One prompt a day.
The daily prompt is Bakatako's heartbeat: a fresh drawing topic every 24 hours, a day of doodles and reactions, then a podium. Here's the full cycle, including how to put your own prompt on tomorrow's marquee.
The 24-hour loop
The prompt day runs on UTC, the same clock for everyone worldwide:
- Midnight UTC — A new prompt goes live on the home page and the previous day's podium is locked in.
- All day — Everyone draws and posts their take. Reactions on entries double as votes, so hearting a doodle you love is how you cheer for it.
- Next midnight UTC — Voting closes, the top three entries take the podium, and the cycle starts over.
You can post more than one take on a prompt, and you can keep drawing yesterday's (or last month's) prompt from the archive. Only same-day entries compete for the podium.
Where prompts come from
Each day's prompt is picked in this order:
- Specials — Occasionally a prompt is scheduled ahead of time for an event or holiday.
- Free Day Friday — Every Friday is a free day: draw whatever you want, no prompt, all entries welcome.
- The community auction — On normal days, the winning Prompt Bid suggestion becomes the prompt. See below for how the auction works.
- The prompt jar — If nobody bid that day, a prompt is drawn from the house rotation.
The podium and medals
When the day closes, the three entries with the most reactions take gold, silver, and bronze. Ties go to whoever posted earlier, so there's a tiny reward for bravery.
- Podium finishes become permanent medals on your profile's medal page.
- There are also achievement medals for things like your first doodle, week-long streaks, posting within the first hour of a drop, or making the podium three days in a row.
The podium is decided purely by reaction count. No judges, no algorithm, just whoever made the most bakas smile that day.
Prompt Bid: the auction for tomorrow
Tomorrow's prompt is up for grabs on the Prompt Bid page. Suggest a prompt and back it with Baka Bucks, or pile your Bucks onto someone else's suggestion. When the day rolls over, the suggestion with the biggest total pot becomes the next prompt.
- Bids are spent, not escrowed. If your suggestion loses, the Bucks are gone, that's what makes winning mean something.
- Suggestions are checked by moderation before they enter the auction. A rejected suggestion costs you nothing.
- If a special prompt was already scheduled for a day, the auction's suggestions roll forward to the next open day instead of being wasted.
Streaks and freezes
Post a daily-prompt doodle each calendar day to build your streak. Streak days follow your local timezone, so “today” means today where you live, no midnight-UTC gymnastics required.
- Earning — Your first prompt doodle each day earns Baka Bucks, multiplied by your streak. The multiplier grows every day and maxes out at 10x. Extra doodles earn a small flat bonus. Full numbers in the Bucks guide.
- Freezes — A streak freeze (from the shop) covers exactly one missed day, automatically, the next time you draw. You can hold one at a time.
- Status — The streak page shows whether you're safe today, your all-time best, and your last 30 days at a glance.
The archive
Every past prompt lives in the prompt history with its podium and entry count. Old prompts stay open: drawing them won't win a medal, but it's a great warm-up shelf, and late entries still show on the prompt's page.