CRYPTO CROSSWORD

trustless crossword competitions on EVM chains

TL;DR

  1. Creator stakes crypto and sets a deadline — loses stake if they don't reveal
  2. Players pay to enter before deadline — full refund if creator abandons
  3. First correct answer wins — verified on-chain, no trust required

HOW IT WORKS

COMMITPlayers submit hashed answers + entry fee during commit window
REVEALCreator reveals solution within grace period or loses stake
CLAIMWinner proves their answer matches, takes prize pool

Timelines are set by creator (e.g., 24h commit + 24h grace). All enforced by smart contract.

OUTCOMES

✓ Creator reveals → winner claims → creator gets 10% fees

✗ Creator abandons → players refunded → stake locked forever

○ No players → creator reveals → withdraws stake immediately

SUPPORTED CHAINS

BaseDEFAULT— Coinbase L2, uses ETH, cheapest gas (~$0.001/tx)
Polygon— uses POL, established (~$0.01/tx)
Arbitrum— uses ETH, popular L2 (~$0.01/tx)
Optimism— uses ETH, OP Stack (~$0.01/tx)

Why Base? Backed by Coinbase, uses ETH (no new token to buy), 5-10x cheaper than other L2s. Same contract works on all chains.

ECONOMICS

Entry: 90% → prize, 10% → creator • Refund: 100% of entry fee • Gas: ~$0.001-0.01/tx

TECH

L2 Rollups: Transactions batched on L2, posted to Ethereum L1 — same security, 100x cheaper

Hash Commit: Keccak256(answer + salt) — reveals nothing until you choose

Storage: Puzzle grid + clues on IPFS — decentralized, permanent

CLI (for any chain)

cast send $CONTRACT "commit(bytes32)" $(cast keccak "$ANSWER$SALT") --value 0.001ether --rpc-url $RPC