Ember Grid

0.54 Alpha

License and credits: Ember Grid is © 2026 sybernomad, all rights reserved. Options now ends with About and credits for the emoji, fonts, and icons the game uses.

0.53 Alpha

Deck builder on phones: the deck is now a compact bar at the top (name and embers on one row, a strip of small cards, Play beside the hint), and the deck builder fills the screen, so the card list gets most of the room. The starter deck prompt no longer stretches the empty slots.
A new Rulebook: tabs for Basics, Winning, Modes, and Tribes, an animated capture diagram, and a tribe guide grouped by when each ability works. Tap a tribe to see one of its cards up close.

0.52 Alpha

Continue your match: close the game mid-match and pick up where you left off from the menu. Works for Deal, Draft, Decks, shared codes, and the daily deal.
Daily deal: the same hands, rival, and dice for everyone each day, on Hard. Your first finish is your score; practice after that. Share your result as an emoji grid and keep a day streak.
Card mastery: win with a card 3, 10, and 25 times for a bronze, silver, and gold star. The close-up shows how close each card is.
Rival themes: each rival has their own music during a match, and it builds as the board fills. Turn it off in Options, under Sound.

0.51 Alpha

Options always shows the Install section now, with a note when this browser or this copy cannot install yet, instead of hiding it.

0.51 Alpha

Plays offline. Card pictures and fonts now come with the game, so it no longer needs the internet once it has loaded.
Install it: Options, then Install, adds Ember Grid to a phone's home screen or a computer's apps. On iPhone, use Share, then Add to Home Screen.
When a new version is out, a note offers to update. It waits until you are not in a match.
Tap to preview on touch screens: the first tap on a cell shows what the play would do, a second tap plays it. On until you finish the Ember Road; change it in Options.
A bigger "Start the Ember Road" banner on the menu for new players.

0.49 Alpha

Ember Road replaces the tutorial: 20 short chapters, each hosted by a rival, that teach one tribe at a time. A guided play shows the tribe working, then the match is yours to finish.
Until you finish the road, Deal and Draft only use tribes you have met. Turn that off in Options.
Starter decks in the deck builder: six ready-made decks, one per rival style.
Hint button: shows the play the Hard AI would make for you.
Right-click or long-press any card for a close-up with its rule, a tip on how to play it, and its live numbers.
The first time you meet a tribe in a match, a short note explains it.
Comfort settings: effects level, text size, opponent pace, and team symbols on every card.

0.48 Alpha

Play preview. Pick a card and hover or drag over a cell to see what it would capture, the fight on each edge, and who its ability hits. Random abilities say so. Turn it off in Options.
Every match has a rival: Ash, Vesper, Rook, Marrow, Bramble, or Quill. Each leans on their own tribes, has a face on the scoreboard, and has something to say when the match starts, when a big capture lands, and at the end.
New sound: a card whoosh and slap, capture bells that climb with a chain, and win and loss stings. Table ambience in Options adds a quiet fire and a harp under the game.
Cards can show paintings. Any card without one keeps its emoji.

0.47 Alpha

Cards on the table wear their tribe color, like in Decks and the draft. Team shows on the frame, the glow, and the nameplate. A captured card keeps its old frame until it turns.
Honeycomb plays are smoother. The cells no longer redraw their outlines and shadows on every frame of an effect.
Honeycomb cards in Decks and the draft are hexagons, laid out like the ones on the board.
The match screen shows the result big, a bar of the final grid, and your captures, their captures, and your streak.
Decks, League, and Tutorial on the menu have icons and match each other.
Fixes: on phones the build stamp no longer covers the match code box, and the Decks filter opens in place instead of over the cards.

0.46 Alpha

A new look across the table. The menu is a full screen with a big Play tile that shows three cards from your deck. Stats, Rules, and Options sit at the top.
Every pop-up shares one layout: title and close at the top, the content scrolls, and the buttons sit at the bottom. Switches replace checkboxes in Options.
Decks has two panes on a wide screen: the collection on the left and your deck on the right. Embers show as pips, cards are tinted by tribe, cards in the deck are checked off, and Play this deck starts a match from right there.
The draft shows whose pick it is, the whole pick order as dots, and both hands filling up. Each pick flies into its hand. Big drafts use wider rows so cards stay readable.
On phones, five cards in hand now fit across the screen.

