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The First Room
On ZFRR, the First Room of IX is the Arena, the sand floor of a gladiator amphitheater surrounded by stands full of spectators. The game starts in a stone tunnel under the stands, and the players walk out of it into the Arena through a raised portcullis. They start with 500 points and the weapon of their class, the Welling revolver by default.
The Arena opens on two temples, each behind a door on its edge: the Danu Tower and the Ra Tower. The Danu door costs 750 points. The Zeus and Odin towers are only reached from inside the map. In a First Room game, both doors stay closed.
The tunnel
The spawn of every game, a dark passage that ends at a portcullis on the Arena. It belongs to the First Room.
Strife
500 points, a pistol, on a wall buy of the Arena.
Essex Model 07
500 points, a lever-action tactical rifle. Its chalk outline is drawn on the side of a stone pedestal, at the foot of the stairs of a platform near the Danu door.
Those are the only two wall buys of the Arena.
No perk
The four perk altars, one per god, stand in the altar rooms at the top of the four towers. A First Room player has no perk at all, unless the seventh challenge of a banner gives one.
No Mystery Box
None of the spots of the Box is in the Arena.
No Pack-a-Punch
It rises in the Temple, under the map, after a quest through the four towers. The third challenge of a banner gives a Pack-a-Punched Strife, the only upgraded weapon of a First Room game.
The banners
Four challenge banners hang around the Arena, one per god, and the challenge podium stands in the middle, with a bowl for each god where the rewards appear. The nine challenges of a banner give a self-revive, points, the Pack-a-Punched Strife, Max Ammos, a Full Power, a weapon, an extra perk and a Pack-a-Punched Hades.
The fire
Jets of fire burst from the grates of the floor, in patterns that change every round. They burn the players and lower the mood of the crowd.
The crowd
The spectators judge the players. Killing fast earns a power-up thrown into the Arena every round; taking hits earns dung that costs 250 points, then objects thrown at the players.
The special enemies
Gladiators, Catalysts and Zombie Tigers come into the Arena as the rounds go on, and Blightfathers from round 15.
The game itself rewards a First Room run of IX: the achievement My Home is the Arena asks for round 20 without opening a gate. The IX leaderboard keeps separate boards for solo and for two, three and four players. Its reference category is Purist, played on Hardcore; seven other categories, No Elixirs, Classic Elixirs and All Elixirs on Normal, then Classic and All Elixirs on Hardcore and on Realistic, have their own boards. The Purist rules:
Doors closed
Reach the highest round you can without opening any door or barrier.
Hardcore
The game is played on Hardcore difficulty, and custom mutations are not allowed.
Fixed loadout
Elixirs and talismans are not used. The elixir slots hold a set loadout: Aftertaste, Point Drops, Anti Entrapment, Newtonian Negation, Quacknarok and Arsenal Accelerator among the Classics, Conflagration Liquidation, Licensed Contractor, Who’s Keeping Score, Extra Credit and Dividend Yield among the Megas.
Weapons
The starting weapon is the Welling or one of the two wall buys, the Strife or the Essex Model 07. Only Frag Grenades and Acid Bombs are allowed, and no special weapon.
Full rounds
Every round is played in full; glitches, exploits, duplicated weapons and going down on purpose are not allowed. Split-screen is allowed, bots are not.
Video
The whole game is recorded, and the pregame lobby shows every player’s loadout. The health, the points, the round counter and the chat stay visible. A Twitch video must be saved as a highlight; a YouTube video must be public or unlisted.
