Two faces appear – a happy face and an angry face. They then disappear, and the happy face leaves behind a spaceship. The goal of the game is to quickly swipe that spaceship to collect stars. The ship collects stars by bouncing off walls, sliding through gaps, and it can even attract stars with its magnet.  As you react more quickly, the ship will go faster, travel farther, and collect more stars. As you collect more stars, you’ll level up and gain more star magnet power. There isn’t only one way to play, so players can develop their own style as they progress. Tip: Look out for the “+” it hints at where the faces will appear.

People with excessive social anxiety pay too much attention to negative thoughts, experiences, and social interactions that can distort their outlook. StarStarter Rx retrains these patterns of attention subconsciously through gamified interactions with facial expressions. Even before babies can crawl, they can recognize the difference between a smiling face and an angry one. Facial expressions are unique in their ability to capture our attention and drive an emotional response. Through the repetition of interactions that focus attention on a pleasant face, our technique re-trains the associated neural pathways to reduce social anxiety symptoms. To review our research see https://arcadetherapeutics.com/starstarter-rx-research/

StarStarter is designed to be played four times per week for four weeks, though you are able to continue playing for up to 90 days from your first gameplay session. Each gameplay session lasts about 12 minutes.

Each gameplay session is meant to be completed in one sitting, so StarStarter only allows you to pause for up to 4 mins per session. If you pause longer than 4 mins, you will need to return the following day for a new session. We recommend that you block out a consistent time in your day to focus on playing the game. It could be after breakfast, during a coffee break, on your commute, or after you finish your work and decompress. Set a recurring reminder on your calendar so you don’t forget!

Not to worry! Much like in life, we all have off days. Just pick up where you left off in a new constellation and try your best to complete all four sessions in the next week. For a clinically effective dose, try not to miss more than 3 sessions over the 4 week course.

StarStarter’s point system is designed to help keep you engaged and motivated while playing. Try to shoot for a high score each session! Additionally, earning points gradually levels up your spaceship’s magnet power, allowing you to grab stars from even greater distances and earn more points.

You can pause the game by tapping the game console button at the bottom of the screen. From here, you can toggle Audio and Haptic Feedback on and off by tapping their respective icons. Please note that you must have the volume and sound of your device turned on to be able to hear StarStarter Rx’s music and sound.

Visit https://arcadetherapeutics.com/starstarter-rx-support/ to submit a message.

If you receive StarStarter Rx through your employer or organization, we only share de-identified, aggregated data on usage and mood at the population level. If you receive StarStarter Rx through your provider, you may opt in to provide your usage data to your provider.

StartStarter Rx supports the current iPhone iOS version and previous 3 major release versions. StarStarter Rx supports the current Android version and previous 7 major release versions on devices with 2GB of RAM and a 64-bit processor. iOS users can refer to https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/supported-models-iphe3fa5df43/ios and select your device’s iOS version to find out if their device is supported.