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Everything you might be wondering. Tap a question to open the answer.

How is Music Fight played?

Two players take turns sending songs from YouTube. Every song you send has to sit close to the format of your opponent's last one: genre, energy, era, production. The referee rules on each song, either it fits or it doesn't. Fit and you gain points, miss and you lose them. Over a match the music drifts somewhere neither of you planned, and that is the fun of it.

How do I sign up?

Your name, a nickname, an e-mail, a date of birth and a password are enough. You have to be over 18 to use the site. You also pick at least 3 genres: the opening genre of a match comes from what the two players have in common, so that list cannot be empty. Only your nickname is shown on the site; your real name and e-mail are never shown to anyone.

How do I start a match?

Open a new match from the lobby and you get a room code. Send the code to a friend, who types it into the box in the lobby and joins. Whoever arrives can take the second seat or just watch.

How does the coin toss work?

Once both players are in the room a "Toss the Coin" button appears; whoever presses first throws it, and one of you pressing is enough. While the coin spins, heads and tails appear in front of both players; whoever is quicker takes a side and the other side falls to their opponent. Whoever holds the side it lands on sends the opening song. The landing is drawn on the server the moment the coin goes up, but it is not sent to anyone until a side has been called, so nobody can pick a side already knowing the result. If nobody presses within 120 seconds, the server throws it.

Who decides the genre of the match?

Whoever loses the toss decides. They are shown a list built from the genres both profiles have in common; when there is little overlap the list is topped up to five with widely known genres. Their opponent may refuse the choice once, and the second choice is final. The genre only binds the opening song; every later song is judged against the one before it.

How do I send a song?

When it is your turn, type an artist or song name into the search box and pick from the results. Only songs you can actually send appear there: under 10 minutes, not a live stream, and playable in our own player. If you already have a YouTube link, "Paste a link" takes you to the old way. The same song cannot be played twice in one match.

Why do I have to listen to the song?

You cannot answer your opponent's song until you have heard as much of it as the two of you agreed at the start of the match. The counter only moves while the song is playing and the sound is up; muting it and waiting does not fill the bar. Skipping ahead does not work either, because the counter counts the seconds you actually heard and hearing the same part twice only counts once. The reason is simple: both your card call and any appeal rest on your having really listened.

How much of each song do we have to hear?

The two of you settle that at the start, once the genre is decided. The slider offers 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%. One of you proposes a share and it does not count until the other agrees; instead of accepting you can move the slider and make your own offer, so haggling is fine. Without an agreement in 120 seconds the match starts on the default 60%. At 0% there is no listening requirement at all and either of you may answer at once; at 100% you have to hear every song right through. Whatever you agree holds for the whole match.

Can I answer without listening?

You can, at a price: -5 points. You may still show a yellow card on a song you skipped, but not a red one — you cannot knock your opponent out of a match with a song you never heard. There is no limit on skipping, and everyone can see that you did.

How do yellow and red cards work?

If your opponent's song strikes you as off-format, you show a card: yellow means "doesn't quite fit", red means "nowhere near". A card only stands if the referee also finds the song off-format; if the referee accepts the song, your card is wasted and nothing changes. A yellow that stands costs your opponent -5 points, a red -10. The points are not the real stake: as in football, a red card that stands ends the match there and then, and the player who received it loses. Two yellows that stand do the same. Each player gets 2 yellows and one red per match.

What does the referee do?

The referee is an AI. It works out the artist, the track and the genre from the title and the channel, then compares that either with the previous song or, on the opening move, with the agreed genre. It writes its ruling and the reasoning behind it. The reasoning is written in all three languages at once, because the same ruling is read by both players and every spectator. The ruling stays sealed until you have made your card decision, so nobody can peek first and play accordingly.

What is VAR and how do I use it?

Just like football: the referee on the pitch decides quickly, VAR looks harder. If your opponent showed you a card and the referee agreed with it, the card does not bite yet - it comes to you first. You have 45 seconds: accept it, or send it upstairs. Upstairs a second referee looks at the whole match, the songs before it and how close the subgenres really are, and its word is final. Overturned, the card is cancelled, your song counts as a fit, your score is corrected and the card goes back to the player who showed it. Upheld, it stands. One check per player per match; let the time run out and the card stands by itself. You can read what VAR said afterwards too: tap the VAR badge under that song in the song list, and it stays there after the match.

How does scoring work?

A song the referee accepts is worth +30; one it rejects, -20. The opening song scores the same way, because it too has a genre to live up to. Card penalties and skip penalties come on top. When the match ends the winner takes +10, or both take +5 on a draw — but those bonuses are only paid if both players sent at least 3 songs, so you cannot cut a match short and farm them. Everything you earn goes to your profile and the leaderboard.

How does a match end?

Usually by agreement: once both players have sent at least 3 songs and the counts are level, both press "End Match" and the higher score wins. A match can also end on cards, by default if you let your 5-minute turn run out, or if you press "Give Up". If you change your mind before the first song is played you can walk away at no cost: one press closes the room and nothing is written to anyone's record.

What is not allowed in the chat?

Giving away a song to play is strictly forbidden: a title, an artist, an album, a lyric or any other clue that points at a track. A referee reads the chat for this: the first two violations are warnings, and the third restricts the account — no matches and no watching. Nothing is deleted; the account and its points stay. Talking about songs already played, cheering and joking are fine, and so are genre requests that name no particular track. Links are blocked, profanity is masked, and you can report or block anyone who bothers you. The chat is deleted when the match ends.

Can I watch other people's matches?

Yes — anyone with the room code can watch. Spectators see the coin toss, the genre pick and every song, but cannot press anything. Players may close the match to spectators entirely, or leave it open to watch while switching off spectator chat. Spectators earn no points.

What happens to cookies and my data?

Two things. First the session cookie: it is what keeps you signed in, and the site cannot work without it. Second, analytics: we use Mixpanel to see which pages get used, and that is entirely up to you. Say no on the cookie banner and the analytics code is never loaded at all - not loaded and switched off, but never downloaded; not a single cookie is written. Change your mind and the "Cookie settings" link at the foot of the page will take you back. Your name, e-mail and nickname are never sent to analytics; only your account id goes.

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