Speedrun · for runners
Melbees: The Secret of Bees
Hangman meets Minesweeper on a honeycomb: reasoning over luck. This page is for runners: the timing rules, the proposed categories, how to race the Daily, and split files for LiveSplit.
The rules, the categories and the boards belong to the runners and their moderators. The developer does not moderate.
Timing rules
What the clock measures
The speedrun clock starts on its own as soon as the first phase's board appears, without waiting for any tap. It adds up only the time you spend playing the 10 phases and stops on the move that reveals the last letter of the last secret. Left out: each phase's victory screen, the card pick, the offer to continue with an ad or a purchase, and the time while a run is saved and closed. There is no pause: opening the menu or Settings, or leaving the app, does not stop the clock, and the Isa card freezes only the phase countdown, not your time. Each Petal you get when you continue adds 30 seconds to your time, whether it comes from an ad, a purchase or Premium's free continue. Losing the run or giving up gives no official time and does not go into the ranking. The official time is the one on the end screen, in minutes, seconds and hundredths, and it is the same number the server checks and shows in the ranking. The Daily Challenge follows the same rules.
Categories
Proposed categories
A draft for whoever moderates. The runners decide.
Run, by level
10 phases, random seed: every Run is a new honeycomb, so you can practice as much as you like. One category per level: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert.
- No extra petals: any continue (from an ad, a purchase or Premium's) ends the attempt.
- Language is required: each language has its own words, so times only compare within one language.
- Game Category: a Run is played in one of the game's Categories, each with its own words. The board names the one that counts, or splits them.
- Secret pool: without Premium, a Run draws only the Category's free Secrets; with Premium, all of them. The board says which pool counts, or keeps the two apart.
All four levels
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Expert, back to back; the four times are added up. The long category, in place of a 100%. Same rules as Run, by level.
The Daily
Best for races, not for a board: each Daily is played once, so nobody can practice a date. See below how to race it.
Any% and 100% do not fit: finishing the Run is the only goal, and nothing in the game is optional.
Daily race
How to race the Daily
The Daily is the same honeycomb for everyone on the same date, level and language. It changes at 00:00 UTC and you play it once a day. A race seed, ready to go.
- A runner opens the room: a race on therun.gg (no stream needed) or in racetime.gg's Miscellaneous (which asks for a stream by default). Rooms belong to the runners: the developer does not open rooms, race or moderate.
- The room names the board: the date, the level and the language, as in the example, and the game version (Settings > About).
- Start right after the 00:00 UTC change, so nobody has seen the board. For example Saturday 00:15 UTC (Friday 21:15 in Brasília, 19:15 in New York). Open the Daily only at the start.
- Rules: one attempt (the game makes sure of it); no continue (a continue is a forfeit); a stream or video from before you open the Daily to the end screen; no words in the chat until everyone is done.
- The time on the end screen counts. The room's real time is the second number.
A longer race: the day's four Dailies back to back, Beginner to Expert, all blind.
In Portuguese, a race uses the Portuguese Daily, which has other words. If two runners see different words on the same Daily, compare versions and play on the latest one.
Where to play: in your browser, free with nothing to install (English Daily, Portuguese Daily), on Android (Google Play) and on Windows PC (Microsoft Store).
LiveSplit
Split files
One .lss file per level, with the 10 phases. Each works for the Run and for the Daily.
- LiveSplit does not read the game's clock: start LiveSplit when the first phase's board appears, and split on the move that reveals the last letter of each phase's last secret. Only the end screen's time is official, in minutes, seconds and hundredths; the clock at the top of the screen shows minutes and seconds only.
- For the Daily, keep a copy and rename the category to "Daily Intermediate" (Edit Splits), so your Daily attempts stay apart from your Runs.
- On therun.gg, the game shows up by the name in the file: keep "Melbees: The Secret of Bees" as it is, so every run lands on the same page.