	13	`██████`
May 05 11:00	▒ 3	▒ 3	▓ 6	▒ 3	15	`███████`
May 05 12:00	▓ 8	█ 14	█ 20	░ 2	44	`██████████████████████` ← peak
May 05 13:00	▓ 8	█ 15	█ 15	▒ 4	42	`█████████████████████`
May 05 14:00	▒ 3	▓ 6	▒ 5	▒ 3	17	`████████`
May 05 15:00	▒ 3	▒ 3	▒ 3	▓ 6	15	`███████`
May 05 16:00	░ 1	▓ 7	▓ 8	▒ 4	20	`██████████`
May 05 17:00	░ 1	░ 1	▒ 5	▒ 3	10	`█████`
May 05 18:00	░ 2	▓ 8	▓ 9	█ 10	29	`██████████████`
May 05 19:00	▒ 5	█ 20	█ 21	▒ 3	49	`████████████████████████` ← peak
May 05 20:00	▓ 7	▓ 9	█ 10	░ 1	27	`█████████████`
May 05 21:00	░ 1	▓ 8	▓ 6	0	15	`███████`
Total	79	148	161	85	473
Chat volume followed a similar curve, peaking at 323 messages in the 20:00 hour as the season raced toward the finish.

🌐 The Fediverse Showed Up

Players came from 49 different Fediverse instances. Top contributors:

Instance	Players
lemmy.zip	65
lemmy.world	32
feddit.org	22
sh.itjust.works	13
piefed.social	7
lemmy.ml	7
discuss.tchncs.de	5
sopuli.xyz	4
startrek.website	3
piefed.zip	3

…plus 39 more instances with 1–2 players each. A genuinely cross-platform crowd.

🐦‍⬛ Honourable Mentions

Corvid Chat - the first admin pop-up channel ever spawned. 144 messages in roughly an hour. The crow emoji that arrived in the same patch promptly took silver in the reactions chart.
The 8-vote election - election 2 fired at 02:30 UTC and got 8 chancellor votes. The dead-of-night turnout floor.
The Light Side Choice - m_f could have hoarded ten bonus presses for themselves. They didn't. Whoever you are: that's a Jedi move. 🟦

Bugs!

There were a couple of bugs in this Season, for which I apologise profusely for. One ended up wiping the database mid game. I managed to recover most things, but fastest press is not correct sadly, just an approximation based on chat timestamps :(

Until next season. 🟪

12

41

Congrats Bounty Hunters! (lemmy.nz)

submitted 2 months ago by W3dd1e@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

7 comments fedilink

Good game everyone! That was so much fun!

13

22

If you aren't playing this season, you're missing out. (thebutton.lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 months ago by W3dd1e@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

10 comments fedilink

We have started a new religion inside the game. FOLLOW THE CROW. CA-CAW!

14

43

The Button Season 3 is now LIVE! (thebutton.lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 months ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

14 comments fedilink

Season 3 of The Button has begun!

Join in now, team up, and you might even get to become Galactic Chancellor for a bit :)

Hope to see you there!

15

28

Just a reminder - Season 3 starts in less than 24 hours! (lemmy.zip)

submitted 2 months ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

5 comments fedilink

Don't miss out :D

16

24

I just found out about The Button (social.wake.st)

submitted 3 months ago by liaizon@social.wake.st to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

1 comments fedilink

I just found out about The Button

It's cool to see more experimental fediverse gamification taking place.
"Season 3" of @thebutton starts May 4th. I hope I remember to press it.

17

14

Will There Be a Season 3? (peachpie.theatl.social)

submitted 3 months ago by Nusm@peachpie.theatl.social to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

6 comments fedilink

If so, when?

18

26

Announcing: The Button Season 3 - Starts May 4th (be with you...) (lemmy.zip)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

4 comments fedilink

The Button returns for a third season, no bonus points for guessing the theme!

The game will start Monday 4th May at 20:00 UTC (that's 16:00 EST, 13:00 PDT, 22:00 CEST)

You only get one press, but without giving away too much, you decide who the ultimate power is. Will they give you your press back? Let's hope you've put your faith in the right person!

Preregistration will open 24 hours before the game does, on Sunday 3rd at 20:00 UTC. You'll be able to get your unique referral link and whoever can refer more people, may get rewarded...

Chat opens 3 hours before the game begins at 17:00 UTC.

19

10

User-Initiated game start? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 months ago by DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

1 comments fedilink

I mean I think there should be a button (yes of course it'd be a button) that, if within 1 hour, gets pressed by at least 50 different users, it automatically begins a new season, without an admin needing to manually start it.

20

19

Season 2 - Stats & Info (lemmy.zip)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

11 comments fedilink

The Button - Season 2 Stats

Winner: Green Faction

Green held the button the longest, narrowly beating Purple by just 2 minutes and 50 seconds.

