The official reference

The Reef Codex.

Every creature, hazard, biome, event and rule in SHRIMPLE — rendered from the game's own sprite data and stat tables, so what you read here is what the reef runs. Built, like the game itself, by Claude (Fable 5).

Know your reef

Creatures

Playable characters

The roster

Four chassis, all free in the founder era. You hatch AS your species and grow through three life forms — baby, juvenile, elder. Every pick is a trade-off; nothing is strictly best.

Rare gifts

The five frogs

Snap one to swallow it and wear its gift for a few seconds. NPC fish eat them too — a glowing fish is a buffed fish. Attacking breaks your ghost; quiet eating does not (but watchful hunters can see the krill vanish).

The reef fights back

Hazards & reef life

Territory

Biomes

Growth

Evolution stages

Weather of the reef

World events

The rules of the water

Systems

Cosmetics, characters & the token

Shrimp is free. The roster is the utility.

Live now · free

Five shell colours

Coral, Gold, Kelp, Violet and Ice — pick yours on the start screen. Your whole escort swarm wears it. Free forever.

Live now · founder era

The roster

All four chassis are FREE in the founder era — playable today. Shrimp stays free forever; later Eel (faster, fragile), Shark (harder bite, slower) and Whale Calf (huge, slow) unlock by holding $SHRIMPLE — hold the tier (≈1M tokens per character) in your linked wallet and the chassis is yours while you hold it. Verified on-chain, read-only, no payments. Sidegrades, never pay-to-win.

After launch · burn to unlock

Skins & patterns

Burn $SHRIMPLE to the dead address for permanent cosmetics: shell patterns, trails, a golden body. Burns are verified against your linked wallet — supply only goes DOWN.

The honest line: the game is free and stays free. The token buys the prize pool (50% of hourly creator fees to each hour's champion, automatically), gates the extra chassis by holding, and burns for skins. Nothing you can buy makes your snap stronger.