TAP ONE

Tap One is a Naruto ranking game about committing to your choices. The board holds nine categories, and each category hides nine candidates ranked from best to worst: who shone brightest in the Chūnin Exams, the fastest shinobi, the most dangerous villains, the sharpest strategic minds. Every spin deals one random candidate into each open category, and you lock exactly one of them. The skill is deciding which category deserves the character you have just been dealt.

The rankings stay on the server, so there is no way to peek at the answer key before you finish. Part I and Shippuden each have their own nine categories. The original series spins around the Chūnin Exams, the sensei, the villains and the strongest clans, while Shippuden brings in the Akatsuki, the jinchūriki, the tailed beasts, the kunoichi and the Edo Tensei revivals.

The cards spin for a couple of seconds, then every unlocked category shows one character. Tap the category you want to keep. That card locks in place for the rest of the game, and the other categories spin again to show new candidates.

Repeat until all nine categories are locked. Each locked character scores by their position in that category's ranking: 100 points for the best candidate, 90 for the second, and so on down to 20 for the ninth, for a maximum of 900. There is no timer, so take as long as you need over each tap.

Your total earns a title: Academy Student from 180 points, Genin from 260, Chūnin from 340, Jōnin from 440, Jōnin Elite from 540, Kage from 640, Sannin from 730 and Hokage from 810. You can play three games a day, and the page keeps your best rank.

Be picky early and flexible late. On the first spin you have nine possible homes for a strong character, so only lock a card that is clearly near the top of its category. By the last two or three spins your choices shrink, and the final category has to take whatever it is dealt, so strong early picks protect you from a weak finish.

Read the category, not just the character. A category about the Chūnin Exams rewards how someone performed in that tournament, not how strong they became years later, and a speed category is not the same as a raw power one. The same shinobi can be a top pick in one category and a middling one in another.

Think about what each card could be worth elsewhere. If a spin shows a good candidate in one category and an excellent one in another, lock the excellent one: the good card may appear again, but the excellent one might not. With three games a day, use your first run to learn how the categories think and your later runs to chase the Hokage title.