0.45 Alpha

Every tribe has new ability effects. Bolt charges before it strikes. Curse sends a skull. Cinder lobs a fireball. Siphon spins a whirlpool. Pendulum swings a clock hand. Each has its own colors and a short sound.
Changes float over the card they hit: -2 from Bolt, +1 from Buff, and so on. Siphon and Notch show it on the side they cut.
Wither drifts to the hand card it weakens. Symbiosis now shows when its cards grow in hand.
When one play sets off several abilities, they show one after another.

0.44 Alpha

A played card flies from the hand to its cell and lands with a hit: a ring, sparks, and a nudge to its neighbors. Heavy cards shake the board.
A captured card turns away from the card that took it and keeps its old color until it is edge-on. Several captures turn one after another, with a Double, Triple, or Sweep call.
Ability effects, capture sounds, and the turn banner wait for the card to land. Reduced motion skips the flight.

0.43 Alpha

Ember Grid can be built as a Windows program. It is this same table.

0.42 Alpha

The battle-page title is the words Ember Grid again. The holiday gradient stays inside the letters.

0.41 Alpha

Harvest, the first expansion. Fifteen cards, three tribes: Wither, March, and Notch. Names and faces are Halloween and Thanksgiving.
Wither lowers a random card in the enemy hand. March steps into a friendly neighbor's seat and captures from there. Notch cuts one touching number by 2, then captures.
The table wears a holiday coat: pumpkin and violet, plus cobwebs in the corners. Remove season-harvest from the page to bring the ember colors back.
A new build stamp loads fresh styles and scripts. Career stats, decks, and the league stay saved.

0.40 Alpha

The face on a card is the art. The emoji fills most of the card on the table, in your hand, in a draft, on the honeycomb, in the compendium, and in the deck builder.

0.39 Alpha

The deck builder on a phone fills the screen. Your deck sits in a tight grid (two rows of four on 4×4). The collection scrolls underneath, four cards across on a phone and five or six on a wider screen.
Deck slots page five at a time, up to ten lists. The menu adds a deck, deletes one, fills a random legal list, and copies or pastes a deck code.
Search cards by name. A full deck can swap: tap the card you want, then tap the deck card it replaces.
Collection cards each get their own slot. Mechanic, ember, and sort filters open from a Filter button so the list can use the screen.

0.38 Alpha

Symbiosis counts on the turn you play the card, then the card goes back to its printed numbers. Cards still in your hand keep growing.
Decks replace Tribe Decks. Build and save eight decks for each grid. Cards cost embers, and the weakest card in each tribe is free.
A tribe is the ability name. Buff, Curse, Blast, and the rest. The old flavor names are gone.
Every tribe costs the same: free, then 1, 2, 3, and 4. A whole tribe fits in a 3×3 deck.
The deck builder shows every mechanic as an icon. Pick more than one. Hover an icon to see its name. Sort by name, ember, or mechanic, then flip ascending or descending.
A deck code copies the current list so a friend can load the same cards. The deck window stays one size, and a click outside it leaves it open.
A finished deck plays from the menu in one tap. Deal Hands and Draft Hands stay their own games. The tutorial is a line under How to Play.
The deck builder saves and returns to the menu. Play stays on the menu tile.
League can open with a draft, or with a finished 3×3 deck. The other three seats bring random decks.
5×5 deck cards show the mechanic mark. On a phone the sort list stays a short pill.

0.37 Alpha

No rule changes. Styles, the card list, match rules, the AI, and the league now live in their own files.

0.36 Alpha

Tutorial on the menu is three replayable lessons. Each turn shows you which card to play and where.
Capture is the fight, ties, and the Battle log. On play is abilities that fire when you play a card. On the board is abilities that keep working.
Tutorial matches are not added to your record.

0.35 Alpha

Honeycomb stays in Options, with 3×3, 4×4, and 5×5. The title screen is just the menu again, centered.
The grid stays put when the other hand runs out.
Viewing the final board shows Battle log once.
Honeycomb draft cards fit inside the draft window.

0.34 Alpha

Honeycomb in Options. Nineteen cells. Ten dealt, open five, draw after you play. League and Tribe Decks stay 3×3.
Each card gains an upper-left and upper-right number, so every side of a hex has a facing. Square grids still use the original four.
Base Set is 70 cards in fourteen tribes. Poison can capture after it lowers neighbors. Grove grows with captures. The Tide card is Clock.

