START HERE01 / 04
3 CHALLENGES · GUIDED PLAY
FIRST CONTACT
Watch an ambush. Strike back. Find a moving target. Templates and presets included.
PLAYER 1 READY
BYTECADE SYSTEMFREE PLAYNO COINS REQUIRED
WELCOME TO
BYTECADE
THE COMPUTER GAME ARCADE
Free games. No account. Everything runs on your machine.
WATCHREWINDREWRITEREMATCH
THE ARCADE FLOOR
SELECT A GAME
← → SELECT · ENTER PLAY
PROGRAM VS PROGRAM02 / 04
ASSEMBLY BATTLE · WATCH & TINKER
MEMORY ARENA
Two tiny programs fight over the same memory. Rewind the hit. Rewrite the ending.
4 KiB. ALL YOURS.
SMALL PATCH. BIG DIFFERENCE.03 / 04
BINARY PUZZLE · LOCAL DUEL
PATCH DUEL
Find the flaw in a tiny broken program. Two edits. 65,536 ways to prove you fixed it.
BRING A HUNCH.
FEWER WORDS. SAME ANSWERS.04 / 04
ROUTINE GOLF · 65,536 INPUTS
GOLF
Write the shortest routine that answers every input right. The house routine is par. Go under it.
PAR IS SET.
THE DEMO SCREEN
MEMORY
ARENA01
ARENA01
RECORDED MATCH SEED 07
BOMBERVSCAMPER
SHARED MEMORYTURN —
DECISIVE WRITE
Recorded programs and seed, running again in the engine.
The machine is yours to figure out. Every match can be paused, rewound, and taken apart. The deeper you look, the more there is to play with.
MEMORY ARENA
LIVERECORDED
A BATTLE YOU CAN TAKE APART
REWRITE THE ENDING.
Watch the hit. Wind it back. Then take the losing side and make your move.
THE BATTLEGROUND
0000 — 0FFF
PROGRAM A—READY
PROGRAM B—READY
One shared memory; every square is a byte. A program traps when it runs a word that is not an instruction, and is out: overwrite the other program’s code and change what it does next.
INSTRUCTIONS— / 16,000
0
WAITING—
Each page is 64 words. A dot is a word a program just executed and an outline a word it just wrote; both fade over the last 80 turns. A white box is a program’s next instruction.
Player A Player B Untouched PC Just written Fatal word
0x0000—No state loaded
SPEED
Make the next move.
Run the programs, or watch the recorded match to see how this works.
YOUR NEXT ROUND
WATCH. REWIND. TRY AGAIN.
Fresh execution by the engine.
- 01
Watch a match
The recorded match: one program changes the other’s next instruction.
- 02
Find the turning point
Rewind to before the hit. Step through what changed, one instruction at a time.
- 03
Change the ending
Take over opens the losing program for you to edit. Rerun keeps the same opponent and seed.
OPEN THE MACHINECLOSE THE MACHINEAssembly, registers, and the execution journal. Your match stays right here.
LIVE MACHINE CODE
ADDRESSWORDINSTRUCTION
Select RAM to inspect. Words reflect self-modification.
EXECUTION JOURNAL
LAST 80 INSTRUCTIONSLoad two programs, then advance the machine.
PATCH DUEL
LIVE65,536 INPUTS
A LITTLE BINARY WITH A BIG PROBLEM
TWO WORDS. MAKE THEM COUNT.
Find a wrong answer, follow the instructions, and repair the program. Every input gets a say.
BEHAVIORAL CONTRACT
a0 → a0Choose a routine to investigate.
—
Repair at most two instruction words. The function must return correctly for every uint16 input.
ENTRY 0x0100BUDGET 64 instructionsRETURN ra / ret
01 / FIND & FIX
0 / 2 WORDS CHANGEDADDRESSWORDINSTRUCTION
Select a word above. Each edit must assemble to exactly one 32-bit instruction.
02 / PROVE IT WORKS
2¹⁶ INPUTSPut the binary to the test.
Run every input through the actual machine.
FOLLOW ONE INPUT
READYOPEN THE MACHINECLOSE THE MACHINEFollow the instruction trail and inspect all 32 registers.
INSTRUCTION TRAIL
PC —Load an input to step through the function.
REGISTERS
HEXGOLF
LIVE CHECKRECORDED PAR
THE SAME MACHINE, PLAYED FOR LENGTH
FEWEST WORDS WINS.
Every one of 65,536 inputs must come back right. Then fewer words beat par.
01 / PICK A HOLE
PAR · RECORD IN WORDSENTRY 0x0100INPUT a0ANSWER a0, retBUDGET 64 instructions
02 / WRITE THE ROUTINE
CHECK sends the routine to the engine, which runs it on every input and keeps nothing. SAVE FILE puts the hole and the routine in a file on your computer; OPEN FILE reads one back, or a plain .s file.
03 / THE CHECK
LIVE · 2¹⁶ INPUTSEvery input gets a say.
CHECK runs the routine on all 65,536 inputs.
The routine has changed since this check. CHECK again to score the new one.
BUILD A BOT
AI-AUTHORED × 0RECORDED TABLE
Start from an existing bot, edit its instructions, then load it into Memory Arena.
CHOOSE A STARTING BOT
SHIPPED WITH THIS ENGINEAI-AUTHORED contestants were written by a model before release. No model runs during a match; every instruction is deterministic.
YOUR CODE
RV32I · 256 BYTES MAXSAVE FILE puts this challenger's name, description and source in a file on your computer; OPEN FILE reads one back. Loading as A or B replaces that side of the current match and resets it to turn zero. The opponent and seed stay the same.
HEAD TO HEAD
RECORDED · computed by this engine at build timeHALL OF FAME
RECORDED · computed by this engine at build time · seeds 0–63| # | CONTESTANT | W | L | D | MATCHES | LIVE CHECK |
|---|
VS
| SEED | RECORDED | TURNS | REASON | LIVE CHECK |
|---|