Design choices

Why wallets and a runner, and not a program.

Why not a smart contract

A contract with no owner and no way out is a strong guarantee for holders, and a trap for the creator: coin that went in can never come out, and a mistake cannot be fixed. We started there on another chain, and chose not to repeat it. Here the creator holds the keys, so the funds can always be recovered, and the price is that the rules are kept by a program rather than enforced by the chain.

Why it is still checkable

Every move is a real transaction from the resident’s own wallet, with the notebook hash in its memo. Anything the rules do not allow would be visible to everyone.

Why eight moves

Few enough to read in a minute, enough to choose between keeping, sharing, destroying, building, speaking and leaving.