WakeArena Economy & Progression

1. The Core Philosophy: Real Behavioral Stakes

Most habit trackers and alarm clocks fail because snoozing has zero immediate consequences. WakeArena leverages loss aversion: humans fight twice as hard to protect an accumulated balance and streak than to gain a hypothetical reward.

In WakeArena, coins, streaks, and escape counts form an authentic behavioral loop. You cannot buy coins with real cash, and you cannot pay to wipe your escape record. Every coin is earned through waking up on time.

2. Speed-Tiered Awakening Rewards

Passing your morning alarm session by clearing at least 3 out of 5 mini-games rewards cognitive velocity. The faster your prefrontal cortex dissolves sleep inertia, the higher your coin payout.

The backend calculates completion duration in seconds between session start and completion (implemented in calculateWakeUpCoins() in SupabaseApi.kt):

3. The Penalty Matrix: Rage Quits & Inactivity

To prevent cheating, WakeArena enforces strict, predictable penalties across all escape vectors:

• Rage Quit (leaving app via Home / Power button for > 5 seconds): -50 coins (never below 0), +4 escapes, and streak resets to 0.
• Ring Screen Inactivity (30s inactivity + 5s grace period): -50 coins, +4 escapes, and streak resets to 0.
• Recovery Game Failure (failing Colour Tap): -50 coins, +4 escapes, and streak resets to 0.
• Floor Protection: Coin deductions are safely floored at 0 using maxOf(0, balance - penalty). Your account balance will never become negative.

4. Emergency Lifelines: The TickPass System

A TickPass is an emergency bypass shield designed for legitimate edge cases (illness, red-eye travel, or urgent situations):

• Signup Grant: Every new user starts with 5 free TickPasses upon account creation.
• Monthly Refresh: On the 1st of every month (midnight UTC), an automated Supabase Edge Function (monthly-tickpass-reset) grants +3 free TickPasses to every user. The grant uses relative addition (tickpass_count + 3), meaning any passes you previously saved or bought are 100% preserved.
• Burning on the Ring Screen: Costs 1 TickPass. Silences the alarm immediately. Adds +2 escapes and 0 coin penalty. Resets streak to 0 (intentional).
• Burning at the Checkout Barrier: Costs 1 TickPass. Adds +1 escape and 0 coin penalty. Resets streak to 0 (intentional).
• Online Requirement: TickPass transactions require internet connectivity to ensure atomic database verification via Supabase PostgREST constraints; they are blocked offline.

5. The In-App TickPass Shop

Users can convert their hard-earned wake-up coins into additional TickPasses via the in-app shop (BuyTickPassScreen.kt). Purchases execute through an atomic PostgreSQL stored procedure (purchase_tick_pass) with row-level locks:

• 1x TickPass: 50 Coins (Base rate: 50.0 coins/pass)
• 3x TickPass: 140 Coins (Save 10 coins • 6.7% discount)
• 5x TickPass: 230 Coins (Save 20 coins • 8.0% discount)
• 10x TickPass: 450 Coins (Save 50 coins • 10.0% discount)

Note: You cannot purchase coins or passes with real money. The shop only accepts in-game coins earned from disciplined wakeups or rewarded ads.

6. AdMob Rewarded Video Ads

Need a quick coin boost to replenish your emergency TickPass stock? WakeArena includes optional Google AdMob Rewarded Video Ads under your Profile:

• Reward: Watching a full sponsored video grants +10 coins.
• Daily Limit: Up to 10 ads per day (maximum 100 bonus coins daily).
• Cooldown: A strict 5-second cooldown timer is enforced between ad views to prevent accidental repeat clicks and ensure stable video loading.
• No Paywalls: Watching ads is completely optional. You can earn all necessary coins simply by waking up on time.

7. Global Community Leaderboards

WakeArena features live community leaderboards powered by Supabase, dividing competitive rankings across three distinct tabs:

1. Coins Leaderboard: Ranks users by cumulative wake-up coin balance.
2. Streak Leaderboard: Ranks users by current active consecutive wake-up days.
3. Escape Leaderboard: A transparency board tracking total accumulated escapes and rage-quit events.

Identity & Nicknames: Your chosen public nickname is permanent once registered at onboarding. However, you can update your profile display name at any time.

8. Read the Gameplay & Alarm Guide

Curious about how the 5 cognitive mini-games, Colour Tap recovery, and 30-second timers work? Read the full Gameplay & Alarm Rules Guide.