A prize competition · Summer 2026
The Element Mastery Prize
$250 to the first student who masters all 118 elements before chemistry class starts. Everyone who finishes gets paid.
Watch the live raceDownload the contest poster and official rules (PDF)
The purse
- Set or beat the record$250
- Second-fastest at close$100
- Third-fastest at close$75
- Everyone else who finishes$25
This is not a raffle. Master every element and you get paid — there is no cap on the number of $25 prizes. The $250 is a standing record purse: the first finisher sets the record and takes it, and every finisher who beats the record by at least a full day takes it again. Your clock runs from your first answer, so starting in August costs you nothing.
Side purses
- First through the noble gases$10
First entrant to master He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, Rn, and Og (both directions each).
- First through the lanthanides$15
First entrant to master all fifteen lanthanides. The hard row pays better.
- Best accuracy among finishers$10
Highest lifetime answer accuracy among finishers, decided when the contest closes.
Side purses stack with the main prizes and are decided by skill, never a drawing. Follow the whole field on the live race page.
The rules, short version
- Complete each of the four games at least twice — won or lost, never abandoned: Bond Forge, Pt Paddle, Capture the Nucleus, and Molecule Hunter.
- After that, play whichever ones you like. Mastery counts wherever you earn it.
- Master all 118 elements. Your clock runs from your first answer to your last element, and the fastest time holds the record.
Runs June 12, 2026 through September 15, 2026. Open to anyone taking high-school chemistry starting fall 2026. Requires full access ($59). Same scoring for everyone.
How mastery works
There is no studying to do. The drilling is built into the games — that is the point of the app. Play them, and the app scores every answer and turns elements green as you prove you know them.
- Every element is scored both ways. See Fe and recall iron; see iron and recall Fe. Two directions, tracked separately.
- Five in a row graduates a direction. Master both directions and the element turns green.
- Twenty elements are in play at a time. Master one and the next rotates in, ordered by how much chemistry class actually uses it.
- Green has to stay green. Mastered elements return for occasional spot checks. Miss one and it drops back into the learning pile until you win it back.
Your scoreboard lives under Learn → Element mastery. When your green count hits 118, we already know — your prize arrives with one question: how did it go? The best answers end up on this site, first name or nickname only.
Parents: enter your student
Entrants under 18 need a parent or legal guardian to consent to the official rules below before any prize is paid. Consent takes one form, once. Prize checks are made out to you on your student's behalf.
Official rules
1. Sponsor
The Element Mastery Prize is sponsored by Stone Giant Studio, LLC, operator of periodicmole.com (“the app”). Questions: support@periodicmole.com.
2. Contest period
The contest opens at 12:00 a.m. Central Time on June 12, 2026 and closes at 11:59 p.m. Central Time on September 15, 2026. Only mastery earned inside this window counts.
3. Eligibility
Open to students enrolled in, or registered for, a high-school chemistry course beginning in fall 2026, who are residents of the United States. Not open to residents of Arizona, Colorado, Maryland, Nebraska, or North Dakota. Void where prohibited. Employees of the sponsor and members of their households are not eligible. Entrants under 18 need a parent or legal guardian to consent to these rules using the form on this page before any prize is paid.
4. How to enter
Hold full access to the app ($59, the standard price — it is not raised for the contest and is not an entry fee; it buys the product) and play during the contest period. There is no separate registration. Complete each of the four games at least twice — won or lost, never abandoned: Bond Forge, Pt Paddle, Capture the Nucleus, and Molecule Hunter. The app verifies this.
5. How winning is decided
An element is mastered when the app's scorekeeping shows both recall directions (symbol to name, and name to symbol) at mastered state, which takes five consecutive correct answers per direction. A finisher is an eligible entrant whose account shows all 118 elements mastered at the same time during the contest period. Placings are decided entirely by skill: first, second, and third are the three earliest finishing timestamps recorded by the app. Entrants with the same recorded finishing timestamp tie, and ties are paid the higher placing: if two finishers tie for first, both receive $250. No part of winner selection involves chance.
6. Prizes
The Record Purse: $250 to the first finisher, who sets the record, and $250 to each finisher who takes the record by beating it by at least one full day. Total Record Purse payouts are capped at $1,500. At close: second-fastest time, $100; third-fastest, $75. Every other finisher: $25, with no cap on the number of $25 prizes. Side purses, decided by skill on the app's records: first to master all seven noble gases, $10; first to master all fifteen lanthanides, $15; best lifetime answer accuracy among finishers at close, $10. Record Purse payments and side purses stack with placing prizes; among the placing prizes ($100, $75, $25), an entrant receives only the highest. Prizes are paid by check to the entrant's parent or legal guardian on the entrant's behalf (or to the entrant if 18 or older). Winners are responsible for any taxes.
7. Notification
The app records completion; finishers don't need to report anything. The sponsor will contact the email on the account within seven days of a recorded finish.
8. Fair play
One student per account. Mastery must be earned by the entrant's own play; account sharing, automation, or any manipulation of the app's scorekeeping disqualifies the entry. The sponsor's determination of finishing order from the app's records is final.
9. Testimonials and publicity
Finishers will be asked how it went. Quotes may appear on periodicmole.com identified by first name or nickname only, and only with the written consent of a parent or legal guardian (or of the entrant, if 18 or older). Agreeing to be quoted is not a condition of receiving a prize. The public race page at periodicmole.com/contest/race lists an entrant's first name and progress only when the parent or guardian checked the race-page box on the consent form; finishers' first names, states, and times remain listed there after the contest ends.
10. Privacy
Contest standings are read from the same gameplay records the app already keeps. Entrant information is used to run the contest and deliver prizes, not for advertising, and is never sold.
11. General
If a technical failure or scorekeeping error compromises the integrity of the contest, the sponsor may adjust affected results or suspend the affected prize; recorded legitimate finishes will be honored.
Rules version 2026-06-17. Download as PDF.