🐉 Anki-Dragons FAQ

Your dragon earns XP every time you review an Anki card, based on how long you spend reviewing:

• Production Mode: Cards reviewed for ≥20 seconds award 2.7 XP
• Testing Mode: Currently set to ≥1 second minimum (this is for development testing and will be changed to 20 seconds for release)
• Streak Bonus: If you studied yesterday, you get a 1.2× multiplier (20% bonus), increasing your XP to 3.24 XP per card

Cards reviewed for less than the minimum time award 0 XP but still mark the day as "active" for streak tracking.

Every 150 XP you earn unlocks a new level. Each level-up triggers:

• A new description of your dragon's physical growth
• A disposition question (starting at level 2) that shapes your dragon's personality
• Visual updates showing your dragon's evolution

The game features extensive content with descriptions and disposition questions that continue as your dragon grows. New stages and abilities unlock as you progress through the levels.

If you studied on the previous day, you earn a 20% XP bonus on all qualifying cards. This encourages daily consistency—the cornerstone of effective spaced repetition learning.

The streak is calculated using Anki's "day rollover" system (typically 4 AM), matching your Anki statistics. Any card review during a day counts toward maintaining your streak, even if it doesn't meet the XP threshold.

Let's calculate based on your study habits. Assuming you review 75 cards per day at 15 seconds per card (which qualifies for XP):

Your dragon goes through distinct evolutionary stages as it grows:

• Early Stages: Infant Draco (hatching → rapid growth, learning survival)
• First Transformation: First Hibernation → Wings emerge!
• Flight Training: Baby Draco learning to fly, then Young Draco mastering aerial movement
• Second Transformation: Second Hibernation → TRUE FLIGHT achieved!
• Fire Awakening: The dragon's inner flame manifests and develops into controlled fire-breathing
• Adolescent Stage: Fire mastery, horn development begins, growing larger and more fearsome
• Young Dragon: Horn/tail/spine weaponization, wing hooks for climbing, claws hardening
• Third Transformation: Extended hibernation cycle → Full weaponization revealed!
• Adult Dragon & Beyond: The dragon continues evolving, growing in power, size, and capability as you progress through higher levels

Each major stage brings dramatic new abilities and physical transformations. The journey continues as long as you keep studying!

None. Absolutely nothing is collected or transmitted.

Anki-Dragons operates 100% locally on your device. Here's what that means:

• No servers: The addon doesn't connect to any remote servers
• No analytics: We don't track usage, behavior, or statistics
• No accounts: No registration, no login, no user database
• No internet required: Works completely offline

Understanding the technical side can help reassure you about privacy:

• XP Calculation: Reads your Anki review history from the local SQLite database (revlog table) to calculate XP based on review time
• Progression Tracking: Stores level, XP, and alignment data in Anki's addon config file (stored locally in your Anki profile folder)
• Image Loading: Dragon artwork is loaded from anki-dragons.com CDN (read-only, no data sent back)
• Personality System: Disposition answers are stored in your local Anki database—never transmitted

The entire system runs within Anki's Python environment on your computer. There's no hidden telemetry or data collection.

Yes! Anki-Dragons is open source and transparent.

GitHub Repository: [Link will be added soon]

You can:

• 📖 Review the source code: See exactly how the addon works
• 🔍 Verify privacy claims: Confirm there's no data collection
• 🐛 Report issues: File bug reports and feature requests
• 🤝 Contribute: Submit improvements and translations
• ⭐ Star the project: Show support for open-source education tools

All Anki-Dragons data is stored locally in your Anki profile folder:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Anki2\[Profile]\addons21\game_of_dragons\
• Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Anki2/[Profile]/addons21/game_of_dragons/
• Linux: ~/.local/share/Anki2/[Profile]/addons21/game_of_dragons/

Your dragon's progress is backed up whenever you back up your Anki profile. If you sync Anki to AnkiWeb, your review history syncs (standard Anki functionality), but Anki-Dragons data stays on your device.

Every time you level up (starting at level 2), you answer a disposition question—a moral scenario where your choices shape your dragon's personality along two axes:

• Law ↔ Chaos: Structure/discipline vs. freedom/instinct
• Good ↔ Evil: Compassion/service vs. dominance/self-interest

Your accumulated choices determine your dragon's alignment, displayed on your character sheet (e.g., "Lawful Good," "Chaotic Neutral," "Neutral Evil").

