First shift guide
How to play EskiLab
EskiLab is a browser game where two players run the same experiment with different information. The assistant sees the bench; the chemist reads the book and works the balance lever. To start, you need two devices and a way to hear each other.
1. Get two separate screens ready
Each player opens the game on their own phone, tablet or computer. Use two separate screens rather than sharing one: the puzzle is how you describe what you see to someone who cannot see it. The free starter shift needs no account.
If you play apart, grab a headset with a microphone. It keeps the other player’s voice from leaking back into your mic. The microphone never turns on by itself; you press the start voice button in the lobby.
2. Open a room and invite your friend
One of you picks Open a room and types a nickname. The other player opens the invite link on their own device or types the room code on the home page. A room holds at most two players.
The room link is a private invite. Do not confuse it with the result card you might share publicly; the result card only contains the general EskiLab link.
3. Split the roles
The assistant inspects four bottles, tests samples, adds drops to the cauldron and controls the heat. They tell the chemist what shape, behavior or outside sign they observe.
The chemist works out what that observation means from the open rule page, reads their own gauge and works the lever. They never see the assistant’s bottles or a live view of the bench. Calling the right bottle without checking the book will not work shift after shift.
4. Check voice, then both get ready
Start the voice connection and make sure you can hear each other. While permission is pending, answer the browser’s microphone prompt. Once your roles differ and you are both ready, the experiment can begin.
If you are sitting side by side, you can pick the same-room option together in the lobby. The microphones can stay off to avoid echo. When playing apart, use the in-game voice connection.
5. Observe first, then act
In the first experiment, test the bottles and talk about what you see. Pin down the order’s stamp and the dose before you start the main mix. The order clock starts with the first test or the first drop, so you have time to plan before that.
In later experiments the outside sign and the inner gauge matter together. See the result of one control before choosing the next move, and do not press a command twice while it is pending. If the connection drops, follow the waiting message instead of taking new actions.
6. Choose what happens next together
Losing one order does not wipe the whole shift. On the result screen you choose together whether to retry or move on. You can also swap roles; being the room founder or the pack sponsor is separate from your game role.
At the end of the three free experiments you can see what the shift left behind and download an optional result card. In a new shift the observations and correct choices can change, so talk it through again instead of replaying the last answer.
One friend, two screens
Close the notebook. Open the shift.
The first three experiments are free. No account needed to start.