Help

Hexdown is a duel for wizards in the same room, one phone each. Here is how to get a duel going, and what to do when something doesn't.

Before your first duel

• A phone per wizard. iPhone or Android: they duel each other. To learn and practise, one phone is enough.
• Bluetooth on. The phones find each other over Bluetooth, right there in the room. No internet needed.
• Sound up. Spells speak through sound, and every cast is confirmed by sound and a buzz.
• Room to move. About 2 m clear around each wizard. Grip the bottom half of the phone, fingers wrapped, screen facing you.

The phones don't find each other

• Turn Bluetooth on, on both phones.
• Let Hexdown use Bluetooth. On an iPhone: Settings → Hexdown → Bluetooth. On Android: Settings → Apps → Hexdown → Permissions → Nearby devices.
• Stand in the same room, a few metres apart.
• Update both phones. Wizards duel only on the same version of Hexdown, and a phone that needs an update says so: “Update the app to duel this wizard.”

The wand doesn’t read my sign

• Start from the salute: wand up, tip high.
• Every sign begins with the dip, a quick flick of the tip below level, turning upward. Then draw the shape on the way up. The spellbook shows each one.
• Size is free: a forearm-sized sign counts as much as a big one. Speed and force don’t help.
• Practice mode draws your trail over the ideal sign, and Settings → Replay the tutorial starts the lessons again.
• “Easy, wizard” means a swing was too violent. Move clear and flowing: a violent swing makes a weaker spell.

Send us a recording of your sign

If the wand keeps misreading a sign, a recording helps us tune it. Nothing leaves your phone unless you send it.

1. Open Settings → Help → Record a sign for us.
2. Pick the sign and your wand hand.
3. Hold to record while you draw the sign, and let go when it’s done. Do it five times.
4. Tap Send recordings and choose how to send them.

Recordings hold motion only: no sound, no camera, no location.

No sound, or no buzz

• Turn the volume up. Spells speak through sound.
• Settings → Feel the spells plays every cue, so you can test the sound and the vibration.

Contact

Contact details will be listed here when Hexdown launches.