How to play

Get started

Complete the tutorial, prepare your boxer, and enter matchmaking from the homepage.

1. Complete the tutorial

   Before your first matchmaking fight, complete the tutorial to land a jab, follow with a cross, block and punch back, and complete a taunt. Tutorial and practice do not affect your record or progression.

2. Customize your boxer

   Choose your boxer’s appearance and, when available, assign attributes to support your preferred approach.

3. Enter matchmaking

   Select Fight Now on the homepage to search using your saved opponent preferences. Use distance, stamina, defense, and punch selection during the fight.

Return to the homepage and select Fight Now when you are ready. New players are guided to the tutorial first.

Controls

Play with a keyboard or on a touch screen. Both control the same actions.

• Moving left or right advances or retreats depending on your corner.
• Guard picks the target of your next punch. Letting go of guard returns the target to the head.
• Holding a punch control does not repeat it. You can queue one follow-up punch while the current one is in progress.
• Tap once to punch immediately. Double-tap the same punch to queue a follow-up with the opposite hand. Each pair starts with that punch’s usual hand. Lead-hand punches are quicker and cheaper; rear-hand punches are slower, heavier, and cost more stamina.
• On touch, keep holding the stick while you tap punches to move or block and attack together.

A punch with a green outline is in range and you have the stamina for it. It does not guarantee a hit. You can attempt a punch outside the highlighted range, but it still needs enough stamina and must wait until your boxer is ready.

Casual and Ranked

Browser Boxing is free to play. You can start as a guest without a download or account, or create an account to save your boxer across browsers.

• Casual: Fights involving a guest or NPC are Casual. Casual matchmaking fights count toward your record.
• Ranked: Fights between two eligible registered players earn championship points. Choose Ranked only in matchmaking Settings to wait for an eligible player without an NPC joining.
• Opponent preferences: Players or NPCs gives players priority and allows an NPC when no player is available. Players only excludes NPCs.
• Tutorial and practice: These separate experiences do not affect your record or progression. Open the tutorial to learn the controls, or start practice to train against dummies.

Career lets you unlock NPC opponents and earn first-win XP. The weekly NPC challenge offers a rotating lineup with equal attributes. These fights count toward your record and progression; NPC and guest fights never earn championship points.

Play a friend

Use the homepage player list to challenge a specific player online. You each play in your own browser.

1. Complete the tutorial and enter the game so you appear in the player list.
2. When your friend is online and available, select Challenge beside their name. Neither player can already be searching for or taking part in a fight.
3. Your friend selects Accept challenge to open matchmaking for your fight. Challenges expire, so both players should be ready.

Return to the homepage player list to find your opponent.

Stamina, range, and defense

Jabs and crosses reach farther than hooks and uppercuts. Guard protects the matching target, but it does not make your boxer invulnerable.

• Punches consume stamina, and heavier attacks cost more. Every point in Stamina reduces punch costs and increases your stamina capacity and recovery.
• Stamina recovers fastest between punches while standing still with your guard down. Holding guard recovers stamina at half speed, and movement slows recovery further.
• Landed body punches pressure an opponent’s stamina. Landed head punches create more stun and knockdown pressure.
• Defense increases your chance to block when guarding the correct target and lets your guard absorb more punches before breaking. Punches that get through a correct guard deal reduced damage and dazing impact, but repeated pressure can still break the guard.
• Chin reduces stun and dazing impact, including heavy head counters, and slightly reduces the effort needed to get up after a knockdown.

Use short combinations, leave range after exchanges, and pause long enough to recover.

Block and counter

Block a punch without breaking your guard, then start a punch within 0.4 seconds. A yellow glove with a return arrow shows when you can counter; it turns green when your counter lands. The punch costs 20% less stamina at startup and deals 15% extra damage if it lands cleanly.

A clean counter hook or uppercut to the head has 2.5 times the dazing impact of the same punch without a counter. Chin helps absorb it, and no single counter dazes a fresh boxer. A punch that gets through a correctly held guard receives partial protection. A partial block also opens a counter opportunity unless your guard breaks or you become dazed. The shield beside your boxer drains as guard weakens; a red crack means the guard has broken.

You can queue the punch during your block reaction, but it must start before the timer expires. A miss, blocked punch, or interrupted startup gets no extra damage. Another successful block refreshes one opportunity. Taking a clean hit, a guard break, stun, daze, clinch, knockdown count, round change, or the end of the fight clears it.

Body contact starts a clinch as soon as committed punches and hit reactions finish. Use the 3.5-second hold to throw three or four hooks or uppercuts before the referee separates you. High guard protects the head and low guard protects the body. Blocking uses guard durability and a small stamina cost; exhaustion still permits limited protection while your guard lasts. Holding the wrong guard or punching leaves you exposed. Hold back + either guard for ¾ second to escape, even with zero stamina or broken guard. From red use A + W/S; from blue use D + W/S. On touch, hold the stick diagonally back. Escape gives up attacking without spending stamina. Releasing either control or punching cancels the attempt; switching high/low guard keeps progress. Hits still hurt and reactions finish before separation. Ordinary punches do not randomly become fouls.