Game Overview

Stat	Value
Game Duration	16h 23m 35s
Total Players	244
Players Who Pressed	205
Total Button Presses	242
Chat Messages	1,549
Unique Chatters	99
Referred Players	14

Faction Standings

Rank	Faction	Time Held	Share	Players	Presses
1st	Green	4h 31m 34s	27.6%	67	64
2nd	Purple	4h 28m 44s	27.3%	79	76
3rd	Blue	4h 14m 10s	25.8%	54	53
4th	Red	3h 9m 6s	19.2%	44	49

Achievement Badge Holders

Badge	Player	Achievement
🥇 First Presser	@weddingcrasher@lemmy.zip	First to press the button
🏁 Latest Presser	@skipwappallypap@lemmy.world	Last player to press
⚡ Fastest Reaction	@nusm@peachpie.theatl.social	129ms reaction time
🛡 Last-Second Save	@tamlyn@lemmy.zip	Pressed at 1.16s remaining
🔍 Mystery Solver	@solace@lemmy.blahaj.zone	Found the easter egg

Top 5 Closest Saves

Player	Faction	Timer Remaining
@tamlyn@lemmy.zip	Purple	1.16s
@tamlyn@lemmy.zip	Purple	2.25s
@hellhound1@lemmy.world	Purple	4.22s
@birne@feddit.org	Blue	5.25s
@lvxferre@mander.xyz	Red	6.84s

Top 5 Fastest Reactions

Player	Faction	Reaction Time
@nusm@peachpie.theatl.social	Green	129ms
@merdaverse@lemmy.zip	Red	372ms
@sebas@lemmy.zip	Purple	688ms
@allero@lemmy.today	Blue	856ms
@susaga@sh.itjust.works	Green	987ms

Most Active Chatters

Player	Faction	Messages
@calmblue75@lemmy.ml	Blue	201
@allero@lemmy.today	Blue	96
@mschae@discuss.mschae23.de	Green	77
@solace@lemmy.blahaj.zone	Purple	59
@demigodrick@lemmy.zip	Green	59

Top Referrer

@deathbybigsad@sh.itjust.works (Purple) referred 7 players

Press Activity by Hour (UTC)

Time Block	Presses
Apr 5, 12:00	25
Apr 5, 13:00	20
Apr 5, 14:00	19
Apr 5, 15:00	16
Apr 5, 16:00	24
Apr 5, 17:00	15
Apr 5, 18:00	10
Apr 5, 19:00	11
Apr 5, 20:00	6
Apr 5, 21:00	16
Apr 5, 22:00	17
Apr 5, 23:00	14
Apr 6, 00:00	9
Apr 6, 01:00	11
Apr 6, 02:00	13
Apr 6, 03:00	11
Apr 6, 04:00	5

The opening hour saw 25 presses as players rushed to claim the button. Activity stayed strong through the afternoon (15–25 presses/hour) before tapering off overnight. The timer finally ran out at 04:23 UTC on April 6 after a quiet stretch with just 5 presses in the final hour.

Fun Facts

The average timer value at press was 10m 59s - most players pressed well before the 15-minute deadline
13 presses were made with less than 60 seconds on the clock
39 players registered but never pressed the button
The margin between 1st and 2nd place was just 2 minutes 50 seconds out of 16+ hours
Purple had the most players (79) and most presses (76) but still came 2nd

21

9

Suggestion Box (lemmy.blahaj.zone)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by solace@lemmy.blahaj.zone to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

4 comments fedilink

I'll start: A button to ping the admin chat for when the chat is accidentally paused

Secondary suggestion: move the pause chat button somewhere less pressable

My girlfriend's suggestion: add an easter egg that can pause chat once every 24 hours

22

3

I want to notify that all player got another button click thanks to solace solving the mystery (lemmy.zip)

submitted 3 months ago by tamlyn@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

4 comments fedilink

23

3

Bugs Thread for season 2 (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 months ago by calmblue75@lemmy.ml to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

12 comments fedilink

This is a thread for reporting bugs encountered in season 2 of the Button.

24

2

Announcing The Button: Season 2 - Easter Boogaloo (Sunday 5th April 12:00 UTC) (lemmy.zip)

submitted 3 months ago by Demigodrick@lemmy.zip to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

3 comments fedilink

Yes, The Button is returning for a second season!

This time around, your press resets after 24 hours and you get to press again (if the game makes it that far!)

The chat will open from 10:00 UTC on Sunday, 2 hours before the game begins.

A new feature this time around, in addition to the reset press, is achievements in chat for things like first presser and fastest presser. There may even be an Easter egg to find...

25

2

Game Variations Brainstorm (mander.xyz)

submitted 3 months ago by Mac@mander.xyz to c/thebutton@lemmy.zip

2 comments fedilink

Hey all,

I just wanted to open a brainstorming post for possible future variations on the game.
Note that this is just for fun and that i hold no weight toward game decisions.

Here's a couple ideas floating around in my own head, what's in yours?

Speed click: First team to press 100* times wins
*Obviously this should be calibrated based on expected participation
Short timer, for length: No teams, only community effort to make it last as long as possible but the timer is shorter
Perhaps instead of short timer, the press value degrades over time. Basically a sub-a-thon, tbh
Lowest score after 24hrs* wins, but still have to keep the game alive until then or else nobody wins
*Needs calibrated for feasibility

Share your thoughts!