One active moment, the collision, and one growth engine, the beam energy.
Higgs bosons are the only prestige currency. Everything else flows into upgrades.
PROF. QUARK
“The principle: two bunches of particles race around the ring in opposite directions, near light speed. They cross inside the detector – there you make them collide. Motion becomes new particles: E = mc².”
Four bunches per beam circle the ring and cross at the detector on a fixed beat. A tap inside the hit window around a crossing is a hit. Every crossing counts only once, and the game reacts to touch-down, not release.
A tap beside the window only hits residual gas in the vacuum: 2 % of the yield and no particles.
PROF. QUARK
“Below is the timing bar. The dot moves in step with the particle bunches – the bright field is the moment they cross right inside the detector.”
PROF. QUARK
“Tap inside the bright field and it's a hit: full data and a chance at new particles. Miss it and the beam only hits leftover gas in the vacuum pipe: a few bytes, nothing more.”
Every hit within 2 s of the last one (+0.3 s per focus level) raises the combo by one, up to 8 (+1 per focus level). A miss or running out of time resets it to zero. On average one hit makes 1 + 0.25 × combo collisions, each with its own drop roll.
PROF. QUARK
“One more thing: hit several crossings in a row and you build focus – more collisions per hit. One miss or a long pause and it's gone.”
As soon as the hit window of a crossing has closed, the game rolls ahead which rare particles (rare and above) the next manual collision would produce. The rarest one is announced: the next bunch glows in its colour. Hit that crossing and you get it for sure; miss or skip it and it is lost. The rate stays exactly the same, you just see it coming.
PROF. QUARK
“Between us: when a bunch glows in colour, it carries something rare. Hit that crossing – or it's gone.”
Nine upgrades, each paid in its own particles so that every rarity has a purpose. Four of them are sub-detectors.
Details, physics and values per level for every upgrade
| Upgrade | Effect | Paid with | Max level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beam energy | Beam ×1.28 – heavier particles become possible, more data per hit | data | no limit |
| Luminosity | +0.2 automatic collisions per second | datae⁻ | 60 |
| Magnetic field | ×1.3 data per collision | μπ | no limit |
| Vertex detector | ×1.12 for τ, J/ψ, B and top – spots displaced decay vertices | KJ/ψ | no limit |
| Tracker | ×1.12 for π, K, p and W – measures tracks of charged particles | πp | no limit |
| Calorimeter | ×1.12 for e, Higgs and heavy hypotheses – measures energy (H→γγ) | e⁻Z | no limit |
| Muon chambers | ×1.12 for μ, Z and dark photon – outermost, only muons get through | μτ | no limit |
| Beam focus | Hit window +20 ms, combo one step higher | π | 12 |
| Cryostat | +2 hours of offline operation | pτ | 10 |
Each level of a sub-detector makes its family of particles 12 % more frequent (×1.12) and visibly extends the detector. The first levels are cheap so that real tracks and towers show up early. The sub-detector that boosts a particle is listed on its page.
PROF. QUARK
“Innermost the vertex detector for short-lived heavy particles, then the tracker for charged ones. The calorimeter measures energy, and outermost the muon chambers – only muons get that far.”
The innermost layer of silicon pixels sits only a few centimetres from the collision point. It measures tracks to a few micrometres and finds where they originate. Particles such as B hadrons or the tau fly from a fraction of a millimetre up to several millimetres before they decay – a displaced secondary vertex gives them away.
Boosts particles with displaced decays: τ, J/ψ, B hadrons, top, LQ and N.
Boosts
Silicon strips and pixels measure the flight path of charged particles at many points. A magnetic field (CMS 3.8 T, ATLAS 2 T) bends the paths: the radius gives the momentum, p ≈ 0.3 · B · r (p in GeV/c, B in tesla, r in metres), the direction of the bend gives the sign of the charge. Neutral particles leave no track.
Boosts charged particles that leave tracks: π, K, p, W and heavy charged particles.
Boosts
Electrons and photons start a shower of electrons, positrons and photons in dense material until all the energy is absorbed and measured (ATLAS: lead and liquid argon, CMS: lead-tungstate crystals). The Higgs boson, too, was found in 2012 through decays into two photons.
Boosts the electron, photon, Higgs and other particles that deposit their energy here.
Boosts
Muons are about 200 times heavier than electrons, radiate little and therefore penetrate everything in front of them. That is why the drift tubes and chambers sit on the outside: whatever still gives a signal there is almost always a muon. Decays like Z → μμ are thus especially clean to spot.
Boosts the muon, Z, Z′ and A′. Higher levels add outer stations – the detector grows.
Boosts
The beam energy is a slider up to the energy you have bought. If it lies within ±3 % of the mass of a particle that is made singly, that particle's rate rises ×25 while all other particles become half as frequent. In the game you slide the cyan beam wave onto the target wave.
Two real resonances can be tuned from the start: the J/ψ (discovered in 1974) and the Z boson (LEP as a Z factory). They pay for the vertex detector and the calorimeter. From ring 7 every particle with mass can be tuned, the Higgs included.
PROF. QUARK
“Now it gets elegant: every particle oscillates at its own frequency, E = hν. In the upgrade menu, slide the beam wave exactly onto the J/ψ's and they come by the dozen. Its discovery in 1974 is still called the November Revolution.”
Beam tuning
“Drag the cyan beam wave onto the J/ψ wave. When both lie exactly on top of each other, the beam is in resonance – the particle appears in bulk.”
Each luminosity level adds 0.2 collisions per second without a combo (up to level 60). The first level is one collision every five seconds, so tapping stays the main source for a long time. Manual hits find particles from uncommon upwards 3 times as often as automatic collisions.
PROF. QUARK
“Luminosity means denser bunches, so more collisions – even without you, 0.2 per second per level. Your own hits stay better all the same: triple the chance at anything from uncommon up.”
When you return, the game multiplies the time you were away by your collisions per second, capped at 2 hours plus 2 hours per cryostat level (up to level 10), and computes the drops statistically. A summary tells you what the beam found.