0.33 Alpha

4×4 and 5×5 in Options. League and Tribe Decks stay 3×3.
Hands stay five. Bigger deals start with five in hand and draw after each play. 3×3 still deals five with no draw.
A drawn card flies into the hand so the refill is obvious.
Selected hand cards on 4×4 and 5×5 sit above the grid so the top number stays readable.
Replay / New Hands on the final grid stay centered on the bigger tables.
Menu How to Play is three steps with no numbers. Rules is grouped: How to Play, How to Win, The Table, Game Modes, and Abilities.
4×4 and 5×5 card faces on desktop use larger glyphs so the art matches the bigger cells. Phone layout is unchanged.
The 5×5 draft pool stays inside the window. Ability rules keep the mechanic icon and description.

0.32 Alpha

Classic Mode can turn on Ties capture, off by default.
Ember Mode never uses Ties capture, so Equalizer stays the only tie capture.

0.31 Alpha

Each ability has a short table effect when it actually lands.
Haptics in Options, off by default. Short pulses on play, ability hits, and captures.

0.30 Alpha

Ember League is a six-week double round-robin. Each meeting is best of three.

0.29 Alpha

Ember League: you plus Ash, Vesper, and Rook. Snake-draft twenty, then a season on 3×3.

0.28 Alpha

Leftover-off by default. Most cards on the board wins.
Leftover scores lives in Options if you want the unplayed card to count.

0.27 Alpha

Battle log window. Captures still flash on the cards.
Facing pass: Paladin, Celestial, and Dragon retuned.

0.26 Alpha

Hush vs Hush cancel. Two Silence cards next to each other no longer strip the rest of the board.

0.25 Alpha

Live numbers tint gold when they sit above the printed face and red when they sit below.

0.24 Alpha

Share stays on the final-board bar with Replay and New Hands.

0.23 Alpha

Public roadmap for what ships next.

0.22 Alpha

Match Over is a compact card so the result does not wrap under the close control.

0.21 Alpha

Slimmer Share on Match Over. Copy the code; no native share sheet.

0.20 Alpha

Share a match code or link so someone else can play the same deal.

0.19 Alpha

Fix the ghost close button that lingered after a window faded out on phones.

0.18 Alpha

Toolbar SVG icons, modal motion, and ember particles on the mobile menu.

0.17 Alpha

Ability names on cards in play. Windows card faces no longer go missing.

0.16 Alpha

Ignore the leftover tap that used to land on Match Over.

0.15 Alpha

Poison now only hurts neighboring enemies.

0.14 Alpha

Bolt restored. Cinder stays a five-card tribe.

0.13 Alpha

Tribe Decks: pick a tribe for you and the opponent, or leave either one random.
Tap a played card to pin its ability tip on mobile.

0.12 Alpha

Alpha build stamp on the main menu. Pre-1.0, so the number moves on every PR.

Ember Grid

Rulebook

Your turn

Capture

Ties

Your hand

The grid

Numbers

Your record

Deal hands

Draft hands

Decks

League

Daily deal

Ember Road

The table

Grid size

The cards

Ember or Classic

Changelog

0.54 Alpha

0.53 Alpha

0.52 Alpha

0.51 Alpha

0.51 Alpha

0.49 Alpha

0.48 Alpha

0.47 Alpha

0.46 Alpha

0.45 Alpha

0.44 Alpha

0.43 Alpha

0.42 Alpha

0.41 Alpha

0.40 Alpha

0.39 Alpha

0.38 Alpha

0.37 Alpha

0.36 Alpha

0.35 Alpha

0.34 Alpha

0.33 Alpha

0.32 Alpha

0.31 Alpha

0.30 Alpha

0.29 Alpha

0.28 Alpha

0.27 Alpha

0.26 Alpha

0.25 Alpha

0.24 Alpha

0.23 Alpha

0.22 Alpha

0.21 Alpha

0.20 Alpha

0.19 Alpha

0.18 Alpha

0.17 Alpha

0.16 Alpha

0.15 Alpha

0.14 Alpha

0.13 Alpha

0.12 Alpha

Compendium

Options

Match

Learning

Comfort

Sound

Install

About and credits

Career stats

Most played cards

Draft hands

Decks

Match Over

Battle log

Ember Road

Ember League