GhostSweat · Contest Mechanics

GHOSTSWEAT

Contest Mechanics · Playing Inside the Echos

Lore-Driven Game Flow · Mirrors Official Rules

SECTION 1

What GhostSweat Is

GhostSweat is a sweepstakes-based fantasy layer that lives in the same ghost-world described in the lore: the Echos—a scar above the felt, formed by years of rails, bad beats, and impossible rivers.

You play as a Ghost, drifting just above the live stream. You offer Sweat—your invisible energy—to tether yourself to real poker players. As they play, their actions compress that energy and table Variance into glowing crystal veins that fracture into Shards, briefly illuminating Souls that are paid out through fixed, pre-set sweepstakes prize tables.

GhostSweat is:

Not gambling
Not betting
The game layer of the story: Sweat → Shards → Souls

Lore lag: The stream is the ritual in the physical world. GhostSweat is the ruleset for what happens in the scar above it — where your Ghost, your Sweat, and pre-defined prize tables collide.

SECTION 2

Duel-Currency System

Sweat “The fare Ghosts pay to cross into the Echos.”

SWEAT is free, earnable play currency:

Earned via logins, quests, engagement, or platform actions
Used to enter Contests inside the Echos
500 Sweat = $1 notional reference (for internal balancing only)
Cannot be purchased directly with real money
Has no independent cash value and cannot be withdrawn

In the lore, Sweat is the pressure you create by caring about every hand. In the game, it is how you join a Contest and bind your Ghost to the stream.

Souls & Shards “Crystallized echoes of the action inside the Invisible World.”

SOULS are sweepstakes prize currency:

Revealed only via fixed sweepstakes prize tables
Cannot be purchased, sold, or traded
Redeemable only at a fixed rate of 5 Souls = $1

SHARDS are cosmetic / progression energy:

Unlocked by scoring in Contests
Feed cosmetics, Ghost auras, and Vault progression
No monetary or redemption value

In the story, Shards are crystal fragments that glow and light up Souls long enough to harvest them. In the game, they’re your progress bar and cosmetic fuel.

SECTION 3

Contest Tiers

Each Contest is a different “storm” inside the Echos. Think of them as how violent the crystal field gets when your Sweat collides with Variance.

Micro Contest “First Ripple in the Echos.” Your safe tutorial scar above the felt.

Entry: 100 Sweat OR 1 mail-in AMOE entry per week
Top Prize: 2 Souls (≈ $0.40)
Purpose: Free path, onboarding, and sweepstakes core.

Small Contest “Shards of Momentum.” The main grind where crystals start to crack.

Entry: 2,500 Sweat (≈ $5 equivalent)
Top Prize: 250 Souls ($50 value)
Purpose: Core competitive experience and primary prize path.

Big Contest “Surge of the Echos.” Full crystal storm, heavy Shard bursts.

Entry: 10,000–25,000 Sweat
Top Prize: 1,000+ Souls
Purpose: Prestige events where the whole crystal field erupts and leaderboard hits feel cinematic.

SECTION 4

Ghost Archetypes

In the lore, every player leaves a unique scar in the Echos. In the game, that scar becomes a Ghost Archetype—a persona that tweaks how Shards flare when that seat does something on stream.

Aggressor “A blade flashing through the Echos.”

Bonus: +1 on any pot won.

Shadow “A trickster spirit dancing between truth and illusion.”

Bonus: +2 on BluffShown.

Sentinel “A calm anchor in the chaos.”

Bonus: +1 on ShowdownWin.

Wildcard “A storm that crashes through the spirit layer.”

Bonus: +2 on any All-In event.

Guardian “A steady light guiding the turbulence.”

Bonus: +1 on SmallPotWin.

Design note: Archetypes are chosen for lore and stream persona — not real-money win rates. They keep different seats fun, viable, and distinct as you draft your lineups.

SECTION 5

Base Scoring Events

Scoring is how we turn story moments into Shards. Every point comes from an observable event in the stream — never from bet sizes or dollar amounts.

VPIP: +1
WinPot (no showdown): +2
ShowdownWin: +2
ShowdownLoss: +1
BluffShown: +1
AllInNoCall: +2
AllInCalledWin: +3
AllInCalledLoss: +1
SmallPotWin: +2

Lore lag: These events are the hammer blows against the crystal field. Each point is a crack in the veins running under the table, building toward the Shards that finally reveal Souls.

SECTION 6

Captain 2× Bonus

In every Contest you choose one of your two players to serve as your Captain—your primary anchor in the Echos.

Rule: Your Captain earns 2× all Shard Points.

Lore-wise, this is the player your Ghost chooses to haunt the hardest. Mechanically, it’s your highest-impact decision: when your Captain runs pure, the entire crystal field explodes in your direction.

SECTION 7

Three Steps for Haunting the Leaderboards

1 · Drift Into the Echos

Every live poker stream hums with the Echos — that scar in reality described in the lore. Joining a Featured Contest is how your Ghost slips across the veil and takes its place in that ghost-layer.

You never touch the cards. You never change the outcome. You just haunt: watching, tracking, waiting for Variance to swing in your favor.

2 · Offer Your Sweat

Sweat is not money. It is your spectral fare. You spend Sweat to enter a Contest and pin your attention to every hand. The more intensely you Sweat the action, the brighter your echo burns in the crystal field.

In both story and rules, this is the moment where your energy starts colliding with Variance and the veins under the table begin to grow.

3 · Summon Your Lineup and Harvest Souls

You select two players from the live stream and choose your Captain. Every VPIP, bluff, and showdown they take part in slams into that crystal field, building Shard Points.

When the pressure peaks — a brutal river, a sick hero call, an all-in collision — the crystals crack. Shards flare, lighting up the Souls hidden in the Echos. Fixed prize tables decide which Souls were always waiting for your final score. Your job is to build the lineup that hits those fractures at the right time.

SECTION 8

Prize Flow — From Shards to Souls

The prize system is the mechanical mirror of the lore. Here’s how the story beats translate into payouts:

You enter a Contest using Sweat (or via AMOE for Micro).
Your Lineup generates Shard Points through observable events.
Your Captain’s Shard Points are doubled.
Your final Shard total determines your leaderboard position.
Your position maps to a tier in a fixed sweepstakes prize table.
That tier reveals Souls, Sweat refunds, and/or cosmetic Shards.

Lore lag: In the story, the prize tables are etched into the crystal long before you arrive. In the rules, that means fixed tables that never change based on how many people enter or how much Sweat they spend.

SECTION 9

AMOE · No Purchase Path

The Micro Contest includes a mail-in AMOE path that allows one (1) free entry per person per week without using Sweat. AMOE entries receive the same odds and prize table access as Sweat entries.

For full AMOE details—including what to mail, where, and when—see the Official Rules.

These Contest Mechanics are a player-facing explanation of how GhostSweat works inside the Echos. In the event of any conflict between this page and the Official Rules, the Official Rules control.