How Rival Week works: challenge a friend to a week of puzzles

Choose four games each

Sign in to HubbardGames, open Challenges and choose Rival Week. Find another player, select four different games and send an invitation for the displayed week.

Your opponent adds four different games of their own before accepting. They cannot remove your choices or pick a game already in your four. Acceptance locks the complete eight-game line-up and both players’ places.

For example, you might choose four familiar games and let your opponent introduce four you rarely play. The daily line-up becomes a mix of both players’ favourites rather than one person choosing everything.

Pick a week that works for you

The default is the next full Monday-to-Sunday week. If a current-week option is available, it starts on the London day after acceptance and finishes on Sunday. Check the dates on the invitation before accepting.

Each player can have one accepted opponent per week. You can arrange next week separately, including a rematch. Results from before the agreed playing start do not count.

Play the shared daily puzzles

Your agreed games use the existing daily puzzles at their published difficulty. Rival Week does not generate a private set of boards or let either player choose an easier difficulty.

Open the agreed puzzle from Rival Week and play as usual. Your ordinary result is reused for the challenge, so you do not need a second attempt just to take part. You and your opponent do not have to be online together.

Library practice is a useful way to learn an unfamiliar game before the week begins. A Library result or replay does not replace a result on an agreed daily puzzle.

Win games to win the day

Each game awards one game win to the player with the better canonical result. A tie gives half a game win to each player. If only one player completes a game, that player gets the game win; if neither completes it, neither gets one. The normal game and hint rules still apply.

Suppose you win four games, your opponent wins three and the last game is tied. The daily comparison is 4.5 to 3.5, so you win that day. A tied day splits the day win. An entirely unplayed day awards neither player a day win.

Today remains provisional until both players finish every agreed game or the London day ends. An early lead can change when your opponent returns to play.

Win days to take the week

The week is decided by day wins, rather than by adding up how far ahead you were on individual puzzles. A close daily win contributes as much as a comfortable daily win.

For example, winning four days and losing three wins a full seven-day contest. If the total day wins are equal, the week is tied. The final week result settles after Sunday; later corrections to the underlying results are still reflected.

Make the rivalry part of your routine

Choose games you will enjoy returning to, read the line-up before accepting and check which agreed puzzles you still have to play. A short visit each day gives the contest more shape than leaving everything to the end.

Rival Week sits alongside the wider daily league. It gives you one opponent and an agreed set of games to focus on, while your normal puzzle results continue to follow the usual scoring rules.

To get started, sign in, open Challenges, then open Rival Week. If you are new to one of the selected games, visit its public rules page or try a Library puzzle first.