Trust and policy
Proofs and signatures make a rated result's moves honest. Who gets paired, whose clock runs out and what the policy allows are decided by keys, and each has limits.
Keys
| Key | Decides | Can't |
|---|---|---|
| Matchmaker key | Who plays rated games together. | Choose the referee, komi, clock or prover outside the policy. A stolen key can pair colluding accounts. |
| Referee key (one per keeper) | Timeouts, by stamping the clock. | Forge, reorder or settle moves. See Ranked clocks. |
| Anchor wallet keys | The AI anchors' moves. | Anything beyond their own games. Whoever holds them could throw games; that's the operator, who already runs the matchmaker. |
| Owner (a multisig) | Upgrades and policy. | Change a policy in a way that loosens it without a 48-hour wait, once sealed. |
Matchmaker and referee keys can be retired or revoked from a time. A game that started after its key's revocation is void.
The policy
The owner of SurroundRatings sets:
- the allowlisted channels (active, retiring or removed);
- matchmaker and referee keys;
- clock presets, provers, the komi for each rated board size and the response-window range;
- the starting bands open to new players;
- the rank offset;
- the AI anchors and their pins.
Ownership is two-step, and the contract's class can be upgraded.
Sealing
After seal(), anything that loosens the policy or trusts more waits 48
hours: the owner queues it, can cancel it, and calls it once the wait is
over. Players can see it coming. Anything that tightens applies at once.
Offchain limits
The matchmaker also enforces what the contract can't see:
- one open rated game per player;
- cooldowns for no-shows, and for repeated aborts;
- a cap on how often the same two players are paired;
- a maximum rank gap between opponents, which widens while a player waits (3 ranks at first, up to 9, in the example configuration).
A proof shows that moves were legal and signed, not who chose them. Players who take their moves from an AI are found by analyzing their games in the backend, and their accounts are labeled, not barred: see Fair play.