A counter can start or continue a combo. Their damage bonuses add up to at most 30%; combo stamina refunds use the discounted cost you paid. The counter reward applies only to that punch.

Deliberate fouls

In a clinch, Jab becomes Low blow and Cross becomes Headbutt. Hold Shift and press J or K, or hold the Hold for fouls pad with one finger and tap a foul with another. A fresh press starts one foul while your boxer is ready; fouls never repeat while held or queue behind another punch.

A low blow empties your opponent’s stamina and lowers their stamina ceiling by 15% of its starting maximum for the rest of the fight. A headbutt removes 15% of maximum health and can cause a knockout. Both cost one point when they land. Use the opening to chase a KO; deductions make winning on the scorecards harder.

Your third landed foul disqualifies you, even if that same hit would knock out your opponent. Watch the foul count: after two, the controls warn that the next foul means disqualification.

Combinations

Land clean punches and vary the punch type to build a four-punch combo. Start each follow-up within 300 milliseconds after your previous punch finishes recovering. You can queue one punch during recovery; it must start in time. Combos use the usual controls and recovery.

• The second, third, and fourth qualifying hits deal 5%, 10%, and 15% extra damage and refund the same percentage of that punch’s stamina cost. Pay the startup cost before throwing; refunds do not restore long-term stamina capacity.
• Two consecutive jabs are allowed, but the second receives no bonus. Jab → jab → hook gives the hook 10% extra damage and a 10% refund. Earlier jabs receive no retroactive reward.
• A third jab or any other repeated punch type restarts the combo at one on landing. Changing hands or targets does not count as variety. After the fourth hit, the next hit starts fresh.
• A miss, a blocked punch, or taking a clean hit ends your combo. Blocking an incoming punch preserves it. Clinches, knockdown counts, round changes, and the end of the fight clear combos; disconnect pauses freeze the follow-up time.

Taunts

Save up to three normal taunts. Press T or tap Taunt to perform one of them. A taunt takes 2 seconds, and you can’t move, block, or punch until it ends.

Earning a title unlocks its special animation, which automatically mixes into your regular taunts in live fights, even after the title expires. Your saved taunts and combat timing stay the same.

• Each completed taunt adds a bonus stack, up to 3. One stack gives 20% more damage dealt and taken, two give 30%, and three give 40%. Movement and punches are faster by the same percentage.
• Each stack lasts 5 seconds, and stacks fade one at a time. Completing another taunt adds a stack and restarts the timer.
• Your boxer grows with each stack. Both players see the stacks in each corner’s status panel.
• A clean punch during a taunt deals 50% more damage, dazes you, and removes every stack. A knockdown or the end of a round also removes them.

Knockdowns and getting up

A dazed boxer goes down after one clean cross, hook, or uppercut, or four consecutive landed jabs before the daze wears off. A missed jab resets that sequence. The punch that causes the daze does not count toward those four jabs.

A knockdown starts the referee’s count. When recovery is available, press Space or tap Get up steadily when the control appears.

• The boxers are separated beyond punch range during the count, so they must close distance before another punch can land.
• The recovery control reports credited effort and shows when standing is allowed after the effort is complete.
• Taps that arrive too quickly are not credited, so use a steady rhythm.
• If one boxer fails to stand before the count ends, the fight ends by knockout. If both boxers are down and neither stands, the fight ends in a draw.

Rounds, scoring, and results

Regulation fights have up to three 60-second rounds with 10-second breaks.

• A knockout ends the fight when a boxer cannot beat the count.
• Three judges score each completed round using clean punching, effective pressure, defense, and knockdowns. Their scorecards decide the result if the final round ends.
• Decision outcomes include unanimous decision, split decision, majority decision, and draw.
• An opponent’s forfeit awards the win.

Official fights record the result, Ranked status, and career effects after the fight.

Leaderboards and belts

Win Ranked fights by KO, TKO, decision, or disqualification to earn championship points. Beating a stronger opponent earns more, and repeat fights against the same opponent in one week earn less. Forfeit and disconnect wins earn normal points and leaderboard win credit after at least 10 seconds of round time if the quitting boxer threw 3 punches, landed 1 punch, or blocked 3 punches. Later rounds satisfy the time requirement. Other forfeit wins earn no points or leaderboard win credit. Disqualification wins earn normal points and leaderboard win credit. Loss penalties and repeat reductions still apply. Your overall fight record keeps every win.

Once both boxers have thrown a punch, leaving and failing to reconnect in time counts as a forfeit. In Ranked, forfeiting through the menu or disconnecting after that point costs 5 extra championship points on top of the normal loss. Repeat reductions do not reduce those 5 points. Reconnecting within the grace period avoids a forfeit.

• Weekly belt: The boxer leading the week with a positive total holds it. Weeks reset every Monday at 00:00 UTC, and whoever finishes on top wins the weekly title.
• All-time belt: The boxer with the most career points holds it. Career points add up every week’s positive total, including this week so far.

