About Hold Your Nerve
Hold Your Nerve is a game of chicken. A bar fills up. Somewhere along it is a point where it will burst, and nobody knows where. The longer you hold on, the better your position, and the bigger the risk.
How a match works
A round begins only when both players are holding their buttons down. The bar then fills steadily, taking a little over three seconds to reach the end, though it never gets that far. It will burst somewhere in its second half.
When you release, a marker in your colour is left at the level the bar had reached. If both players release before the burst, the one whose marker is further along wins the round. If the bar bursts while you are still holding, you are out, and the point goes to your opponent if they got out in time. If both of you are caught, nobody scores.
The burst point is chosen afresh each round. First to three points wins.
Sitting and setting up
Lay the device flat between you and each hold your own button. On a computer, hold A and L.
How to win
Think about the odds. The bar can burst anywhere from the halfway mark to almost the end. Releasing just after halfway is nearly always safe, and nearly always loses to anyone braver. Releasing late wins big or loses everything.
Watch your opponent as well as the bar. The moment they let go, you know exactly what you need to beat. Hold on a fraction longer and release.
That, of course, is what they are thinking too. The player who lets go second has the advantage, provided the bar holds.
Vary your play. If you always bail out early, a sharp opponent will learn to wait just past you.
It is all tension and no skill with the fingers, which makes it unusual among two-player HTML5 games.