Start here · first cycle
Bills Must Be Paid Beginner Guide: Your First Loop
The stamina-and-bills loop, the first-cycle checklist, and the four-state desk diagnosis — each fact labelled with its evidence level.
Quick answer
Your first loop in five steps: protect the bill, buy one fix at a time, expect bankruptcy
Every run is a race between stamina (every smash spends it; at zero the run ends) and bills (ignore them and the collector takes 20-50% of earnings). The first cycle is a tutorial: pay the $20 opening bill before buying upgrades, buy only what fixes the current bottleneck, and do not fear bankruptcy — paid bills convert into Legacy Points that make the next cycle stronger. A normal first cycle takes roughly 15-30 minutes and ends with 5 bills paid.
Stamina math
Stamina is your timer — treat every swing as a coin
Every hammer swing costs stamina. A miss also resets your combo (every 10 consecutive hits raises combo by 1).
The Tourist piggy restores stamina when smashed (community-verified). Recovery Smash perk adds +1 stamina per smash.
The stamina cap grows over the run — official screenshots show roughly 130-140 mid-game (community reading). Anything that cuts swing cost, restores stamina, or raises the cap is more money per run, which is why stamina upgrades rank near the top of most priority lists.
First-cycle checklist
The source-bounded first-cycle checklist
- Read the desk and the bill first. Know the bill amount and deadline before you spend a dollar (VERIFIED: bills carry amount + due date).
- Smash the nearest, easiest piggies. Chasing fast or distant targets burns stamina (BOUNDED INFERENCE).
- Pay the opening $20 water bill as soon as you can. It is a spending-discipline check, not a challenge (VERIFIED checkpoint).
- Buy one solution at a time. Community order: Base Damage → Stamina → Starting Piggies → Hit Radius/Collateral → Attack Speed → Loot. Do not buy nodes that do not fix the current bottleneck.
- Choose a perk after each paid bill. Read all three; prioritize stamina and income early, damage and luck later (COMMUNITY, from the frozen guide readings).
- Do not force the cycle to survive forever. When the next bill needs far more than a normal run earns, pay one reachable bill, then reset. Five paid bills ≈ $2,015 → 40 Legacy Points (VERIFIED checkpoint).
Desk diagnosis
Read the desk before buying an upgrade
The four states that decide your next purchase (community method, consistent across both frozen guide readings):
| What stops the run | Next move | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Desk empty while stamina remains | Starting Piggies or Spawn Rate | Attack Speed with no targets |
| Piggies survive several hits | Damage, Crit, or the next Hammer | More Spawn Rate |
| Run ends with killable piggies on the desk | Stamina, lower drain, or restoration | More targets |
| Desk clears but the next bill outgrows income | Loot, Luck, Glowing Chance, Midas-line income | Small combat nodes |
Gambling corner
The gambling corner is entertainment, not income
The coin-flip (50/50), All or Nothing, and Piggy Shuffle exist mostly for three achievements. Community consensus: play each once early while the stake is pocket change, then ignore it. The developer states the coin flip is genuine physics 50/50 (VERIFIED via developer reply cited by the community guide).
FAQ
Beginner FAQ
Q: How long is one run?
A: Runs are stamina-limited — usually 1-3 minutes early, longer as the cap grows. A cycle (between bankruptcies) spans several runs and bills.
Q: Should I buy everything affordable?
A: No. A cheap upgrade that improves a non-bottleneck resource is wasted money. Buy one fix at a time (COMMUNITY consensus).
Q: Is bankruptcy bad?
A: No — it is the intended reset. Paid bills convert to Legacy Points (1 point per $50 paid, VERIFIED), spent on permanent rings and bracelets.
Q: Does paying early help?
A: Only once you own the early-payment rings (extra desk piggy per 4 days early; +2% attack speed per day early, capped at 25% — VERIFIED screenshots). Early payment without those rings just pulls the next bill's deadline forward.
Q: Do demo saves carry over?
A: No. Demo saves do not transfer to the full game (COMMUNITY-verified; developer has not commented).
Myth vs fact
Common myths, settled
VERIFIED Myth: "The coin flip is rigged." — The developer says it is physics 50/50.
COMMUNITY Myth: "Buying attack speed early is a must." — The settled community priority is damage first, then reward, then stamina — and skip attack speed early.
VERIFIED Myth: "Bankruptcy deletes progress." — It converts paid bills into Legacy Points; wallet cash does not convert, so pay one more reachable bill before resetting.
Official / original destinations
Media evidence
Local images are either official Steam promotional assets or clearly labelled archive cards rendered from frozen official page reads. Public reuse rights are not yet verified.
Evidence boundary
What supports this page
Reviewed 2026-08-11. Time-sensitive facts may have changed. Each source line states exactly what it supports.
Supports: the game definition, stamina-and-bills loop, developer, feature list, achievement total, release field, review snapshot, and captured price.
↗Rike Games pageDeveloperSupports: the developer description, demo label, and browser entry.
↗onehitkill.spaceCommunity guide observationSupports: Community guide observation: beginner loop, stamina, bills, perks, first cycle.
↗Correction route: not configured yet. No monitored email, form, or social account is configured.