See the leaderboard for current standings and the full points table.

Awards and titles

Active registered players can earn most achievements and daily events in official player fights, Career fights, and weekly challenge NPC fights. Ordinary queue NPCs, guest opponents, staff accounts, test accounts, tutorials, and practice do not qualify. Competitive Honors, Giant slayer, Streak breaker, Champion slayer, Rivals, and Rubber match require human opponents.

• Trophy case: Keep earned awards in your collection. Giant Slayer has three distinct tiers. Weekly specialist awards can be earned again in later weeks; each repeat adds a dated earn and XP, but counts as the same distinct award.
• Daily skill events: Twelve one-hour sessions open each day, alternating even and odd UTC hours by date. The first bell places a fight in its session, even if it finishes later. Build the listed cumulative goal across eligible fights in that session; a win is not required. Each session awards 100 XP and one dated award once, including repeated event types. Each of the twelve skills appears once per day. Themes shift every two days, so each fixed hour sees all twelve types over 24 days. Your schedule shows the times in your local zone.
• Weekly NPC challenge: Defeat one, three, or five different opponents for weekly milestones. Everyone can earn them. Three wins also earn a title until the week ends; equipment stays unlocked. These rewards add no extra XP.
• Collections: Complete sets of achievements, daily events, or weekly challenge goals to unlock their listed keepsakes, outfits, and exclusive gloves. Clothing stays unlocked and never equips automatically; preview it in your trophy case or wardrobe and choose what to wear. Grandmaster recognizes the twelve original mastery collections, Century the original 100 achievements, and Career champion all thirty Career opponents. Each unlocks exclusive gauntlets. Collections add no extra XP.
• Event collections: Complete 3, 6, or 10 event sessions for their outfits; repeated event types count. Event circuit unlocks the Ringmaster outfit and Blender for collecting all twelve different event types across any dates. Neither requires consecutive sessions or days, and you do not need to finish all twelve types in one day. New sessions still award 100 XP after a collection is complete.
• Skill mastery: Earn achievements for accuracy, defense, combinations, body punching, comebacks, and controlled finishes. Each achievement lists its exact single-fight requirements.
• Head games: Three achievements reward headbutts in the clinch. Headbutts still count as fouls, and a third foul still disqualifies you, so they never add punch progress to other goals.
• Inside fighter: Four achievements reward clean work in the clinch: landing punches, blocking, countering, and completing escapes in a win. Each unlocks its own bodysuit tattoo.
• Special animations: Earn a title once to keep its animation. Your boxer automatically mixes unlocked animations into live taunts, even after the title expires. Your saved taunts and combat timing stay the same.
• Rookie of the week: New competitions cover your first four full UTC weeks after registration, regardless of level. A competition already in progress keeps its original week-start eligibility rule.
• Qualification: Each award lists its requirements. Up to three fights against the same player in a rolling hour can earn XP and count toward awards, events, and challenges. Career and weekly challenge NPC fights share a separate three-fight rolling-hour limit per NPC for personal award and challenge progress. Ordinary NPC fight XP keeps its repeat reductions. Disqualifications count toward rewards and progress. Normal activity checks and each goal’s requirements still apply. Your private progress marks results that are still being evaluated.
• Dates and times: Award days start at midnight UTC and weeks start Monday at 00:00 UTC. Event schedules and trophy deadlines display in your local time zone; the Honors board labels its dates in UTC. Historical awards keep their original Chicago calendar and deadlines. Weekly NPC challenges and championship belt weeks also use UTC.
• XP: An award can be earned before its XP is added to your career. Pending XP stays earned while it waits to be applied.

Rematches: Play a best-of-three series without repeat-opponent XP reductions. The limit is shared across Ranked, Casual, and direct challenges to the same player. Each non-void meeting uses a place for one hour from its first bell, even if it earns no rewards. Once a meeting is exactly one hour old, it leaves the window. Further fights still affect your record but earn no fight XP, streak or bounty XP, or award and challenge progress while three meetings remain in the window. Daily skill events also keep their three-fight limit per opponent per event window. This is not a three-fight total: switch opponents to keep progressing. Career and weekly appearances of the same NPC share the limit, and NPC fights never add Ranked points or enter Honors competitions. Retiring a boxer does not reset these limits. Ranked championship points retain their separate weekly repeat reductions.

Browse every award with its requirements, XP, and wardrobe rewards. See Challenges & Events on the homepage for announced events and your private progress. Public boxer collections show earned awards, dated award history, and current titles.

Messages → Settings has separate Awards earned and Event reminders controls. Device alerts require browser permission and enrollment. Declining permission or turning alerts off does not remove awards or XP.

Attributes

Assign available stat points to shape how your boxer performs in a fight. Levels after 50 require progressively more XP, leaving room to earn rewards over time.

Power

Stronger punches and more guard pressure.

Stamina

More stamina, faster recovery, cheaper punches.

Chin

Resists stuns and dazing hits; helps you get up.

Defense

More reliable blocks, tougher guard, lower block costs.

Speed

Faster punches and movement.

FAQ