Player onboarding guide
Chalk & Chance is a playable teacher-rehearsal loop. The point is not to guess the right button. The point is to read the room, choose a teaching move, study the evidence, and replay with a sharper instructional focus.
Access paths
The site has course access pages per class plus a public demo gate. CAT531 and CAT100 students should use their own course page; public visitors should use the demo gate.
Use cat531.html. It opens the live build with UA-CAT531-SUMMER26 preloaded so students enter only their name and the one shared course passcode.
Use cat100.html. Same setup as CAT531 with UA-CAT100-SUMMER26 preloaded, so CAT100 progress and logs stay separate by course.
Use demo.html. It opens the safe demo with public_demo=1, deterministic responses, and voice off.
The whole class uses the same course passcode. Enter it the first time to join, and again any time to continue your own saved progress. There is no separate per-student password to remember.
The same course passcode also unlocks student voice through a short-lived server token, so the page never stores a passcode.
Current build map
The current build is broader than a one-student dialogue demo. It has a hub, missions, multiple classroom modes, item loadouts, lesson import, and evidence surfaces.
Choose demo or class sign-in. CAT531 links preload the class code and ask only for your name plus the one shared course passcode. CAT531 players begin from a clean baseline the first time they join.
Browse missions, badges, level progress, item loadout, leaderboard, settings, import, and Evidence Journal.
Preview the story hook, success criteria, reward, evidence edge, and suggested first move.
Walk the room, face students, manage proximity, respond to prompts, and preserve attention/order/composure.
Read one student's need, choose menu moves or type free-text teacher talk, and watch evidence-bearing feedback.
Manage pacing, questioning, wait time, repair, and checks for understanding across multiple students.
Monitor group talk, distribute airtime, and surface shared reasoning instead of letting one student dominate.
Resolve several students under pressure while protecting order, care, and reasoning at the same time.
Classroom tools support noticing, wait time, goals, composure, and equitable participation.
Paste a lesson plan and generate a scenario with objectives, roster, seating, and dialogue hooks.
Review competency estimates, uncertainty, evidence count, research anchors, and the next practice target.
Each mode ends with score drivers, objective status, rewards, evidence fingerprint, and replay guidance.
Screen recording
The video walks through the same steps as this guidebook. Use it first if you want the fastest orientation, then use the written guide as a reference while playing.
13-step walkthrough
Each step separates screen reading from learning interpretation. Use the three columns as a habit: first observe, then study, then reflect.
CAT531 full access, public demo, and optional voice-passcode paths.
Course access and public demo are intentionally different. Course play uses the live build and class account flow; the public demo protects paid AI/voice use.
For CAT531, start at the course page so the class code is already loaded.
For CAT531, the screen asks for your name and the one shared course passcode only.
CAT531 links preload UA-CAT531-SUMMER26. Everyone in the class uses the same course passcode: enter it once with your name to join, and re-enter it any time to continue your own saved progress.
Sign-in saves your class progress, telemetry, competency evidence, and instructor-facing analytics. First-time CAT531 sign-in starts from a clean baseline.
Mission cards, badges, level progress, item loadout, leaderboard, settings, upgrades, import, and Evidence Journal.
Badges are practice goals: Routine is pacing, Echo is reasoning, Balance is airtime, Mirror is feedback, and Insight is capstone judgment.
Locked missions are not a punishment. They show the sequence of teaching skills the game wants you to build.
Scenario art, story hook, success conditions, reward, evidence edge, and first-move guidance.
The briefing tells you what kind of teaching practice the mission is designed to elicit.
Do not skip the evidence edge. It tells you what the system will treat as meaningful evidence.
Settings, item loadout, upgrades, and Import a lesson plan.
Settings adjusts sound, voice, larger text, reduced motion, and dialogue speed. Items support noticing, wait time, goals, composure, and equity.
The game can become closer to your teaching context through imported lesson plans and deliberate tool choices.
Students, bars, objective checklist, attention, composure, order, participation, wait time, and possible disruptions.
These are live teaching signals. Attention shows whether the room is with you. Composure shows your remaining capacity. Participation shows inclusion.
You are managing a learning environment, not only choosing dialogue.
A student nearby and an interaction hint.
Move with arrow keys or WASD. Press Z, Enter, or Space when facing a student.
Interaction is a teaching decision. You are deciding when to step into a student's thinking, not collecting points.
A student response, group turn, class reaction, portrait, meters, and possible teaching moves.
The hidden need behind the response: confusion, dominance, avoidance, anxiety, off-task behavior, or readiness for a deeper prompt.
Listen before acting. The best move depends on what the learner or group needs, not just which button sounds positive.
Elicit, Extend, Revoice, and Wait.
Elicit asks for reasoning. Extend presses deeper. Revoice clarifies or restates the student's idea. Wait protects thinking time.
These moves help students do the thinking themselves.
Connect, Praise, Redirect, and Tell.
Connect draws on a student asset. Praise names useful effort. Redirect protects classroom order. Tell gives the answer directly but may reduce practice.
Faster is not always better. The strongest move preserves student thinking while supporting the room.
Feedback after your move, including changes to understanding, engagement, rapport, order, attention, or participation.
Cause and effect. Your choice changes the classroom state, and the result chip tells you what moved.
The classroom is responding to your teaching decision. Use that response to adjust, not to judge yourself.
A reflection prompt first, then a compact debrief with objectives, rewards, score drivers, evidence fingerprint, and next focus.
The missed objective or strongest evidence line. In the Evidence Journal, read probability, uncertainty, evidence count, research anchor, and next target.
The debrief turns gameplay into reflection-on-action rather than a hidden score screen.
The option to replay or choose another mission.
One specific focus for the next run, such as wait time, eliciting reasoning, or distributing attention.
Improvement comes from focused repetition. Try again with a clearer teaching intention.
How to interpret the activity
Observe: Read the room and the student's response.
Choose: Select a move, type teacher talk, or use an item that fits the need.
Read feedback: Look at what changed in understanding, engagement, rapport, order, participation, attention, and composure.
Reflect: Use the reflection prompt, debrief, and Evidence Journal to name one next practice focus.
FAQ
No for public exploration: use the demo gate or guest play first. Yes for assigned course progress: CAT531 students use the CAT531 page and CAT100 students use the CAT100 page, so the right class code is preloaded.
It opens the full live build with UA-CAT531-SUMMER26 already loaded. The whole class shares one course passcode: enter it with your name to join, and re-enter it any time to continue your own saved progress, so there is no separate per-student password to remember. First-time CAT531 sign-in starts from a clean baseline. The same passcode also unlocks optional student voice through a server-issued token.
It works exactly the same way as the CAT531 page, with UA-CAT100-SUMMER26 preloaded instead, so each course keeps its own accounts, progress, and logs.
Your instructor shares the course passcode with the class. It is not printed on this public guide. The same code is used for joining, continuing, and unlocking optional voice.
The public demo disables voice to prevent paid API and ElevenLabs overuse. Voice-enabled sessions use the shared course passcode gate, which returns a short-lived token.
No. The game is designed for rehearsal. A miss is useful when it tells you which teaching signal you ignored or misunderstood.
Start by reading the student need. If the student is confused, elicit or revoice. If the student needs time, wait. If the room is drifting, redirect. If the student needs connection, connect.
Study the missed objective first, then check the Evidence Journal and pick one next focus. Do not try to fix everything in one replay.
Use the instructor dashboard with your instructor sign-in. It shows class activity, skill mastery with at-risk flags, per-learner progress, and suggested interventions. Student accounts cannot open it.
Downloads and source files
These files are public-facing guide assets for the official site.