Your dragon can develop one of nine distinct personalities:

• Lawful Good: Guardian of order, protector of the weak, honor-bound
• Neutral Good: Compassionate helper, balanced protector, kindness-driven
• Chaotic Good: Free spirit defender, instinctive protector, rebels for good
• Lawful Neutral: Order above all, systematic, disciplined enforcer
• True Neutral: Balanced, pragmatic, adapts to circumstances
• Chaotic Neutral: Pure freedom, unpredictable, answers to no one
• Lawful Evil: Tyrant with rules, dominance through structure, calculated control
• Neutral Evil: Self-serving opportunist, power without ideology
• Chaotic Evil: Destruction incarnate, might makes right, unrestrained power

Absolutely! Your disposition choices fundamentally shape your dragon's personality, which directly affects how your dragon motivates you during study sessions. Your dragon is your study companion, and the personality you build through 150 levels of choices determines the kind of companion they become.

For example:

• Lawful Good dragons deliver motivational phrases emphasizing discipline, honor, and structured excellence
• Neutral Good dragons offer compassionate encouragement and celebrate your kindness to yourself through learning
• Chaotic Neutral dragons motivate through freedom, independence, and breaking conventional rules
• Lawful Evil dragons push you toward dominance and power through knowledge accumulation

The alignment you cultivate isn't just cosmetic—it determines the voice, tone, and philosophy of the creature accompanying you through thousands of study sessions. You're not just raising a dragon; you're creating a personalized study partner whose values and motivations reflect your own choices.

Gamification transforms the abstract reward of "doing well on a test in 3 months" into the immediate reward of "see your dragon grow RIGHT NOW." This works because:

• Immediate Feedback: Every card review produces visible progress (XP gain)
• Visual Progress: Your dragon's transformation is concrete and measurable
• Achievement Structure: Leveling up provides regular milestones
• Narrative Engagement: You're not just studying—you're raising a dragon
• Personalized Study Companion: Your dragon becomes a unique motivational partner whose personality (shaped through 150 disposition choices) delivers encouragement tailored to your values—whether you need disciplined structure, compassionate support, or fierce independence
• Consistency Rewards: Streak bonuses reinforce daily habits

Unlike passive gamification systems that simply add points and badges, Game of Dragons creates a relationship with your study companion. The dragon you shape through moral choices becomes your personalized cheerleader, delivering motivation in the exact voice and philosophy you need to hear.

ADHD brains have differences in dopamine regulation, making distant rewards feel neurologically unreal. Game of Dragons addresses this through progressive delayed gratification training:

By gradually increasing the delay between action and reward, the game coaches executive function skills rather than demanding willpower. It's exposure therapy disguised as dragon raising.

Read our detailed analysis: A Novel Anki Addon That Attempts to Coach a Brain with ADHD

The core principles are well-established:

• Immediate Reinforcement: Decades of behavioral psychology confirm that immediate rewards strengthen behavior more effectively than delayed ones
• Progressive Challenge: Educational scaffolding (Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development) shows that gradual difficulty increase builds competence
• Gamification in Education: Meta-analyses show gamification increases engagement and learning outcomes, particularly for students who struggle with traditional methods
• ADHD & Gaming: Research shows ADHD individuals can maintain focus on video games (immediate feedback) while struggling with homework (delayed feedback)

Game of Dragons synthesizes these principles into a practical tool for Anki users.

Yes, completely free! The core Anki-Dragons addon with all game mechanics is entirely free and open source. Optional premium dragon skin packs ($5 each) are available for visual customization, but they're purely cosmetic—the full game experience is free forever.

Anki Desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux):

1. Download the .ankiaddon file from the official website
2. In Anki, go to Tools → Add-ons → Install from file
3. Select the downloaded file and restart Anki
4. Your dragon widget will appear in the right sidebar

Note: Anki-Dragons is a desktop addon only. AnkiMobile (iOS) and AnkiWeb don't support addons.

Yes, the addon includes a reset function in the settings menu. This will:

• Reset your dragon to level 1
• Clear all disposition answers
• Reset XP and streak tracking

Warning: This action cannot be undone. Make sure to back up your Anki profile first if you want to preserve your current dragon.

If you don't study on a given day:

• You lose your streak bonus (20% XP boost) for the next day's reviews
• Your dragon doesn't regress or lose levels—progress is never taken away
• Simply start studying again to rebuild your streak (takes one day to reactivate)

The game is designed to encourage consistency without punishing life circumstances. Your dragon waits patiently for your return.

The addon is designed to be lightweight:

• XP calculation happens incrementally after each review (milliseconds)
• The dragon widget updates only when visible
• Image loading is optimized with caching
• All operations are asynchronous and don't block your reviews

Most users report no noticeable performance impact. If you're on a very old computer, you can minimize the dragon widget when not actively viewing it.

Check the license file included with the addon. Generally, personal use is unrestricted. For commercial use, educational licensing, or bulk deployment, contact the developer.