Guide
How Cratekin works
Everything in Cratekin comes down to a simple loop: work shifts to earn Scrap, spend Scrap on crates, and fill your Shelf with the Cratekin inside.
Scrap
Scrap is the useful stuff recovered from rejected cargo, and it's what crates cost. Every new player starts with 250 Scrap. Scrap belongs to your player: it can't be bought, sold, transferred or exchanged for anything outside Cratekin, and it has no real-world value.
Shifts
You earn Scrap by working shifts. On the Sorting Line, items roll down a belt for 60 seconds and you send each one down the right chute: Salvage, Repair or Hazard. Every shift pays something once you've sorted a few items; right sorts, accuracy and streaks pay more, up to 125 Scrap a shift. At the Repair Bench, damaged objects arrive one at a time for 75 seconds: find the faults, fix each with the right tool and leave what's fine alone, for up to 150 Scrap a shift. Both jobs pay about the same per minute. A few shifts earn a crate. Pay is worked out by the server from the shift it dealt, so you can't be paid twice for the same shift.
Crates
Crates are how Cratekin arrive. The Rejectory Surplus Crate costs 250 Scrap. When you open one, the server first picks a rarity using the crate's published odds, then picks one Cratekin of that rarity. The shaking, the burst and the reveal are just for fun; the result was decided before the animation started. More about crates.
Rarity
Each Cratekin has a rarity, from Common to Legendary. Rarity only changes how often a Cratekin turns up. It doesn't make one stronger or more valuable than another; there are no stats or battles. See every rarity and its odds.
Collecting and the Shelf
Your Shelf shows the whole catalog. Cratekin you've found appear in full color with their details; the ones you haven't found yet are silhouettes. A progress bar tracks how many you've discovered.
Duplicates
You'll often find a Cratekin you already have. That's fine: every copy is kept. The reveal is stamped Copy #2, Copy #3 and so on, and your Shelf shows a count such as ×3. Duplicates can't be sold, traded or converted into Scrap.
Guests and accounts
You don't need an account to play. The first time you open a crate or start a shift, Cratekin creates a guest player for your browser, remembered by a cookie. A guest collection only exists in that browser: clearing cookies, using private browsing or switching devices means starting over. Guest collections are removed after 90 days without a visit (14 days if nothing was collected).
Create an account to keep your collection. When you sign up, your guest collection, Scrap and history become your account's. Nothing starts over. You can then sign in from any browser. Accounts are never removed for inactivity, and you can delete yours at any time.
One thing to know: signing in to an existing account from a browser that has a guest collection switches to the account. The two collections are not merged.