Field notes · Jul 31, 2026 · 2 min read
Leaderboards, quietly.
A score that only submits when it beats your own best.
Signal Stack and Pebble Choir now keep a small, local best score. That is the whole feature: a single number, stored on your device, that is the only one that ever matters.
The rule
A score only leaves your device when it beats your own previous best. The first time you clear a board that beats yesterday's run, the game notices — and only then does it ping a tiny server to say "you came back and got a little better." If you don't beat your best, nothing is sent. Nothing is logged. The server learns about you exactly once, and only on a personal record.
Why
Public boards are loud. They crown a winner and quietly tell everyone else they lost. I do not want to make that kind of game. A private "you improved" is the smallest amount of pressure I could ship, and honestly it is the only one I would want to play.
The leaderboard, such as it is, is between you and last Tuesday. That felt like the right amount of competition. Finally.