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The engine is built so a new daily game is a registration, not a framework fork. Native keys are open strings. The server catalog can list keys the current binary does not ship.

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Design rules

  • No shared TypeScript union of game keys. GameKey is string.
  • No new Expo Router file per game. Engine games share app/(tabs)/locker-room/games/[gameKey].tsx.
  • The playfield does not score, award Rep, or decide win/loss.
  • The playfield does not render chrome, HUD, or safe-area wrappers.
  • Session games do not include a game loop, remote game logic, or realtime. Physics stays outside engine core. locker-singularity is the exception: progression is the idle ledger, not a UTC day slot.

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Add a game on native

1

Create the folder

Add lib/games/<slug>/ with index.ts, the playfield component, parse.ts, and styles/*.styles.ts.
2

Register the definition

Call registerGame({ key, parseConfig, parseScenario, Component, presentOutcome? }) from that index.ts. Side-effect import the folder from lib/games/index.ts.
3

Keep the playfield thin

Accept presentation: "modal" | "screen". Use makeStyles plus useTheme / useCommonStyles. Haptics go through hooks/use-haptics.ts only.
4

Optional catalog copy

Add static title/art in constants/games.constants.ts with routeKey equal to the registry key. Engine games also launch through resolveGame, so a GAME_ROUTES entry is optional.
5

Test the registry

Colocate bun test files. Keep the registry multi-game. Do not let a new import replace Pick’em or Trivia.

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Add the same key on the server

  1. Insert a Game row whose key matches the native slug.
  2. Ship configJson, rewardJson, and minClientVersion.
  3. Enable the game per team (TeamGame).
  4. If the game uses prompts (Pick’em / Trivia style), store them server-side. Never send the answer in scenario.
Native sends X-Client-Version on every engine call. Raise minClientVersion when the binary cannot parse a new config shape. The catalog then returns playable: false with reason: UPDATE_REQUIRED instead of omitting the tile.

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Expandability

A catalog key with no registry entry is Not in this build. A catalog row whose minClientVersion is newer than the binary is Update required. Both are valid, visible states. Content verticals (for example sport-themed dailies) should registerGame on the same engine. Do not start a second shell or a second session API.

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What v1 is not

  • Daily Spin and Guess the Player already write live rewards on /api/games/*. They are not engine games yet.
  • Live arena (/api/games/live/*) is a separate session model.
  • Game Center (/api/events/*) is sports-event UX, not a mini-game playfield.
  • Pack opening is commerce, not the engine.
See Client for the shell and Server for session verbs.